REFRAMING THE COUNTERNARRATION OF RELIGIOUS MISINFORMATION DURING PANDEMIC: A PREBUNKING STRATEGY OF INTERVENTION
Santi Indra Astuti (a), Ratri Rizki Kusumalestari (b), Rita Gani (c)

(a), (b), (c) The Faculty of Communication Science, Journalism Dept., Bandung Islamic University, INDONESIA.

Abstract

During the pandemic, more than 1800 misinformation of COVID-19 had been produced and circulated among people, creating massive damage and hinder public health measures to control the pandemic (Kominfo, 2021- Indicators, 2021- Unicef, 2020). Among the theme of COVID-19 misinformation, religious misinformation is a theme that pose as imminent threat for the society whose population is largely composed with members of religion community, particularly Islam (. To combatting the misinformation, fact checking and anti-hoax campaign are not sufficient anymore. The strategy should also entail a counter-narration effort to challenge the misinformation. This research aimed to design a counter-narration effort in contesting the religious misinformation of COVID-19 by employing social inoculation approach as theoretical framework. A prebunking procedure is expected as the outcome of this paper where findings of religious misinformation analysis will be incorporated with research on risk perception regarding COVID-19, along with series of focus group discussion to gain more data on message design as part of the prebunking strategy.

Keywords: religious misinformation, COVID-19, counternarration, prebunking, intervention

Topic: Media, Journalism, and Information