Crisis crowdsourcing in India and vaccine misinformation in Tunisia
This week we have updates on crowdsourcing in India as people try to co-ordinate lifesaving information, as well as a vaccine prank show in Tunisia that's angering the World Health Organization.
Join us on May 3 to observe World Press Freedom Day and celebrate the work of women journalists from Indonesia, Mexico, Lebanon and Kenya. Register here for the Zoom event.
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As the pandemic rages, desperate Indians are turning to online crowdsourcing for help (Rest of World)
As COVID-19 cases grew alarmingly in India, social media has become a helpline for coordination and for crowdsourcing life-saving information such as availability of bed and to organize oxygen supplies and plasma donors. Google sheets, Twitter threads and WhatsApp are been used to pass on information and have become a help line for coordination.
"The state’s failure to effectively share life-saving information has created an information gap, one that is now being filled by digital citizen-led initiatives. Online resources, such as volunteer-run Google Sheets and apps, have become crucial sources of life-saving information."
Tunisia’s Angelina Jolie-lookalike Covid-19 vaccine prank show angers WHO (The National)
A Tunisian prank show featuring an Angelina Jolie lookalike has raised COVID vaccine doubts, angering the World Health Organization.
"The media have a role to play in this area. But, we fear that this kind of programme, broadcast on a popular channel with a broad audience, will promote scepticism, hesitation to get vaccinated and conspiracies, by associating the vaccine with death or serious side effects."
Miami private school won't employ teachers who get the Covid-19 vaccine (NBC News)
Long-term side effects from the shots are "extremely unlikely," according to the CDC. Between Dec. 14 and April 19, more than 211 million doses of the vaccine were administered in the United States, the agency noted.
"One Centner Academy parent told NBC Miami that if she could pull her child out of the school now she would. However, she said she has already forked over $30,000 for tuition."
Q&A: It’s not just social media — misinformation can spread in scientific communication too (University of Washington)
When people think of misinformation, they often focus on popular and social media. But in a paper published April 12 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Washington faculty members Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom write that scientific communication — both scientific papers and news articles written about papers — also has the potential to spread misinformation.
"The researchers note that this doesn’t mean that science is broken. “Far from it,” write West, an associate professor at the UW Information School and the Center for an Informed Public’s inaugural director, and Bergstrom, a UW biology professor and a CIP faculty member. “Science is the greatest of human inventions for understanding our world, and it functions remarkably well despite these challenges. Still, scientists compete for eyeballs just as journalists do."
Meedan Updates
Defending Media Freedom in 2021: Check Global Network event to mark World Press Freedom Day
Join us and our panelists on World Press Freedom Day to discuss strategies to defend press freedom and to recognise and honour the work of journalists who have struggled to uncover truth in challenging times.
Panelists: Devi Asmarani from Magdalene, Indonesia, Lara Bitar from The Public Source, Lebanon, Tania Montenegro from Animal Politico, Mexico and Asha Mwilu from Debunk Media
Register here to join the online event on May 3, 2021.