ABSTRACT
A full-blown global pandemic has finally instilled in us that we live in a globalized society, which comes with a variety of inherent risks. Most of these risks are human-made and yet difficult to predict. The role of media in “risk society,” to use Ulrich Beck’s concept, is especially consequential, being simultaneously conduit of information and source of risk when they disseminate false information. As the first great pandemic in the digital age, the COVID-19 crisis is a useful backdrop to examine the entanglements between media and risks. This chapter revisits Beck’s idea of risk society, highlighting its national dimension and capacity to influence politics. It offers a brief background of the pandemic and discusses two thematic novels, Albert Camus’ The Plague and Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year , as a reminder of the enduring interplay between individual, society, and information. It also serves as introduction to the remaining chapters in the book.
