- About
- News & Events
- News
- News archive
- Fall 2024
- Featured Alumnus: Emma Jean is building a career in journalism and a network of FCAT alumni
- SFU Publishing Director Hannah McGregor's new book explores everyone's favourite dinosaur movie and what it means to be angry, monstrous, and free
- Scholarly Impact of the Week: Handbook explores essential role of ethnic media
- Summer 2024
- New book edited by SIAT Senior Lecturer Michael Filimowicz offers a comprehensive overview of sound design
- New Certificate in Sound offers interdisciplinary perspectives
- FCAT & SIAT partner with two BC school districts to bring new learning opportunities to indigenous students
- Lita Lising and Kiran Sonea are the inaugural recipients of the Shaun Kenneth Gauthier Memorial Award
- Communication alumnus and renowned acoustic ecologist Hildegard Westerkamp receives honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from SFU
- New award nurtures artists to push creative limits
- SCA's Laura U. Marks Receives Guggenheim Fellowship
- Spring 2024
- Congratulations to the 2023/2024 major graduate award recipients from FCAT
- "The Fold", a new book from the SCA's Laura U. Marks offers a philosophy for living in an infinitely connected cosmos
- IUPP student Morgan Peequaquat finds her voice and a community while organizing the Skoden Indigenous Film Festival
- SFU Publishing Director Hannah McGregor's new book asks "Can podcasting save academia?"
- Scholarly Impact of the Week: Understanding Authenticity Age Information Disorder
- Meet Sorren Jao, 2023 Lighthouse Lab Prize Recipient
- FCAT scholars awarded Community Engagement Initiative grants for their innovative work
- Going beyond diversity and inclusion: A Day with Dr. Kim TallBear
- Scholarly Impact of the Week: Hopeful Monster, an Imaginative, Innovative Soundscape
- Fall 2023
- Summer 2023
- SCA's Arne Eigenfeldt in The Conversation: Why the growth of AI in making art won’t eliminate artists
- FCAT hosts Safe Space for White Questions online discussion
- Our Way and The Klabona Keepers among 5th Annual Skoden Film Festival award winners
- FCAT supports northern BC communities with increased learning opportunities
- Master of Digital Media Grads Tackle Plastic Waste Blanketing Our Oceans with Group Shopping App
- June 2023 Convocation Featured Student Profiles
- Introducing FCAT Research Spotlight
- The School of Communication's 50th Anniversary: From 1973 to 2023
- Spring 2023
- Cody Sawatsky Memorial Plaque Unveiled at the SFU Surrey Campus
- Scholarly Impact of the Week: Michael Filimowicz
- School of Interactive Arts & Technology professor Wolfgang Stuerzlinger inducted to prestigious VR academy
- Meet Nico Hernandez, 2022 Lighthouse Lab Prize Recipient
- Jon Corbett Joins School of Interactive Art and Technology
- Welcome Kota Ezawa, the 2023 Spring Audain Visual Artist in Residence
- MPUB Alumnus Claire Cavanagh Becomes Literary Agent
- Alumnus designs Canucks Lunar New Year jersey
- 2023 Skoden Indigenous Film Festival
- How the Online Streaming Act will support Canadian content
- Meet Jonathan Newman, the 2022 Recipient of the Cody Sawatsky Memorial Award in Gaming
- Fall 2022
- Eight SFU innovators bestowed with Canada’s highest academic honour
- SIAT Convocation Features October 2022
- Graduating Student Sharlyn Monillas Tells Us About Her Time in CMNS
- Centre for Digital Media partners with Ethọ́s Lab to improve Black representation in digital media
- Explore the Surrey Community Open House SIAT Project Demos
- new interdisciplinary technology aid wilderness search and rescue
- Building better democracies through journalism
- Charter alumnus making a big impact through small gifts
- Summer 2022
- FCAT June 2022 Convocation: Looking back
- Meet Contemporary Arts alum Krystle Silverfox
- SFU researchers receive over $6 million to tackle online disinformation, foster data fluencies
- SIAT researchers develop and curate exhibition at Galiano Island’s Yellowhouse Art Centre
- Roll out the red carpet: Surrey students showcase filmmaking talent
- Spring 2022
- FACTS AND FALSEHOODS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
- Celebrating Black History Month across the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology
- SFU professor shares experience living and teaching in war-torn Ukraine
- SFU artists and researchers showcase art installation on Surrey’s ‘UrbanScreen’
- Leadership and Agile Production Management micro-credential established in partnership with DigiBC
- Leading with heart: Meet Staff Achievement Award winner Corbin Saleken
- HOW GOOGLE’S SEARCH ENGINE SUPPORTS CONSPIRACY THEORISTS AND HATE FIGURES
- SFU staffer’s commitment to local arts community nets staff achievement award
- Fall 2021
- Fall 2021 Convocation: Looking back
- TikTok/Instagram video contest
- Meet communication undergraduate student Ashran Bharosha
- FCAT Pro Workshop: Professionally Brand Yourself & Create a Digital Portfolio!
