"The main objective of this study was to explore the effectiveness of handwashing, face masking and social distancing in preventing the spread of COVID-19. Mixed-method research design was adopted, while questionnaire was shared on Facebook and WhatsApp to collect quantitative data. The daily cases
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from World Health Organisation (WHO) and Worldometers were analysed and compared and a structured interview was conducted with seven participants from around the world to understand the global perception and compliance to hand washing, face masking and social distancing. The findings showed that there is a global awareness of the severity of COVID-19 and that the measures of face mask, hand washing, social distance and lockdown were sure ways to prevent the spread. The researchers concluded that, although, the implementations and faithfulness of these measures are inadequate, they remain effective ways to stop the spread of COVID-19 for now. It was, therefore, recommended among others, the creation of awareness and education of the general populace on the importance of wearing masks, washing hands, keeping social distance and the need for the lockdown, rather than making it a rule of law." (Abstract)
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"Internews in Zimbabwe collected 276 rumors on-line and 36 offline in the communities of Masvingo, Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Midlands. The most trending rumors include that COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe for children (35%), COVID-19 vaccines cause death (31%), COVID-19 vacc
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ines are experimental (19%), COVID-19 is endemic (8%), and that government is using COVID-19 for corruption (8%). 41% of collected rumors showed sentiment of confusion, 14% indicated anger or frustration, 14% showed fear, 10% were sad, 3% demonstrated excitement and 3% were shocked." (Rumor data overview, page 2)
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"The political and media rhetoric of the pandemic is that of conflict and a call to arms in face of a hidden enemy. But this is not a distant war where journalists are parachuted in to report on the action for a few weeks and then fly home. It is on our own doorstep. Many of those covering the globa
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l crisis do not correspond to the popular image of hardened conflict reporters and may have little experience in dealing with distressing stories of death, grief and mourning. How are journalists coping with the everyday diet of trauma when the corona frontline may be affecting their families, friends and colleagues? This article explores these issues through narrative interviews with UK-based journalists covering the pandemic for broadcast, print and digital media. It seeks to capture their “emotional labour” and explore possible differences in their practice and the coping strategies they employ. The paper locates this discussion within the context of an industry that has paid relatively little heed to these issues and considers what long-term implications the coronavirus may have for the next generation of digital journalists." (Abstract)
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"Against the background of the COVID-19 crisis in Israel, the country’s ultra-orthodox population, the Haredim, were faced with seemingly insuperable dilemmas of compromising their religious standards for the sake of dealing with the virus. The government launched a public relations campaign to pe
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rsuade this public, but its success was qualified. This study examines Israeli governmental information policy towards the Haredi population during COVID-19." (Abstract)
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"Community language radio is known to provide information and social connection for community members. This article examines the role of community language radio in Australia during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Drawing on data from interviews with four presenters at a community language radio stati
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on in Melbourne, this case study explores the station’s operation during the pandemic and presenter perceptions of the station’s contributions to supporting listeners’ well-being. To situate our study more globally, the case study was preceded by an examination of press reporting on the role of radio during the pandemic. Overall, our findings indicate that community language radio has played a vital role in promoting listener well-being by communicating information about COVID-19 and by providing a sense of comfort, entertainment and companionship through regular broadcasting. Results are discussed considering crisis communication and resilience theory to highlight the vital role community language radio plays for migrant communities during crises." (Abstract)
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"This study sought to identify changes, if any, to the communication and community engagement landscape as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It did not aim to evaluate communication, community engagement and accountability (CCEA) during the pandemic but, rather, aimed to bring together some of the
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key literature, recommend additional reading and reflect on the perspectives of different stakeholders. In addition to a thorough literature review, the study represents the views of approximately 150 community-based participants of focus group discussions, 44 key informants and 181 global survey respondents. For some, the shift to remote ways of working led to an increase in digital access and reach, while for others this complicated existing communication channels and deepened the digital divide. Principally, this report finds that very little has changed in the CCEA landscape, a conclusion nuanced heavily by contextual differences within and between communities, and between countries." (Executive Summary, page 5)
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"It all started at the ECREA 2021 Post Conference “Disinformation Studies: Perspectives to An Emerging Research Field”, which took place online, on September 10, 2021. The debate there quickly widened and was joined by other colleagues. The book that we bring you here is the result of part of th
