2 Gossip, rumour, and scandals In this part of the book, the analysis of the relationship between the interpersonal and the mediated dimension of the public scandal is deepened.1 The preceding chapter made it clear that these dimensions are more or less interwoven, a circumstance to which media researchers have not paid a great deal of attention because they have, as a rule, chosen to focus on the media themselves, employing a narrow definition of the ‘media’ concept. In order to acquire an idea of the inherent mechanisms of the scandal phenomenon, the focus in
crises, they increasingly encounter media content that blurs the line between reality and fiction. This includes everything from rumours and exaggerations on social media, through to partisan journalism, satire and completely invented stories that are designed to look like real news articles. Although this media content varies enormously, it is often grouped together under nebulous and all-encompassing terms such as ‘fake news’, ‘disinformation’ or ‘post-truth’ media. Scholars have started to pay serious attention to the production and impact of all
complex. Ethnographic research in the region illustrates how the widely reported flu-like side-effects produced fear, while rumours spread that the vaccine was a government scheme to exterminate the population, or a business opportunity for pharmaceutical companies ( Nyenyezi Bisoka et al. , 2021 ; MSF, 2019a , 2019b ). At the same time, people also described wanting to be vaccinated and finding themselves ineligible. 1 A senior MSF worker
than to fire them or publicly shame them ( Cooney, 2019 ). Libel laws in Britain also make it difficult to write about the #MeToo movement: it is difficult to name perpetrators, even if they have been forced to resign, or to report on rumours or commonly-known accusations, because of the fear of litigation. Women in INGOs, as in other industries, rely on whisper networks to stay safe and avoid abusers, but these whisper networks are necessarily kept closed and quiet
early 2018 MSF France had decided not to intervene in Beni despite evidence of poor access to paediatric and surgical care in the town. Still, MSF was operational in six projects throughout the province when an Ebola outbreak was confirmed in Nord Kivu on 1 August 2018. In late July, after hearing rumours that unexplained deaths had been occurring for months in Mangina, in the far north of Nord Kivu, members of the MSF Lubero project team accompanied
lemons and vinegar.’ For the general context of gossip and rumours, and in particular those about ‘baby-killing among refugees’, see Sandvik (2013) . 7 Field notes on file with author, Oslo, 23 January 2018. 8 For a general discussion of digitisation and datafication in humanitarian governance, see Dijkzeul and Sandvik
between trusted interlocutors might what does not fit the public transcript be discussed. At times these rumours floating around without a clear origin (a typical characteristic of rumours) can surface in the local pubs, when too much urwagwa (banana beer) has been consumed and where the danger exists that such ideas and opinions may be overheard by the omnipresent ears and eyes of the state, listening to record and act upon every instance of ingengabitekerezo ya jenoside – genocide ideology, including during the expressive activities developed in the gacaca
introduce them.’ One head of mission assistant described his daily work as ‘treading water’, analysing the evolving context and sorting through a ‘casserole’ of information and rumours. In his words: ‘I am the institutional memory – the branch, where birds [expatriates] land for support, before flying off again.’ It is not only assistants who network: security is ‘the job of everyone’ ( MSF-OCP, 2007 ). All staff are encouraged to share any information that may be pertinent for MSF’s operations and are expected to network as part of their role. In short, they ‘do security
Mali but it is almost unseen. There is a war in Mali but no one understands it,’ before explaining that ‘the media is having a lot of trouble getting close to the affected areas.’ From where he was, he commented, ‘the rare pieces of information are often only rumours, almost unverifiable because the phone lines have been cut in the part of the country that is still in rebel hands’ ( Berthemet, 2013 ). He added that the only people who had better information for
intrinsic quarantine logic and inability to provide care became rapidly obvious to the population. More than half of the patients admitted to ETUs died, and their bodies were buried anonymously (except in Liberia, where they have been mainly cremated), fostering rumours of body parts being harvested and of deliberate infection ( Calain and Poncin, 2015 ; Gomez-Temesio, 2018 ; Gomez-Temesio and Le Marcis, 2017 ). Residents