- SFU establishes first interdisciplinary and practice-based PhD in contemporary arts in Western Canada
- To design a more ethical app, consider youth well-being
- Peter Anderson: Fighting fires with better emergency communication
- FCAT Alumni Excellence Award winners reflect on their awards and their time in their programs
- This season, give the gift of tech literacy — not addiction — along with that device
- Study identifies link between certain lifestyle activities and reduced cognitive decline
- Summer 2021
- SFU Publishing Launches the Greg Younging Publishing Award Endowment
- Resources and readings to start National Indigenous History Month
- Celebrating Indigenous history and culture during National Indigenous History Month
- Communication honours student studies online conspiracy theories, disinformation
- Making the world a better place: criminology alumnus turned interdisciplinary artist continues academic journey
- FCAT June 2021 Convocation: Looking back
- An invisible polluter: SFU researchers investigate the growing carbon footprint of streaming media
- Low res, high impact: Small File Media Festival raises awareness of the carbon footprint of online streaming
- Welcoming Canada HomeShare to Metro Vancouver
- FCAT faculty members receive tri-council grants to support their research
- Spring 2021
- Winners of the FCAT Student Photo Contest Spring 2021
- Alex Krilow receives first Greg Younging Undergraduate Award in Publishing
- FCAT Student Photo Contest Spring 2021
- Skoden Indigenous Film Festival co-founder and SCA alumnus returns to teach Skoden course
- Communication professor Martin Laba shares what he's learning about remote teaching
- In the rush for coronavirus information, unreviewed scientific papers are being publicized
- Film alumnus Kelvin Redvers receives Governor General’s Meritorious Service Medal
- Fall 2024
- News archive
- Events
- FCAT Research and Teaching Forum
- FCAT Undergraduate & Graduate Conference
- 2024 FCAT Undergraduate & Graduate Conference
- 2023 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- 2022 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- 2021 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- Cancelled: 2020 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- 2019 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- 2018 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- 2017 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- 2016 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- 2015 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- 2014 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- 2013 FCAT Undergraduate Conference
- FCAT Convocation Celebration October 2024
- Featured Student
- Featured alumnus
- FCAT Podcasts
- Speakable Podcast
- FCAT After School Podcast
- Season One
- Episode 0: Welcome to After School
- Episode 1: Finding Your Creative Potential with Prem Gill
- Episode 2: Inclusivity in the Performance Arts with Aryo Khakpour
- Episode 3: Connecting Design and Technology with Sofia Bautista
- Episode 4: Storytelling in Game Design with Mars Balisacan
- Episode 5: Challenging the Status Quo through Art with Shion Skye Carter & Stefan Nazarevich
- Episode 6: Starting Your Own Publishing Company with Jesse Finkelstein
- Episode 7: Finding Happiness in Your Work with Nick Doering
- Episode 8: Making a Name in Independent Filmmaking with Gloria Mercer
- Episode 9: It All Starts with a Strategy with Adam Brayford
- Episode 10: Shifting Places, Shifting Minds with Milton Lim
- Episode 11: Being the Big Piece in a Small Pie with Jordan Yep
- Episode 12: Reimagining Dance Training with Tin Gamboa
- Episode 13: Standing Out as a Creative with Sara Milosavic
- Episode 15: Kristin Richter
- Season Two
- Episode 0: Welcome to FCAT After School Series 2!
