In perhaps unparalleled fashion, the ongoing pandemic
has showcased the complex entanglements between science and other
fields of society, such as politics and the media. This intricate and often
conflictive relationship becomes particularly manifest in the controversies
surrounding scientific experts, who have been transformed
from science communicators into iconic figures since the outbreak
of COVID-19. Accordingly, this article examines two of these “pandemIcons,”
the American immunologist Anthony Fauci and the German
virologist Christian Drosten, which have functioned as sites of
ideological struggle. As this article shows, the cultural negotiation of
these iconic figures demonstrates not only how the media have been
engaging with images of scientists in Western countries during the
COVID-19 pandemic but also how repertoires of (often stereotypical
and hegemonic) images and rhetorical strategies employed in the formation
and transformation of these figures circulate across both media
and national borders.
«In perhaps unparalleled fashion, the ongoing pandemic
has showcased the complex entanglements between science and other
fields of society, such as politics and the media. This intricate and often
conflictive relationship becomes particularly manifest in the controversies
surrounding scientific experts, who have been transformed
from science communicators into iconic figures since the outbreak
of COVID-19. Accordingly, this article examines two of these “pandemIcons,”
the American i...
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