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Research Report on Ugandan Media Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Public Affairs 2020

Kampala: African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) (2021), v, 46 pp.

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Manual para periodistas: Nuevas maneras de informar y comunicar la COVD-19

Calandria (2021), 125 pp.

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Social Media and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Dilemma of Fake News Clutter Vs. Social Responsibility

Moez Ben Messaoud

Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, volume 14, issue 1 (2021), pp. 25-45

"This article examines the relationship between fake news and social media as increasingly important sources of news, at a time when mainstream media no longer have exclusive control over news production and dissemination. It has been evident that few media outlets and professionals tend to draw con ... flicting news about COVID-19 from social media feeds, which are largely produced by common citizens with mostly no journalism training. This pervasive use makes social media key sources to scores of media outlets for news, whether it is related to COVID-19 or public affairs issues, even though it is susceptible to torrents of credibility and accuracy issues. As a result, of the overwhelming spread of fake news on coronavirus, which is contributing to framing events from several angles, media professionals are now obliged to track and vet information circulating on social media. Due to the scale of disinformation spreading on the Web, it has become imperative that the credibility and accuracy of news is thoroughly verified. Media organizations have already been putting in place various mechanisms to monitor false news. This article will attempt to identify and assess these monitoring efforts in the Arab world. For this purpose, I have put together a list of Arab observatories launched on the internet in order to monitor fake news circulating in relation to COVID-19, and to discuss their methods of monitoring work, in the context of mobilization carried out by governments and many organizations such as the World Health Organization. This article is pinned down on social responsibility approach which helps pave the way the differentpropositions to combat fake news and avoid abuses in social media uses. This article proposes an evaluation of the monitoring initiative viaa- vis fake news and proposes a set of guidelines for improving the work of such monitoring bodies. Hence, this research reveals that social media outlets have diversified their goals to match the power of the conventional media in disseminating information and bringing up issues for debate. However, in the light of the framework of social responsibility, social media actors have to constantly develop a set of ethical practices to be observed by users, establish codes of conduct regulating content production, and lay down a code of integrity to assure accuracy in news and information transmission." (Abstract). more

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Demand Creation and Advocacy for COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Uptake

FHI 360 (2021), 20 pp.

"This quick start guide was developed to support FHI 360 programs and its partners to design and implement demand creation and advocacy activities as part of national COVID-19 vaccine introduction efforts. The guide draws primarily on FHI 360’s experience designing and implementing SBC programs to ... more

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Risk Communication and Community Engagement Guidance on COVID-19 Vaccines for Marginalised Populations

Collective Service for Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) (2021), 29 pp.

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Myths and Misconceptions on Covid-19: ‘Congo Check’ and ‘Talato’ Verification Experiences

Fabíola Ortiz dos Santos

Frontiers in Communication, volume 6, issue 627214 (2021), 21 pp.

"This paper asks: How do fact-checkers combat/halt Covid-19 myths and misconceptions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic? How do they engage in social media networks toward sense-giving and sharing corrective information? It discusses two cases of online media projec ... more

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The COVID-19 Story: Unmasking China's Global Strategy

Louisa Lim, Julia Bergin, Johan Lidberg

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) (2021), 7 pp.