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at debate, which does not end with this publication." (https://labcomca.ubi.pt)
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"The book evaluates unique civic challenges, responsibilities, and opportunities for media worldwide, exploring pandemic social norms that media promote or discourage, and how media serve as instruments of social control and resistance, or of cooperation and representation. These chapters raise sign
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ificant questions about the roles mainstream or citizen journalists or netizens play or ought to play, enlightening audiences successfully about scientific information on COVID-19 in a pandemic that magnifies social inequality and unequal access to health care, challenging popular beliefs about health and disease prevention and the role of government while the entire world pays close attention." (Publisher description)
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"Este livro apresenta as discussões promovidas no âmbito do 44º Ciclo de Estudos Interdisciplinares da Comunicação, evento integrante do 44º Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação, realizado de 4 a 9 de outubro de 2021, em modo virtual, pela Universidade Católica de Pernambuco. Em
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2021, o tema do Congresso da INTERCOM foi Comunicação e resistência: práticas de liberdade para a cidadania. O Ciclo de Estudos foi aberto com uma conferência sobre o tema do Congresso e seguiu-se a realização de quatro mesas. O livro traz as reflexões propostas pela conferencista principal, a professora Nita Freire e os quatro convidados de cada uma das quatro mesas, totalizando 17 textos, ao final." (INTERCOM)
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"In this paper, ARIJ proposes the following recommendations which target the greater media community. This includes media institutions concerned with the press, unions, press unions and donors who support this venture. We maintain that disinformation is a product of a social and political environmen
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t, as well as a professional one. Our recommendations are as follows: First: Build a regional network for news and information fact-checkers, in both the written and visual press ...; Second: Designate the year 2021 to combat disinformation in the Arab region ...; Third: Support scientific specializations for scientific journalism cadres ...; Fourth: Expand and develop methods of teaching media education ...; Fifth: Launch an audiovisual media campaign to support news verification ...; Sixth: Produce simplified training materials in Arabic on how journalists can use artificial intelligence in media work ...; Seventh: Encourage independent news auditing initiatives [...] Eighth: Encourage the Arabization of more existing digital news verification tools ..." (Recommendations, page 38-43)
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"El presente trabajo se propuso identificar el uso, la dependencia y la confianza que se tuvo en los medios de comunicación y los medios sociales al inicio de la cuarentena decretada por el Estado mexicano con motivo de la llegada del nuevo coronavirus a México. Para responder al objetivo señalad
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o se recurrió a la técnica de la encuesta. Los resultados indican que durante el periodo de la cuarentena hubo un aumento notable tanto del uso de los medios de comunicación como de los medios sociales. También muestran que aun cuando las evidencias dan fe de que los medios sociales (internet y sus aplicaciones) fueron las herramientas más utilizadas, en la ciudad de Monterrey (Nuevo León) y su área metropolitana las personas respondieron que los medios de comunicación fueron el recurso que les ofreció la mejor información sobre el tema. En específico, sostienen que fueron los noticieros de televisión el recurso del cual obtuvieron la información más confiable para tomar las decisiones y afrontar la crisis de salud." (Resumen)
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"During disease outbreaks or pandemics, policy makers must convey information to the public for informative purposes (eg, morbidity or mortality rates). They must also motivate members of the public to cooperate with the guidelines, specifically by changing their usual behavior. Policy makers have t
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raditionally adopted a didactic and formalistic stance by conveying dry, statistics-based health information to the public. They have not yetconsidered the alternative of providing health information in the form of narrative evidence, using stories that address both cognitive and emotional aspects. The aim of this viewpoint paper is to introduce policy makers to the advantages of using narrative evidence to provide health information during a disease outbreak or pandemic such as COVID-19. Throughout human history, authorities have tended to employ apocalyptic narratives during disease outbreaks or pandemics. This viewpoint paper proposes an alternative coping narrative that includes the following components: segmentation; barrier reduction; role models; empathy and support; strengthening self-efficacy, community efficacy, and coping tools; preventing stigmatization of at-risk populations; and communicating uncertainty. It also discusses five conditions for using narrative evidence to produce an effective communication campaign on social media: (1) identifying narratives that reveal the needs, personal experiences, and questions of different subgroups to tailor messaging to produce targeted behavioral change; (2) providing separate and distinct treatment of each information unit or theory that arises on social networks; (3) identifying positive deviants who found creative solutions for stress during the COVID-19 crisis not found by other members of the community; (4) creating different stories of coping; and (5) maintaining a dialogue with population subgroups (eg, skeptical and hesitant groups). The paper concludes by proposing criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of a narrative." (Abstract)
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"While the role of social media in the spread of conspiracy theories has received much attention, a key deficit in previous research is the lack of distinction between different types of platforms. This study places the role of social media affordances in facilitating the spread of conspiracy belief
