October 14, 2021
BY MOHAMED M. SESAY
The Ministry of Health and Sanitation through the Directorate of the Health Security and Emergencies (DHSE) has on the 12th of October 2021, trained galaxy of journalists with regards to journalistic reporting on the new Coronavirus infection and the Marburg disease.
Explaining the importance of Public Health Reporting, one of the lead facilitator of the training Yeama Thomson, noted that Media and information literacy is linked to access to information, free expression and education around the diseases. She defined media and information literacy as the ability to access, analyze and create media content which is a prerequisite for citizens to realize their rights to freedom of information and expression.
Yeama Thomason further expressed that the purpose of being informed by the media is to empower and engage the people especially in a digital society. She said people need to be able to understand, inquire, create, communicate and think critically which will only be effective through massive media engagement.
She encouraged media practitioners to effectively access, organize, analyze evaluate and create messages in a variety of forms.
Madam Thomson also encouraged journalists to be in their pensive mood before sharing any information particularly dealing with covid-19 whether the information is likely believable. She further advised journalists to dig a little before disseminating any information especially stories whose content and authorship have been objectionable. She also encouraged Journalists to inculcate the habit of fact checking news stories especially on the new infection of the Covid-19 pandemic before publishing in order not to create panic on the minds of people.
“The other thing I will encourage journalists to be doing is to trust your instincts. If something does not feel right or you are not sure that the information is correct, don’t share or publish it”, she advised.