Bhopal: UNICEF-Madhya Pradesh and DataLeads organised a ‘Factshala’ training on how to avoid spread of misinformation on social media.
DataLeads trainer Ghazala Yasmin spoke to the media participants from Bhopal, Indore and Gwalior on the training concepts and stressed the need for evidence, asking them not to share any unverified messages. She said that ‘Factshala’ is a news and information literacy programme launched by Internews, in collaboration with Dataleads, with support from Google.org and Google News Initiative. It aims at helping people assess and critically evaluate information.
Evidence-based reporting
Dr Santosh Shukla, state immunization officer, spoke on the importance of evidence-based reporting, particularly for immunization, and how the spread of correct information can help support immunization. Vandana Bhatia, health specialist, UNICEF, also reiterated the same and asked the participants to keep writing and talking about appropriate behaviours for Covid-19.
Supporting the state
Anil Gulati, communications specialist, UNICEF, Madhya Pradesh, facilitated the meet and said that this practical training would help in supporting efforts of the state on Covid-19. This would be followed by two more rounds of meetings with spiritual leaders and spokespersons in December. Media representatives from the newspapers, radio and online sites were present at the online meet.
