In the Caribbean, there are hardly any publicly available official data and information available in a timely manner. During the corona pandemic, the number of misinformation and disinformation from unofficial sources increased. Missing or incorrect data can be life-threatening for the public, especially when it comes to how to protect against the pandemic.
For this reason, UNESCO, together with the Media Institute for the Caribbean, organized a three-day webinar series on "Reporting on COVID-19 in the Caribbean" on 7, 13 and 20 October. Almost 100 journalists from 12 countries in the English and Dutch Caribbean sub-region attended the webinars to learn journalistic best practices for reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Session leaders included leading journalists, journalism tutors and media professionals from the Caribbean and North America, as well as high-level regional public health specialists.
As one of the topics, the journalists explored "Uncovering COVID-19 in the Caribbean" by examining story perspectives, storyboarding techniques, dissecting the main elements of stories related to the pandemic and using multimedia platforms for storytelling. Another training session was on "Data Techniques for COVID-19 Reporting", with an emphasis on the use of a variety of freely available sources, data mining and the use of visualization tools to better illustrate data and information. The third workshop was devoted to information on the role of investigative journalism in uncovering previously unknown facts about how to deal with the pandemic and its far-reaching implications.
Guidance was provided on how to collect data and information in developing investigative stories, including the value of strong verification processes. Mobile journalistic solutions for developing COVID-19 stories were also explored, with a focus on the best use of readily available resources, covering a variety of technological platforms.
The series was enriched by contributions from Dr. Lisa Indar, Director of the Caribbean Health Authority's Department of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control (CARPHA), senior regional journalists and various international journalists and media educators.
Speakers included Craig Silverman, Media Editor at Buzz Feed News; Brant Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative Journalism at the University of Illinois and member of the MIS Advisory Board; Denis Malan, Deputy Director of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE); Steve Sapienza, Senior Strategist, Collaborative News Partnerships at the Pulitzer Center; and David Ho, Senior Digital News Leader and Content Strategist. Regional presenters/panelists included MIC Vice President Wesley Gibbings and Caribbean journalist Sandra Maharaj, Head of News and Current Affairs at TTT, Trinidad and Tobago; Miguel Fevrier, Assistant Editor at MBC in St Lucia; Linda Straker, freelance journalist and correspondent for CMC and Reporters Without Borders; and Harvey Panka, editor and presenter at ATV in Suriname.