"China has used Covid to benefit its global image through the activation of existing media dissemination channels overseas and the use of new tactics such as disinformation and misinformation. China’s largescale medical diplomacy campaign has also provided propaganda wins in many developing countr ... ies, burnishing Beijing’s image as a reliable partner. Anecdotal reports indicate that Beijing has stepped up its content offerings, in particular by tailoring content including disinformation for specific countries and translating state-run messages into local languages. In some countries, China was also seen as the purveyor of the most accurate information about the new coronavirus, showing its growing influence over global narratives. For Beijing, Covid diplomacy clearly offers another means through which it can exert its influence. This research shows that countries that are recipients of China’s Covid vaccine clearly have more positive coverage of China, but it cannot draw conclusions as to the factors behind that. This strategy has largely been acceptable to global journalists, who — judging by the results of our focus groups in three separate countries — do not perceive China’s advances as a threat at a national level. Such views are in part due to the incremental nature of the changes, the clumsiness of China’s propaganda effort and the irrelevance of much of the material provided to local audiences. However, the survey does reveal that when viewed globally, there does appear to be more concern about China’s influence, in particular in the Asia Pacific region. The survey indicates that the overall impact of Beijing’s outreach is a redrawing of the global media landscape — one story at a time, one country at a time — shifting the China coverage in a more positive direction. China is using a multi-pronged approach to redraw the information landscape to benefit its own global image. In 2020, Beijing effectively shut down journalistic access to China, through visa denials and freezes, partly driven by international border closures. This had the effect of creating a vacuum in China coverage, creating a demand for stories from China, which could then be filled with statesponsored content already available through content-sharing agreements." (Conclusions, page 7) more

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Covid-19 Vaccines: Guidance for Church Leaders

Tearfund: Teddington (UK) (2021), 14 pp.

"This resource helps church leaders and Christian organisations consider how they can apply their faith in a practical way and use their influence in society to: œ reduce misinformation and confusion œ build a good understanding of, and trust in, the Covid-19 vaccines œ help shape and su ... more

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Konstruktiv durch Krisen? Fallanalysen zum Corona-Journalismus

Leif Kramp, Stephan Weichert

Frankfurt am Main: Otto Brenner Stiftung (2021), 96 pp.

"Unter dem Eindruck der Corona-Pandemie haben sich Medien nicht allein auf die Problemanalyse und Kritik an politischen und gesellschaftlichen Verhältnissen konzentriert, sondern den Blick auch nach vorn gerichtet, um zu fragen, wie politische, gesundheitliche, kulturelle und wirtschaftliche Risike ... more

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Wielding Influence in the Age of Coronavirus: How the Chinese Communist Party Shapes Narratives and Builds Influence in Africa

Tom Bayes

Berlin: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) (2021), 125 pp.

"The geopolitical implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has dislocated global life, shaken economies and caused over 4 million deaths, continue to play out. For China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP), China’s status as the virus’ origin posed political risks, heightened by international s ... more

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Ill Advice: A Case Study in Facebook’s Failure to Tackle COVID-19 Disinformation

Aoife Gallagher, Macckenzie Hart, Ciarán O'Connor

London: Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) (2021), 34 pp.

"Despite detailed policies on mis- and disinformation and promises to enforce them, social media platforms are failing to tackle prominent groups and individuals who spread false claims about COVID-19 and vaccines online. Using the World Doctors Alliance1 as a case study, a group that has spread var ... ious problematic, false and conspiratorial claims about COVID-19 and vaccines, ISD found that 78% of the group’s 1.2 million online followers are found on mainstream platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok) who claim to prohibit this kind of content. The Facebook pages of World Doctors Alliance members have a following of over 550,000 users, which increased by 13,215% between January 2020 and July 2021. Videos posted by these Facebook pages have been viewed more than 21.1 million times. These pages have accumulated a total of 5.77 million interactions since January 2020, with interaction rates increasing by 85% in the first six months of 2021 compared to the previous six months. Facebook posts mentioning the World Doctors Alliance or its members have attracted more than three million engagements on Facebook and are present in at least 46 different languages on the platform. ISD found that large proportions—often the majority—of the most engaged with content on Facebook mentioning the World Doctors Alliance or its members in English, Spanish, German and Arabic contained false, misleading or conspiratorial claims related to COVID-19 and vaccines. Organisations that are part of Facebook’s fact-checking program have debunked false claims made by the World Doctors Alliance 189 times since the beginning of the pandemic. Despite this extensive fact-checking effort, Facebook is failing to take decisive action on the group or its members. Facebook’s fact-checking program incorporates organisations from 115 countries, but there appear to be major gaps in fact-checking in non-English languages. ISD found minimal application of fact-checking labels across the four languages analysed, with lower application rates on posts in German, Spanish and Arabic than in English. Content that does contain fact-checking labels is still accumulating tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of engagements." (Key findings) more

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COVID-19 Risk Communications Promising Practices Playbook

Manila; New York: Asian Development Bank (ADB); McCann Global Health (2021), v, 89 pp.

