COVID-19 is not over and so is the infodemic that came with it. Fighting against it is as important as other steps everyone is taking to flatten the curve. The governments across the globe and World Health Organization (WHO) have said that it is as contagious as the virus itself.
Journalists were fighting against this infodemic on frontlines with the single objective to provide their audience with factual information. The organizations working for media development have been helping them in their work by providing them with essential information on tools and techniques they could use in their fight.
A Karachi-based not-for-profit Global Neighbourhood For Media Innovations (GNMI) has been doing the same in Pakistan for local journalists. It issued a guideline for journalists to work safely in COVID-19 when the cases started to rise in Pakistan. It also hosted a series of webinars with senior journalists, media professionals, and cyber analysts to dissect the infodemic, understanding its functioning, and finding ways to deal with it.
Several senior and mid-career journalists including Nadia Naqi, Syed Muzammil Shah, Iffat Hassan Rizvi, Izhar Ullah, Amber Rahim Shamsi, Ayesha Khalid, Niha Dagia, Asad Paban, Wajahat Masood, Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, Iftikhar Firdous, Nayyer Ali, Urooj Raza Sayyami, Ghareeda Farooqi, Ayesha Khalid, Asma Shirazi as well as co-founder of Bolo Bhi Farieha Aziz, and founder and president of GNMI Najia Ashar took part in the webinars.
These webinars were hosted under a program “fighting disinformation and supporting independent media in Pakistan.” The objective of the program is to further the professional development of the Pakistani press and strengthen the independent media by improving print, broadcast, and online media practitioners’ ability to develop fact-based, investigative reports and provide Pakistani citizens with the information need to make informed judgments about their lives, communities and public institutions.
These webinars covered a range of topics including infodemic in Pakistan and its effect on society, the role of women journalists in the fight against infodemic, ethical journalism, and hashtag campaigns, and challenges to freedom of information in the digital age.
Najia Ashar said that her organization had been working tirelessly during the pandemic to train journalists to check and tackling different forms of information disorder safely as it was the first time for most of the journalists in Pakistan to work in a health crisis at the global level.
“Journalists had been dealing with infodemic in their own ways but they did not know what it was and the proper ways to deal with it. We arranged online training, workshops, and webinars for them to help them understand this concept better,” she said.
She also mentioned that there was a lot of information, both true and false that added into workload of the journalists. Agreeing to it, journalist Kunwar Khuldune Shahid said in a webinar that one role of media was to filter the excessive information and it has become the important one in the digital era.
“The role of a journalist has transformed in the digital age. Media is no longer just limited to accessing and sharing information but also to filter the excessive information,” Shahid said. “Unfortunately in Pakistan, we have a fixed template dictated by powers that be, where information has to adjust to a predetermined reality and not the other way around.”
Taking the conversation forward, Nayyer Ali said that there was a need to ensure a smooth flow of information. She also talked about the online trolling and hashtag campaigns against a journalist that not only affect their work but also their physical and mental health.
“Journalists are the main affectee of fake news. Even those on social media are talking about fake news who do not what it is. A narrative has been building against journalists [on social media] with the help of [the term] fake news,” she said.
Urooj Sayyami said the breaking news culture in newsrooms was also adding pressure onto journalists and affecting the quality of their work. She shared how her previous organization used to force her to produce more breaking news. She said the organizations should free journalists from this pressure of producing more news to ensure the authenticity and credibility of news.
Journalists also discussed vaccine hesitancy and the role media could play to minimize it. Neha Dagia said that the journalists need to learn more about vaccine, their development and dissemination so they could report better on it. She also said that the government should follow the anti-polio vaccination campaign to vaccinate people against COVID-19 in areas with high hesitancy.
The journalists also shared their tips to deal with infodemic. They said the journalists should double-check the information from authentic sources before using it in their reports. They also suggested they use credible sources, infographics, and media content where necessary, avoid negations and false claims in the reports.
They also advised them to stay connected with organizations and journalists working for digital rights, technology, and social media to remain updated on the latest developments.
GNMI is a Karachi-based not-for-profit organization that works to promote innovation, excellence, and leadership in media. It believes in an independent, pluralistic, and innovative media that empowers every individual, communities, and democracy at all levels.
Write-up by Tehreem Azeem
