The purpose of this study is to examine users ́ opinions regarding the Swedish management of the covid-19 pandemic in two echo chambers, consisting of the comment fields in two ideologically different news pages on Facebook, Aftonbladet and Samtiden. Using a quantitative content analysis in different steps, the study will attempt to answer the following questions: - What opinions are expressed in two eco-chambers regarding the pandemic management in Sweden? -To what extent are these common or not between the echo chambers? The empirical material consists a total of 696 comments which will be analysed and compiled into a result. The result will then be set against two opposing theories, the theory of the Public Sphere and the theory of echo chambers, where these disagree upon whether the two different news pages lead to polarization. Depending on the outcome, the result can be said to be in agreement with one or both of the theories. The result of the study shows that the opinions of the users in the echo chambers are mainly the same which supports the theory of the Public Sphere and the idea of a need for a common consensus in order to maintain a functioning democracy. The opinions concern the subjects Sweden, the Swedish government, the Swedish state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, the Restrictions and statistic rapports about the death toll in Sweden. The results provide information about the effects of echo chambers in an ongoing pandemic and the overall complexity around the definition of the term.

The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has been since its early beginnings accompanied by the spread of the so called 'infodemic' of misinformation and conspiracy theories about the virus in the media. This infodemic swiftly started to present a matter of significant concern especially in the dynamic landscape of digital media which due to an ease of sharing and content contribution allowed for Covid-19 conspiracy theories to continue to gain momentum. Because of the severe implications that the potential ill-informed actions of conspiracy theory believers could have on the public health, it is necessary to gain a better understanding of the conspiracy theory believers and the way that they spread Covid-19 conspiracy theories. With this in mind, this thesis through the use of qualitative interviews probed into the worldviews of Covid-19 conspiracy theory believers in the Czech Republic. The analytical scrutiny of the interviews through the lens of the theories of network society, context collapse and echo chambers provided important insights into how Czech Covid-19 conspiracy theory believers use digital media in order to learn about and disseminate Covid-19 conspiracy theories. Additionally, this thesis provides an understanding of how the way the conspiracy theory believers navigate context collapse on Facebook drives them to seek echo chambers on e-mail which strengthen their beliefs in Covid-19 conspiracy theories. Moreover, my thesis also sheds light onto how the echo chambers are instrumental in the individuals' distrust in traditional media.

This study examines the relationship between media use and support/hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccine. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between social media and traditional media use and support/hesitancy attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. We want to analyse how social and traditional media use as a news source is related to support and hesitancy attitudes. Furthermore, we want to see if media use as a news source has any relation to the trade-off attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccine. We have found a research gap in the COVID-19 pandemic and connection between social and traditional media use as a news source and support, hesitancy, and trade-off attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. RQ 1: What is the relationship between social media use as a news source and support/hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccine? RQ 2: What is the relationship between traditional media use as a news source and support/hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccine? The method of this study is a quantitative survey regarding media use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and support, hesitancy, and trade-off attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. The population size is 201 Swedish citizens between the ages of 18-65. The sample was collected through a snowball sample. The study provides a theoretical framework consisting of crisis communication, misinformation, echo chambers, public opinion, and social amplification of risk. Furthermore, the study presents previous research which is similar to the study. The previous research presents some key findings such as social media use tends to increase during crises, how echo chambers can be increased by the feeling of fear, and research on attitudes towards vaccines. Previous research also presents how misinformation is being spread on social media and how the anti-vaccination movement takes advantage of the postmodern health paradigm which makes people turn to the internet with their medical problems. The study concludes that in some instances traditional media can have a positive relation to supportive attitudes and social media connects to some of the hesitant opinions towards COVID-19. / Denna studie undersöker förhållandet mellan medieanvändning och förespråkande/tveksamhet mot COVID-19-vaccinet. Syftet med denna studie är att analysera förhållandet mellan sociala medier och traditionell medieanvändning och attityder till förespråkande/tveksamhet gentemot COVID-19-vaccinet. Vi vill analysera hur de sociala och traditionella medierna som nyhetskälla är relaterade till förespråkande och tveksamhet. Vidare vill vi se om medieanvändning som nyhetskälla har något samband med avvägningsinställningen till COVID-19. Vi har hittat ett forsknings hål i COVID-19-pandemin och sambandet mellan social och traditionell medieanvändning som nyhetskälla och förespråkande, tveksamhet och avvägningsattityder till COVID-19-vaccinet. RQ 1: Vad är förhållandet mellan användning av sociala medier som nyhetskälla och förespråkande/tveksamhet mot COVID-19-vaccinet? RQ 2: Vad är förhållandet mellan traditionell medieanvändning som nyhetskälla och förespråkande/tveksamhet mot COVID-19-vaccinet? Metoden för denna studie är en kvantitativ undersökning om medieanvändning före och under COVID-19-pandemin och förespråkande, tveksamhet och avvägning av attityder till COVID-19-vaccinet. Befolkningsstorleken är 201 svenska medborgare i åldrarna 18-65. Urvalet samlades in genom ett snowball sample. Studien har ett teoretiskt ramverk som består av kriskommunikation, misinformation, ekokammare, attityder och social förstärkning av risk. Dessutom presenterar studien tidigare forskning som liknar studien. Den tidigare forskningen presenterar några viktiga resultat, såsom användningen av sociala medier tenderar att öka under kriser, hur ekokammare kan ökas av känslan av rädsla och forskning om attityder till vacciner. Tidigare forskning presenterar också hur misinformation sprids på sociala medier och hur antivaccinationsrörelsen utnyttjar det postmodern health paradigm som får människor att vända sig till internet med sina medicinska problem. Studien drar slutsatsen att traditionella medier i vissa fall kan ha en positiv relation till stödjande attityder och att sociala medier ansluter till några av de tveksamma åsikterna mot COVID-19.

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Previous research has detailed concerns that exposure to both pro- and counter- attitudinal content on social media can result in outcomes of ideological polarization (e.g. Bail et al., 2018; Lu & Lee, 2018). However, further research is needed in order to understand the conditions under which this polarization may take place. To investigate this issue, this study utilizes a sample of 414 social media users in the U.S. to investigate the mediating effects of a) anger toward political opposites and b) anger toward oppositional social media content on the relationships between various types of political content exposure and the outcome of ideological polarization. Results revealed that both types of politically oriented anger partially or fully mediated all relationships between the explanatory variables and the outcome variable, demonstrating that exposure to all types of political content on social media can affect polarization through the mechanism of anger. Theoretical implications for the echo chamber theory and the backfire effect are discussed.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第19385号 / 情博第595号 / 新制||情||104(附属図書館) / 32399 / 新制||情||104 / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科通信情報システム専攻 / (主査)教授 山本 衛, 教授 津田 敏隆, 教授 佐藤 亨 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(医学) / 乙第13030号 / 論医博第2112号 / 新制||医||1016(附属図書館) / 32988 / (主査)教授 三森 経世, 教授 松田 秀一, 教授 戸口田 淳也 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第19931号 / 医博第4151号 / 新制||医||1017(附属図書館) / 33017 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 高橋 淳, 教授 髙橋 良輔, 教授 大森 孝一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間健康科学) / 甲第21039号 / 人健博第55号 / 新制||人健||4(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科人間健康科学系専攻 / (主査)教授 二木 淑子, 教授 藤井 康友, 教授 妻木 範行 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human Health Sciences / Kyoto University / DFAM

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