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Covid-19 und der Journalismus: Problemzonen im Verhältnis zwischen Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit

Markus Lehmkuhl

In: Corona: Pandemie und Krise

Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb) (2021), pp. 265-276

"Die Bedeutung, die dem Medieninformationssystem zukam, hat die amerikanische Medienwissenschaftlerin Sandra Ball-Rokeach auf eine knappe Formel gebracht: Je einschneidender Änderungen der sozialen Umwelt empfunden werden, desto wahrscheinlicher wird es, dass das »Medieninformationssystem« für p ... raktisch alle Akteurezur wichtigsten Ressource wird, diese Umwelt zu verstehen und in ihrsinnvoll zu handeln. Das wiederum ist so zu verstehen, dass mit Erscheinen des Virus auf der Bildfläche das Wirkungspotenzial von Medien mindestens kurzfristig enorm angestiegen sein dürfte. Das ist aus dieser Perspektive aber weniger den Inszenierungskünsten des Journalismus oder denen von Influencerinnen und Influencern zuzurechnen, als eben der großen allgemeinen Verunsicherung, die dieses Virus ausgelöst hat. Als Maß dieser Verunsicherung können die teilweise ganz erheblichen Reichweitengewinne für etablierte Medienorganisationen gelten. Die öffentlich-rechtlichen und privaten Informationsangebote des Fernsehens, praktisch die gesamte Presse – offline wie online – und auch das öffentlich-rechtlich organisierte Radio verzeichneten deutliche Zuwächse. In unsicheren Zeiten wächst der Bedarf an zuverlässigen Informationen, die man offenbar am ehesten bei etablierten und vertrauenswürdigen Anbietern erwartete. Dieses Verhalten bleibt allerdings gekoppelt an die Voraussetzung, dass man den genannten Medien dieses Zutrauen auch entgegenbringt. Der Anteil derjenigen, für die das nicht zutrifft, wird von einschlägigen Umfragen auf etwa ein Fünftel beziffert. Sie sehen das Mediensystem mit den Mächtigen im Bunde, zweifeln an dessen Unabhängigkeit und Akkuratesse. Da aber das Corona-Virus auch diese Gruppe verunsichert, dürfte auch sogenannten alternativen Medien ein vergrößertes Einflusspotenzial zuzurechnen sein. Die Medienabhängigkeit der Journalismuskritikerinnen und -kritiker dürfte sogar deutlich stärker ausgeprägt sein. Denn diese Gruppe muss ja nicht nur die soziale Unsicherheit bewältigen, die mit der Verbreitung des Corona-Virus zusammenhängt. Sie sieht sich darüber hinaus fortgesetzt dem Problem gegenüber, dass ihre Deutungen der Situation in Widerspruch stehen zur dominanten öffentlichen Meinung, die sich in den traditionellen Medien ausbildet. Und genau das befördert Unsicherheit und erzeugt fortgesetzt Bedarf, sich der Richtigkeit seiner Minderheitenposition zu versichern." (Seite 267-268) more

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Social Media Effectiveness as a Humanitarian Response to Mitigate Influenza Epidemic and COVID-19 Pandemic

Kumar, Sameer, Chong Xu, Nidhi Ghildayal, Charu Chandra, Muer Yang

Annals of Operations Research, volume 319 (2021), pp. 823–851

"Influenza and COVID-19 are infectious diseases with significant burdens. Information and awareness on preventative techniques can be spread through the use of social media, which has become an increasingly utilized tool in recent years. This study developed a dynamic transmission model to investiga ... more

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COVID-19 and Digital Humanitarian Action: Trends, Risks and the Path Forward

Zoe Hamilton

London: GSMA (2021), 36 pp.

