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Health Communication Volume 34, 2019 - Issue 1
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Articles

From Social Media to Mainstream News: The Information Flow of the Vaccine-Autism Controversy in the US, Canada, and the UK

S. Mo JangSchool of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South CarolinaCorrespondence[email protected]
ORCID Iconhttp://orcid.org/0000-0003-3935-7421
ORCID Icon,
Brooke W. MckeeverSchool of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina
,
Robert MckeeverSchool of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina
&
Joon Kyoung KimSchool of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina
Pages 110-117 | Published online: 13 Oct 2017
 
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ABSTRACT

Despite increasing warnings about inaccurate information online, little is known about how social media contribute to the widespread diffusion of unverified health information. This study addresses this issue by examining the vaccine-autism controversy. By looking into a large dataset of Twitter, Reddit posts, and online news over 20 months in the US, Canada, and the UK, our time-series analysis shows that Twitter drives news agendas, and Reddit follows news agendas regarding the vaccine-autism debate. Additionally, the results show that both Twitter and Reddit are more likely to discuss the vaccine-autism link compared to online news content.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The detailed information about this validation procecess is available upon request from the corresponding author.

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