SDJF in Partnership with CMIL Producing a News Magazine Program on Covid-19 - #MediaCorpsWatch

Sri Lanka Development Journalists Forum (SDJF) and the Center for Media and Information Literacy (CMIL) joins hand in producing daily reporting and a news magazine program on Covid-19. The news magazine titled “MediaCorps Watch” is being produced to discuss as to how people in various parts of Sri Lanka are coping with Covid 19 while providing them with vital and factual information needed to deal with the situation.

The rapid spread of the Covid-19 is causing concern globally and in Sri Lanka and the World Health Organization declared it as a pandemic. As of 2nd April, 151 Corona confirmed cases and four deaths were reported in Sri Lanka. On the bright side, 21 people have been recovered and also 3224 of people sent home after completion of quarantine period. In addition, the government has extended a ban on all arriving passengers up to 7 April 2020. The context has created panic and fear among the citizen of Sri Lanka. They are thirst for factual and verified information to contribute to the national COVID 19 prevention plan.

Looking at how media in general operates in Sri Lanka around Covid 19, SDJF realized that vital need of putting together an inclusive reporting to highlight how people in different part of the country are dealing with prevailing situation; how the coping mechanism at village level are responding people need; challenges faced by people as well as government authorities; and analysis of significant false information (Fake News) are spreading around Covid-19.

SDJF eventually engaged hundreds of young Journalists who went through a professional training on mobile journalism under its MediaCorps Fellowship Program to produce mobile stories from all parts of the country. The young mobile journalists are expected to produce at least 15 stories per day. At the same time, SDJF partnered with CMIL to make use of those stories and produce a daily news magazine #MediaCorpsWatch

SDJF reporting and news magazine program on Covid 19 focused on the following areas:

Addressing day-to-day challenges

The news magazine primarily discussed about the impact of Covid 19 on the lives of rural communities. While the present situation has created a stigma amongst the people, it has clearly  affected economy, daily social life, education, health, livelihood etc of the people too. One of the core component of the news Magazine -#MediaCorpsWatch to highlight the effects of Covid 19 in people daily life.

Combating Fake News

The other core focus of the SDJF news magazine is to provide more authentic and verified information for the rural communities. In the meantime, key fact-checking services such as AFP, Fact-check Crescendo, and the Watchdog team have found emerging trends of false information and misinformation spreading across communities through different forms of media. Amidst pandemic, racism is also taking up in social media and it creates fear and anxiety among communities. The Sri Lanka Police have also issued a media statement warning the public not to spread false rumors on social media concerning the prevalence of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka. The prevalence of such false information along with the pandemic can only worsen the situation, making it difficult for the authorities to guide the citizens of Sri Lanka to take correct initiatives in the moment of a crisis.

The segment called #NoFake of the news magazine analyses any threatening false information, rumor, dis-information, mis-information and mal-Information discovered by professional fact-checking organizations.

Dissemination

The News magazine is being telecasted on a daily basis in both Sinhala and Tamil languages. The Sinhala program is aired through multiple social media including SDJF’s IVoice YouTube platform. The Tamil program is aired through UTV, a national TV channel. At the same time, individual stories are widely shared through SDJF Facebook and a dedicated Facebook account of MediaCorps Watch. The reporting’s and the news magazine can be accessed by using #MediaCorpsWatch.

News magazines aired so far can be accessed through below link.

March 25: http://tiny.cc/sr95lz

March 25: http://tiny.cc/yw95lz

March 26: http://tiny.cc/ry95lz

March 27: http://tiny.cc/xz95lz

March 28: http://tiny.cc/x095lz

March 31: http://tiny.cc/ger8lz

April 1 : http://tiny.cc/ob28lz

April 1 : http://tiny.cc/b9ccmz

April 2 : http://tiny.cc/7hkdmz

For more information on this program, please contact info@ldjf.org.

Written by- Sumudu Perera