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View all search resultsMedia’s role vital in fight against 'infodemics' in time of coronavirus: Experts
Melinda Frost, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) risk communication adviser, said Wednesday that the organization had taken measures to address infodemics — an excess of information, both factual and false, including disinformation and rumors — since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.
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A person walks in front of a digital explanation of ways to prevent coronavirus transmission at Eka Hospital Hospital, Cibubur, Bogor, West Java, on Monday. (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)
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s the world battles the global outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus, which has now reached some 80 countries with the number of infections inching ever closer to 100,000, people now need to look out for another threat, “infodemics”.
Melinda Frost, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) risk communication adviser, said Wednesday that the organization had taken measures to address infodemics — an excess of information, both factual and false, including disinformation and rumors — since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The way we’re doing that is to cut through the noise by managing other sources of information and amplifiers [outside mainstream media]. We are working with different sectors: member states, health ministries, tourism sectors, and so on,” Frost said during a live telecast of a webinar held by the WHO and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
“We develop information and guidance to help these different sectors to give a response, with the ultimate goal to reach individuals”.
In a saturated information landscape, trust is the key to ensuring people receive correct information.
“Our role [as journalists] is to be a trusted agent [of information],” said Ida Jooste, a global health adviser at Internews, an international NGO offering training for media professionals worldwide.
Jooste pointed out that a key role of media professionals during a global health crisis such as the COVID-19 outbreak was to provide truthful, not just a plausible, information.
