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Showing posts from January, 2025

Addressing the Exploitation of Radiation Fear: A Self-Assessment Guide to Counter Disinformation

In December 2024, two events —drone sightings in the US and Israel’s strike on Syria’s weapon depots— were followed by orchestrated reports of detected radiation spikes. Some media outlets took these dubious reports (with millions of views) that originated from social media , and published pieces based on them. In one of these cases, the actors behind the disinformation campaign exploited a real-time radiation map, which is maintained by a private company  that manufactures personal dosimeters, to sustain the narrative. Kim Zetter has recently published " Anatomy of a Nuclear Scare ", an article that covers this issue. This trend does not come as a surprise, as radioactivity is one of those few things that can collectively trigger significant levels of societal anxiety and emotional, rather than rational, response, which is often disproportionate to the actual physical risks it poses. This radiation fear has been shaped during years by a mix of cultural, historical, and media...