Tuesday, 18 May 2021: The Global network of Science Media Centres has mounted a critical resource to help journalists cope with the notorious “infodemic” of inaccurate or misleading references to the COVID-19 virus.
Whether you are challenging a conspiracy theory or trying to pin down a statistic, the newly launched Vaccine Media Hub offers an extensive list of background documents that apply expert input to revise, clarify, or debunk a wide range of statements regarding various aspects of the pandemic.
“Public worries about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and tough questions about claims being made by vaccine producers are absolutely legitimate at a time when vaccines have been produced at such break-neck speed,” says Susannah Eliott, CEO of the Australian Science Media Centre, one of seven organizations around the world that have contributed to the Hub.
“But millions of lives and our collective ability to return to anything like normal life quality of answers we can get from science,” she adds.
If you are among the reporters or fact-checkers trying to present those answers to your audience in the best possible way, he site brings together the best scientific expertise gathered by the various SMCs and seeks to share that high-quality, evidence-based science with journalists and fact checkers around the globe.
The aim now is to raise awareness of such assistance for anyone who might be struggling to sort out the truth around this extraordinarily complex and fast-moving public health event.
“We are very new and are still refining the website and adding new features, soon including a translation service for expert quotes, and an ‘ask the expert’ function for journalists/fact checkers to use,” says Fiona Fox, founding director of the Science Media Centre in the UK.
“We also hope to run some original press briefings for journalists to attend online, as well as posting press briefings we have run in our own countries on vaccine issues of global interest.”
She adds that the result is a reminder to receive any piece of news that comes your way with the classic journalist’s advice: “when it doubt, check it out”.
By WFSJ
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