SYDNEY – A survey by the Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC) today revealed that one out of every five Australian scientists has received some level of abuse or threats after appearing in the media to talk about the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Scientists are facing pandemic levels of abuse for simply trying to help us all wrap our heads around Covid-19,” said Lyndal Byford, director of News and Partnerships at AusSMC.
AusSMC compared these findings with international data, working with the Nature journal, and found that the phenomenon holds true for scientists across the globe, the Xinhua news agency reported.
A total of 15% of 321 international scientists surveyed reported that they received death threats after speaking to the media, and 22% reported that they received threats of physical or sexual violence.
Byford said if the trend continues, many scientists and experts may think twice before talking to the media.
“If experts take the understandable Naomi Osaka approach and stop speaking to the media, all of us will be worse off,” said Byford.
Around 40% of the 50 Australian scientists who responded and 60% of international scientists said the trolling and personal attacks have impacted their willingness to speak to the media in the future.
Professor Dominic Dwyer, director of NSW Health Pathology at Westmead Hospital and a member of the World Health Organisation expert team going to China on a Covid-19 origins-tracing mission, said scientists should be able to talk to the public about the virus without fear of becoming targets of attack.
“We know the information on the origins of SARS-CoV-2 is still incomplete, but these gaps shouldn’t be used to support a political stance, encourage the blame game or criticise others, especially behind the anonymity of social media,” he said.
“It should be about how to go forward collaboratively to better answer the questions.” – Bernama, October 14, 2021
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