Journalists should watch out for misinformation about vaccines and fake treatments for COVID-19 because misleading the public can lead to deaths, say two fact-checking experts who collaborate to debunk health myths in Asia.
Abraham discussed the reality today for reporters who have been thrown into covering the COVID-19 pandemic, and compared what is happening now with his experience covering the SARS virus in 2003. For Abraham, the key question journalists should be answering right now is what is the human story behind health and science reporting?
Facing a possible “extinction event” for independent media worldwide, journalists must work together globally to combat a triple threat of disinformation, government restrictions and economic calamity worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, three top editors said during an ICFJ webinar Friday.
¿Por qué es importante entender y analizar críticamente los ensayos clínicos en proceso para medicamentos y vacunas contra el COVID-19? La Dra. Gabriela Minaya, médica especializada en enfermedades infecciosas y tropicales, respondió esta pregunta en un seminario online realizado en el marco del Global Health Crisis Reporting Forum de ICFJ.
A noted virologist who has investigated threats from Ebola to SARS cautioned journalists to be wary of sources who pretend to be experts on COVID-19 since the disease was unknown to the world just a few months ago.
In the race to slow COVID-19, governments around the globe took aim at migration policies to keep the virus from crossing international borders, when the disease was clustered in just a handful of countries. Border closures, travel restrictions, and prohibitions on arrivals from certain areas were among leading policy responses in the early days to keep this from becoming a full-blown global pandemic. But, can they work in today’s globalized world?
Dr. Standley discussed the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health systems around the world and who's prepared, who's not, and who's doing the best job of responding. What have various countries failed to do in advance that they need to implement in the future to prevent pandemics like this one? What is this pandemic teaching us about preparedness?
El virus que ha ocasionado la pandemia de COVID-19 no tiene fronteras, pero los países sí. En un mundo que ha cerrado mayormente sus accesos de desplazamiento, ¿cuál es la situación de las personas que se encuentran en situación de migración en el corto, mediano, y largo plazo? ¿Qué pasa con el acceso a la salud de los migrantes indocumentados? ¿Los gobiernos aprovecharán la contingencia para aplicar políticas migratorias más restrictivas en el futuro?
All of journalism has a role to play as a bulwark against some of these Age of Disinformation effects — from news to documentary, from radio to print, from specialist to general, from legacy to start-up, from interactive to investigative. We’re all targets of disinformation agents and we all have a role in the fightback.
Dr. Kotloff said that while children infected with COVID-19 are faring better than adults in countries that have seen widespread outbreaks, it’s too soon to say whether the same will be true in countries where poverty, malnutrition and diseases like HIV and tuberculosis are more widespread. Here are highlight from the discussion.