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s at the center of its enquiry. We examine the relationship between platform use and conspiracy theory beliefs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Relying on the concept of technological affordances, we theorize that variation across key features make some platforms more fertile places for conspiracy beliefs than others. Using data from a crossnational dataset based on a two-wave online survey conducted in 17 countries before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we show that Twitter has a negative effect on conspiracy beliefs-as opposed to all other platforms under examination which are found to have a positive effect." (Abstract)
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"This resource helps church leaders and Christian organisations consider how they can apply their faith in a practical way and use their influence in society to: œ reduce misinformation and confusion œ build a good understanding of, and trust in, the Covid-19 vaccines œ help shape and su
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pport vaccination programmes that are good for society, particularly the most vulnerable and marginalised. The aim of this resource is to provide general guidance based on trustworthy sources of information and previous experience. It should be adapted as needed for use in different cultural and faith contexts. Within the core resource there are links that lead to more in-depth information, guidance and tools, allowing readers to go deeper into particular issues if they want to." (Why this resource, page 2)
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"This article examines the relationship between fake news and social media as increasingly important sources of news, at a time when mainstream media no longer have exclusive control over news production and dissemination. It has been evident that few media outlets and professionals tend to draw con
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flicting news about COVID-19 from social media feeds, which are largely produced by common citizens with mostly no journalism training. This pervasive use makes social media key sources to scores of media outlets for news, whether it is related to COVID-19 or public affairs issues, even though it is susceptible to torrents of credibility and accuracy issues. As a result, of the overwhelming spread of fake news on coronavirus, which is contributing to framing events from several angles, media professionals are now obliged to track and vet information circulating on social media. Due to the scale of disinformation spreading on the Web, it has become imperative that the credibility and accuracy of news is thoroughly verified. Media organizations have already been putting in place various mechanisms to monitor false news. This article will attempt to identify and assess these monitoring efforts in the Arab world. For this purpose, I have put together a list of Arab observatories launched on the internet in order to monitor fake news circulating in relation to COVID-19, and to discuss their methods of monitoring work, in the context of mobilization carried out by governments and many organizations such as the World Health Organization. This article is pinned down on social responsibility approach which helps pave the way the differentpropositions to combat fake news and avoid abuses in social media uses. This article proposes an evaluation of the monitoring initiative viaa- vis fake news and proposes a set of guidelines for improving the work of such monitoring bodies. Hence, this research reveals that social media outlets have diversified their goals to match the power of the conventional media in disseminating information and bringing up issues for debate. However, in the light of the framework of social responsibility, social media actors have to constantly develop a set of ethical practices to be observed by users, establish codes of conduct regulating content production, and lay down a code of integrity to assure accuracy in news and information transmission." (Abstract).
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"In the Eastern DRC where the 10th Ebola epidemic was coming to an end, the advent of COVID-19 raised additional concern of dealing with two major health emergencies at the same time with implications for effective audience engagement, and compliance to public health measures. These concerns came ag
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ainst the backdrop of audience fatigue with Ebola programming and a seeming lack of trust in the Ebola response – seen by some members of the public as a money-making venture. Similar concern and mistrust are also expressed with the COVID-19 response. Given this, Internews secured funding from BHA/USAID to respond to the growing rumors and misinformation about COVID-19 and provide life-saving information to audiences. By working with local radio partners, Internews produced 23 radio programs and several Public Service Announcements that were aired over 14,000 times on 39 partner stations. This is in addition to expanding its rumor tracking to address community concerns on COVID-19 and building partner capacity on fact-checking and radio programming. In a Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) survey conducted in December last year, 72% respondents cited Internews radio program, Tushinde Corona for improving their knowledge about COVID-19 and 74% credited it for changing certain behaviors and practices that include regular handwashing and use of facemask. While these are notable developments, challenges remain, particularly with the acceptance of and willingness to take COVID-19 vaccine, thus generating heated public debate. The government recently suspended vaccines delivered through the COVAX Facility citing safety concerns thus adding to existing rumors about the efficacy and reliability of COVID-19 vaccines. In the December KAP survey conducted by Internews, only 49% of respondents said they would take a COVID-19 vaccine or recommend it to someone - a figure that is similar to the 46% who said the same in a GeoPoll 2020 report on COVID-19 that focused on six countries including the DRC." (Executive summary)
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