The Spreading Motivation And Countermeasures Of COVID-19 Rumors

In the 21st century,the occurrence of various public health emergencies in our country has become more frequent,bringing huge losses to society.Epidemics of infectious diseases are typical public health emergencies,which have the characteristics of wide spread,strong destructive power,and difficult to control.Their occurrence not only endangers the lives and health of the public,but also affects national economic development,but also creates social panic and threatens social stability.Lewin believes that an individual’s behavior,especially an individual’s state,is determined by the situation.The outbreak of public health emergencies provides an opportunity for the production and dissemination of rumors.For this reason,this article takes the COVID-19 epidemic rumors(hereinafter referred to as "COVID-19rumors")as the research object and intends to discuss three issues: First of all,how do the changes of life space reflect on the text content and characteristics of COVID-19rumors? Secondly,in the process of spreading the COVID-19 rumors,how do individual demand motivation and social background motivation work,and how do they interact with the narrative strategy and narrative mode of rumors? Thirdly,in the process of rumor dissemination,how do different subjects adopt different countermeasures in response to different stages of rumor dissemination?This article selects the COVID-19 rumors of three well-known online platforms during the one-month period(January 23 to February 22,2020)of Wuhan’s closure of the city as the research sample.The three network platforms are Sina.com "Catch a rumor"(https://www.sina.com.cn/),China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform "Rumor Refusal Database"(http://www.piyao.org.cn/),and Tencent Medpedia(https://baike.qq.com/).Based on Lewin’s field dynamic theory and gatekeeper theory,the research is divided into seven chapters by comprehensively using Mixed Methods Research and Case Analysis Methods.Chapter 1 is the introduction,involving the origin and significance of the research,research questions,research methods and sampling methods.Chapter 2 is a literature review,sorting out and commenting on the research status of rumors and public emergencies rumors.Chapter 3 is the analysis framework and research design of this article.Chapter 4 takes the life space as the entry point,focuses on the content and characteristics of the COVID-19 rumors.Chapter 5 explores the power field and power system of the spread of the COVID-19 rumors.Chapter 6 is the countermeasures,starting from the government,the media,and the public,discussing countermeasures in different stages.And the last chapter is the conclusion and discussion.The study found that the public’s life space directly determines the textual content and characteristics of the COVID-19 rumors.The COVID-19 rumors adopt some methods,including fragmented narrative,life-based narrative,conspiracy theory narrative,and bricolage narrative.They promote the narrative of rumors,in order to vent emotions or gain attention,or to achieve certain political or economic goals.The spread of the COVID-19 rumors is the result of the combined effect of individual demand motivation and social background motivation.Based on the above-mentioned research,this article proposes countermeasures to control the spread of rumors about public health emergencies.At different periods of the spread of rumors,the government,the media,and the public need to cooperate closely.Based on information release,guided by the rumor-repelling mechanism,and guaranteed by legal supervision,we strive to curb the spread of rumors and carry out effective governance.