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new matters simultaneously are essential. Nevertheless, government
communications during the early stages of the outbreak instilled great
fear among citizens regarding the Thai government's capability to manage
the spread of the new virus strain. Questions arose whether there were
other approaches. Although the Thai government later intensified its
response to the outbreak of the new virus strain, in many instances,
communication was inconsistent or lacked clear direction.
Everyone in society can act as a sender, disseminating information
without verification or filtering. In this era, a sender can be anyone in
society who wishes to share or present information they have witnessed
or heard/read. However, information shared in this way does not undergo
accuracy checks or screening by editorial or central departments before
being shared with the public. This contrasts with the standard practice in
professional journalism. As a result, any particular piece of information
about COVID-19 shared by members of the public could possibly be
factual, opinionated, fake, distorted, or fabricated to spread rapidly and
widely through social media, leading to confusion.
Carrying out the responsibilities of mass media by presenting news
information currently of interest to society is a priority for news agencies.
The professional ethics of mass media that aim to present facts and
avoid stirring information must be applied with a professional inspection
and screening mechanism in place. However, the influx of information,