Video Badger Talks video: How to communicate responsibly during a pandemic

We’re awash in discussion of risks right now. Risks to our health, to our community and to the economy. But how can we think clearly about risks during a pandemic, and how can the media responsibly communicate about what we do and do not know about the risks we face?

In this Badger Talks video, we tackle risk communication with Dominique Brossard, professor and chair of Life Sciences Communication and an affiliate with the Morgridge Institute for Research.

What we know about risk assessment, Brossard says, is that people try to convert objective measures of risks, such as probabilities, into subjective measures —whether to meet up with friends again or send kids back to daycare. One key element is trust. Because we tend to trust the messages shared by those we deem trustworthy, it’s essential that we evaluate why we’re choosing to trust the experts that we do.

Much of this comes down to the media, who are sharing information about risks every day. Brossard says that responsible outlets must avoid portraying uncertain risks as settled science. And reporters should always be clear about who their sources are so news consumers can evaluate the trustworthiness of the message.