UNICEF has designed a short term course in collaboration with veteran journalists to check the spread of misinformation in health reporting, especially in the post-pandemic world, and has also collaborated to introduce the course in various universities and media institutions.
The course has also been introduced as a full-time curriculum in journalism institutes like Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), MakhanLal Chaturvedi University of Journalism, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (Hyderabad, Telangana) and Himachal Pradesh University (Shimla, Himachal Pradesh) among others. UNICEF is also organising regular workshops along with media professionals.
The course aims to simplify the steps to check the spread of misinformation. At a recent workshop, the UN arm and its experts explained the media tools to weed out misinformation while keeping the special focus on zero-dose children, nutrition, antibiotics, primary healthcare, mother and child health amidst the pandemic and Covid-19 Vaccination. "It is important to explain each and every one as far as possible, so that there is a way to check the spread of misinformation. On most occasions, the intention is not bad but lack of verification spreads a piece of misinformation.
So we want to arm the journalists and writers of the remotest area that there are tools to verify and then release a news piece,” said Unicef Communication Officer (Media) Sonia Sarkar. This has helped to better the immunization process and in turn a problematic disease like polio is under control, she said, adding, the Unicef is confident that it will help each achieve desired goals of disease prevention and control.