Journalists should fact-check reports on COVID-19—PCIJ

MANILA, Philippines — At a time when fake news and disinformation spread easily among the information-hungry public, journalists must closely work with scientists and public health experts to ensure the accuracy of reports about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and its profound impacts, according to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).

“This is the time, more than ever, to really raise critical discourse … We need to talk about facts first,” said Dominic Ligot, a data scientist and PCIJ board member, during an online forum on press freedom on Monday by Freedom for Media, Freedom for All Network, a coalition of media watchdogs in the Philippines.

“I think this is the opportunity for media and the scientific community to work together,” he added.

While the community quarantine has restricted movement for journalists, as well as access to resources, the press should not be deterred from their mission to provide truthful and accurate reporting on the state of the country amid the national health emergency, he said.

The World Health Organization had earlier said that the world is not only battling a pandemic, but an infodemic: the overabundance of information that may also include inaccurate information that can hamper the public’s decision-making.

Ligot said the politicization of the coronavirus had allowed for an easier sowing of false information. “Political narratives are really the foundations for disinformation, because where politics is, disinformation follows,” he said.

Ligot said journalists and scientists should come together to provide more accurate information to the public.

“There is a growing number of technical people who really want to help, but they don’t have a venue or platform for their views,” he said, “so this is really the opportunity for us to work with each other.”