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Slowing Transmission: Language Challenges in Community Radio Relay of COVID-19 Risk Communication in Afghanistan

Translators Without Borders (2021), 16 pp.

"In 2020 Internews launched the Rooted in Trust project to counter rumors and misinformation about COVID-19. They commissioned Translators without Borders (TWB) to map community radio stations and investigate the language and translation challenges community radio broadcasters face when relaying off ... icial COVID-19 risk communication to their audience. To better understand these challenges, TWB conducted a survey and interviews with 65 community radio broadcasters, representing a quarter of all community radio stations across Afghanistan. Based on our survey, we mapped community radio stations and the reach of each radio signal to estimate overall radio coverage across the country. Where possible, we triangulated our findings with data from Internews’ Information Ecosystem Assessment in Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. Community radio stations remain an important source of information, especially for rural populations, less literate individuals, and in remote provinces. During public health emergencies, broadcasters can turn into health communicators and support the relay of risk communication, but they face several challenges. • Radio signals don’t cover all provinces: Based on the radio signals we were able to map, radio coverage doesn’t reach people equally across the country. Speakers of marginalized languages have especially limited access to radio broadcasts. Relative to population density, speakers of Turkmeni, Brahui, Balochi, and Uzbeki have especially limited access to radio broadcasts. • Few broadcasts are in languages other than Dari and Pashto: Dari and Pashto are the main broadcasting languages, but not everyone understands them. Broadcasts in other languages are largely limited to adverts, short audio clips, and sporadic language mixing in talk shows and call-in shows. Dedicated programs providing in-depth information in another language are rare. • Language barriers reduce the quality and timeliness of broadcasts: Community radio stations lack resources and translation capacity to broadcast in languages other than Dari or Pashto. As a result, some important information is delayed, and some is never broadcast at all. The quality and level of detail of broadcasts in other languages is also reduced. • Broadcasters face difficulties accessing available information: Most community radio stations have limited access to the internet and experience electricity failures. This makes accessing and validating available information on COVID 19 extremely difficult. Also, background information is often passed to broadcasters in English, but with limited internet access this information can’t readily be translated. • Information needs to be provided in plain language: Broadcasters don’t relay information that uses complicated language or technical and medical terms. New terms and complex new information around medical issues need to be rewritten and presented in plain language for a general audience. Yet community radio stations often can’t provide plain-language editing, so don’t relay more complex information." (Overview, page 1) more

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Tratamiento informativo de la COVID 19 en la prensa de alcance nacional: Monitoreo de medios de comunicación con enfoque de desarrollo

Lima: Calandria (2021), 62 pp.

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COVID-19 from the Margins: Pandemic Invisibilities, Policies and Resistance in the Datafied Society

Stefania Milan, Emiliano Treré, Silvia Masiero (eds.)

Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures (2021), 279 pp.

"In the first pandemic of the datafied society, the disempowered were denied a voice in the heavily quantified mainstream narrative. Featuring stories of invisibility, injustice, hope and resistance, this book gives voice to communities at the margins in the Global South and beyond. The multilingual ... more

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What Works: Addressing COVID-19 Misinformation. Lessons from the Frontlines in 100 Countries

Rachael Jolley

Internews (2021), 14 pp.

"A global COVID-19 vaccine rollout must be coupled with funding and strategies to support trusted local media worldwide. The experience of communities in countries across the world demonstrates an urgent need to support groups at the local level if misinformation and mistrust is to be tackled effect ... more

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WorldCat (72)

Media and the Coronavirus Pandemic in Africa (Part Two)

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 13, issue 3 (2021), pp. 305-490