The rhetoric of reaction and the disinformation campaign in fake news about the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the argumentative structure of fake news in the Covid-19-era by focusing on its argumentative strength and persuasiveness. The concepts of Rhetoric of Reaction (HIRSCHMAN, 1992), Ethos and Pathos of Aristotle’s Classical Rhetoric and Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca’s New Rhetoric (1996) were the framework for the analysis. Our methodology was based on the analysis of three fake news reports related to the negationist campaign against the Covid-19 pandemic, each of which was taken as a prototype of the following categories proposed by Hirschman (1992): perversity, futility, and jeopardy theses. The results indicate that fake news should be understood as an inherently digital phenomenon that uses well-developed argumentative strategies as its objective is to cause discredit and doubt in the public opinion. Therefore, if we take the average citizen into account, fake news is highly persuasive and consequently should be considered of extreme danger to society and its democratic and scientific principles.