- Episode 1: Entrepreneurship in UX Design with Eric Lee
- Episode 2: Community and Adaptability in the Performing Arts with Howard Dai
- Episode 3: Mastering the Art of Publishing with Jazmin Welch
- Episode 4: Navigating your Educational Journey with Broadcaster Simi Sara
- Episode 5: Career Transitions of a Software Engineer with Vic Ong
- Episode 6: Becoming Your Own Boss with Kirstin Richter
- Episode 7: Gaining a Global Outlook with Kai Bockmann
- Episode 8: Finding Your Place in Publishing with Heidi Waechtler
- Episode 9: Exploring Virtual Production with Brenda Medina
- Episode 10: Inclusion in the Design Industry with Priscilla Skylar Lee
- Episode 11: Exploring Study Focus in Contemporary Arts with Sophie Tang
- Season Three
- Episode 0: Season 3 Coming Soon!
- Episode 1: Following Your Creative Passions with Cameron Maitland
- Episode 2: Shame Demons and Queer Sci-fi Horror with Mily Mumford
- Episode 3: The Poetry of Publishing with Charlotte Nip
- Episode 4: Clowning, Failing, and Re-enchanting the Everyday with June Fukumura
- Episode 5: Tech, Meditation, and Leaving a Legacy with Jay Vidyarthi
- Episode 6: Your Work Is Not Your Life with Valentina Forté-Hernandez
- Episode 7: Trying Everything Once and the Future of Media with Jason D’Souza
- Episode 8: Decolonizing and Doing What You Have Always Done with Audrey Heath
- Episode Transcripts
- Season 3, Episode 7: Trying Everything Once and the Future of Media with Jason D’Souza
- Season 3, Episode 6: Your Work Is Not Your Life with Valentina Forté-Hernandez
- Season 3, Episode 5: Tech, Meditation, and Leaving a Legacy with Jay Vidyarthi
- Season 3, Episode 4: Clowning, Failing, and Re-enchanting the Everyday with June Fukumura
- Season 3, Episode 3: The Poetry of Publishing with Charlotte Nip
- Season 3, Episode 2: Shame Demons and Queer Sci-fi Horror with Mily Mumford
- Season 3, Episode 1: Following Your Creative Passions with Cameron Maitland
- Season 2, Episode 11: Exploring Study Focus in Contemporary Arts with Sophie Tang
- Season 2, Episode 10: Inclusion in the Design Industry with Priscilla Skylar Lee
- Season 2, Episode 9: Exploring Virtual Production with Brenda Medina
- Season 2, Episode 8: Finding Your Place in Publishing with Heidi Waechtler
- Season 2, Episode 7: Kai Bockmann
- Season 2, Episode 6: Becoming Your Own Boss with Kirstin Richter
- Season 2, Episode 5: Career Transitions of a Software Engineer with Vic Ong
- Season 2, Episode 4: Navigating your Educational Journey with Broadcaster Simi Sara
- Season 2, Episode 3: Mastering the Art of Publishing with Jazmin Welch
- Season 2, Episode 2: Community and Adaptability in the Performing Arts with Howard Dai
- Season 2, Episode 1: Entrepreneurship in UX Design with Eric Lee
- Season One
- News
- Future students
- Current students
- Impact
- Get involved
- Research
- Counsellors
School of Communication, Health & Sciences, Media & Politics
FACTS AND FALSEHOODS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
Throughout the pandemic, quick access to scientific findings has been essential to keeping the public informed. The use of preprints—scientific manuscripts posted on open access sources like bioRxiv and medRxiv prior to peer review—was quickly adopted by media outlets. SFU researchers caution that while access to research is imperative, publishing unverified science comes with risks.
