Coronavirus, fake news, conspiracies and Trump

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
• Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)

Donald Trump / Credit: Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Editor's Note : Roberto Izurieta is director of Latin American Projects at George Washington University. He has worked in political campaigns in several countries in Latin America and Spain and has been an advisor to the presidents Alejandro Toledo of Peru, Vicente Fox of Mexico and Alvaro Colom of Guatemala. Izurieta is also an analyst of political issues at CNN in Spanish. The opinions expressed in this column are exclusive to the author.

(CNN Spanish) - Donald Trump has always had an unfulfilled date with the truth. Facts and reality are confused promoted by political interests. Election campaigns are a favorable place for this confusion, sponsored by how easy it is to manage to manipulate social networks with false news. Generally, when winning the elections, most political leaders are aware that the facts prevail: "data kills story".

In these times of epidemics - and in which we will most likely reach a pandemic - what we should avoid is hysteria and to avoid it we need a voice, a message and a spokesperson who we can trust in what he says. Fake news exaggerations, confusion of facts with reality have been the heart of the political communication of recent years. Unfortunately, all of us will have to pay the price for that confusion.

The day of possession as president was the most graphic example in this strategy for communicating with the public, when Donald Trump said that was the busiest act in the history of acts of presidential possession in Washington. They went so far to the point of distorting the photos of their act of possession. It was unbelievable because the oath of the first black American president of the United States, eight years ago, could not be overcome. The message was not credible and it was proved that Trump's famous photo, comparing himself and, supposedly surpassing Barack Obama, was false.

This type of facts, defaults, contradictions and false news continued, but served the political and communication purpose. Donald Trump understands as few that, unfortunately, communication in the era of social networks has become much more immediate, more difficult to confirm. That is very useful for demagogy and spreading false rumors. In these times, communication is for that moment and, if it is later denied, it is old news and a new one has been created: those are the political advantages of virtual realities.

The crisis we are facing now with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) is very different: the facts quickly prevail and the issue does not change to the next topic in less than 24 hours. The coronavirus is here to spread, stay and maybe come back again in the coming winter. If we begin to confuse the facts of reality, what is lost is credibility and loss (it goes without an accent) credibility can spread panic and with it all that entails. The fall of the US stock market it may become only a pale reflection of the consequences of the uncertainty and fear that a public health crisis can create.

In public health, which, as the name implies, involves us all, we must faithfully refer to the facts: a reliable communication based on the facts. It is the only thing that can calm us, order us and, above all, clarify its consequences. Expressions very frequently used by Donald Trump as: "I am a genius", "I know (he carries an accent) more than the generals", "the greatest", "the most intelligent", "enormous", "the best" or the last "It will happen like a miracle", they are not effective in this type of crisis, they have no effect on a public health crisis. On the contrary, they play against.

Problems of this magnitude require knowledge, depth of analysis, clear state policies. The exchange between the chief medical correspondent of CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and the president confusing the death rate with that of the flu (which is at least 20 times more lethal); to confuse the mortality rate with the one of contagion (when there are more people infected by the flu than with the COVID-19 virus that concerns us now), not having a basic idea of ​​how many patients in the US die from (must say a) consequence of the flu; This cannot be solved with real or unreal sound bites.

We must know the facts, we must inform ourselves, educate ourselves and adapt to this enormous public health challenge. At times like these it is essential to know if this COVID-19 is more lethal than the (SARS of more than ten years ago); We must know if your potential for contagion is greater. But above all we must know how to act against that threat. In short, the leader plays a fundamental role in informing and educating us about what we should do as soon as we suffer the symptoms (such as going to the doctor, being examined), stop exposing other people (being at home), knowing how to sneeze, clean the surfaces frequently, heal and not spread to contain the spread of the virus. A leader is a guide that we can and should trust, but Donald Trump is indebted to the truth.

Health agencies leave and must go out to alleviate that lack of credibility; but I fear that his messages are very technical when communication is needed to be political, with politics understood as the great ability to reach the public to produce great changes. In this case, the change is to combat the effects of this challenge on public health, the economy and well-being.

coronavirus