Exploring possible future worlds with the practice of design fiction

Comment faire parler les silences médiatiques ?

Cette séance accorde une place à l’histoire des médias, comme perspective susceptible de nourrir le projet d’une éducation critique aux médias. Les deux intervenant·es sont en effet historien·ne contemporanéistes, habitué·es à considérer le poids des représentations médiatiques dans la construction des séquences historiques. Les médias (presse généraliste, presse spécialisée, médias audiovisuels) constituent dès lors à la fois des sources et des objets d’histoire, comme le montrent leurs différents travaux.

François Provenzano

On the Rhetorical Use of “Stealth” and “Invisibility” in Pandemic Communication

Soon after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the novel coronavirus was described as a “stealth virus” because those who carry it are highly contagious before they show any signs of infection. This is indeed a major public health issue: If people are contagious well before they show any symptoms, strategies of contact tracing and containment are bound to play catch-up. However, the label of the “stealth virus” was also instrumentalized, especially in political rhetoric, to insinuate a lack of transparency of the virus itself. This post briefly explores how the label of the “stealth virus” was rhetorically weaponized for political purposes.

Tony Pape