Juan Pablo Alperin is an associate professor in the Publishing Program, the Associate Director of Research for the Public Knowledge Project, and co-director of the Scholarly Communications Lab. Alice Fleerackers is a PhD student in the Scholarly Communications Lab, where she studies how uncertain health science is communicated and shared online. Their article, Communicating Scientific Uncertainty in an Age of COVID-19: An Investigation into the Use of Preprints by Digital Media Outlets was one of the top-cited academic papers from SFU in 2021.
Fleerackers led the investigation into media outlets’ use of preprints in the first few months of the pandemic. Sharing the quick and collective discoveries of the scientific community with the public has helped save lives. However, the use of research preprints also meant unproven ideas about COVID-19 were quickly shared as well. In addition, of over 450 media articles studied, including those from prominent sources such as the New York Times, only about half mentioned the research was unverified.
We talked with Alperin and Fleerackers about their peer-reviewed paper.
Can you talk about the role of preprints in sharing information?
While our study examined how journalists used preprints in their work, we should remember that the primary users of preprints are scholars themselves. Preprints offer us an organized way of sharing our work quickly and, by doing so, getting our ideas and findings to circulate more broadly. They build on the growing trend to share research openly, giving a greater number of people—researchers and non-researchers alike—an opportunity to read and make use of the work.
Journalists have often been discouraged from reporting on preprints, but the urgency of COVID-19 seems to have changed things. With little peer reviewed evidence available about the new virus, media outlets turned to preprints for information. In our own research, we saw preprints about COVID-19 covered by all types of media outlets during the early months of the pandemic: from news aggregators and web portals, like Yahoo! News or MSN, to high profile outlets, like the Guardian or the New York Times.
On the one hand, this broad coverage of preprints may have been helpful, even lifesaving, as it allowed for rapid communication of evidence about COVID-19 prevention, diagnosis and treatment. On the other, coverage of some flawed preprints may have added to the mounting misinformation and confusion of the “infodemic.”
Now that we are three years into the pandemic, are media outlets better able to scrutinize information? How should media outlets approach unreviewed research?
When we first started working on this study back in spring of 2020, it felt like almost no one was talking about preprints in journalism. Since then, we have seen a flurry of webinars, news stories, tip sheets and other resources launched to help journalists cover these unreviewed studies effectively. While we cannot say for sure what the impact of these efforts has been, it has been exciting to see academics, preprint servers and journalists coming together to tackle this communication challenge.
The question of how journalists should cover preprints is complex, but we can offer a few guiding principles that might be helpful.
- First, think critically about the implications of sharing the research before deciding whether to cover it. Do the potential benefits for the public outweigh the potential risks? If not, it might be worth holding off until the work has been peer reviewed.
- Second, seek outside opinion on the research you are covering. This is a standard best practice of science journalism, but arguably even more important when reporting on preprints (particularly those about COVID-19).
- Third, be clear about the unreviewed nature of the study, as well as about any limitations or caveats you identify. Emphasize that the findings could change, and contextualize them within the larger body of evidence so that your audience has an understanding of the bigger picture.
- Finally, remember that all science—peer reviewed or not—is provisional. Remind your readers that the integrity of research lies not in the rigor of any individual study but in the self-correcting mechanism of science itself.
Uncertainty and misinformation about COVID-19 is circulating, and sometimes even authoritative voices make mistakes. How can science communicators do a better job at sharing timely and true information?
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is the importance of being critical and reflexive in science communication. Check facts, question evidence, investigate claims—no matter their source. As award-winning journalist Deborah Blum aptly puts it, the true value of science journalism lies not in its ability to “cheerlead” science but to contextualize it: "to portray research accurately in both its rights and its wrongs and stand unflinchingly for the integrity of the story."