From top scientist to science media star during COVID-19 – South Africa's Salim Abdool Karim
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa
Abstract
Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned a handful of leading scientists into highly visible public
figures. Anthony Fauci is the media star in the USA; Roberto Burioni in Italy; and in Sweden, it is Anders Tegnell.
In Germany, Christian Drosten has become a household name, while Hugo Lopez-Gatell is highly visible in Mexico.
In South Africa, we witnessed a remarkable surge in the public prominence of Professor Salim Abdool Karim
following his appointment, in mid-April 2020, to lead a Ministerial Advisory Committee advising government on
combating COVID-19. Data from Pear Africa, a South African media monitoring company, show that Abdool Karim
featured in 545 print, broadcast and online media items during April 2020, compared with 20 in April 2019.
Tracing Abdool Karim’s journey towards becoming a trusted public voice of science on COVID-19 reveals meaningful
insights into the relationships between scientists, policymakers and the South African public. It also illustrates how
Abdool Karim follows an international cultural trend whereby charismatic scientists approach celebrity status under
certain conditions, giving them unique power in shaping public trust in science.1
For this case study, I explored the characteristics of Abdool Karim’s engagement with the South African public
during the COVID-19 pandemic in the light of two key dimensions of quality in science communication, namely
‘visibility’ (including accessibility) and ‘credibility’ (encompassing expertise, trust and relevance). Both are needed
for people to make decisions about costs, risks, benefits and ethics.2
Furthermore, I considered the effect of his
communication skill (efficacy) and his willingness to engage (attitude).
Description
CITATION: Joubert, M. 2020. From top scientist to science media star during COVID-19 – South Africa's Salim Abdool Karim. South African Journal of Science, 116(7/8):Art. #8450, doi:10.17159/sajs.2020/8450.
The original publication is available at https://www.sajs.co.za
The original publication is available at https://www.sajs.co.za
Keywords
COVID-19 (Disease), Abdool Karim, Salim, Scientists -- South Africa
Citation
Joubert, M. 2020. From top scientist to science media star during COVID-19 – South Africa's Salim Abdool Karim. South African Journal of Science, 116(7/8):Art. #8450, doi:10.17159/sajs.2020/8450.