Stuff wins funding to counter Covid-19 vaccine misinformation
A Stuff project to fight misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccination has won support from a global fund.
‘The Whole Truth: Covid-19 Vaccination’ will be launched in April and published in partnership with Māori TV and the Pacific Media Network.
The project was selected by the Google News Initiative for support from its Covid-19 Vaccine Counter Misinformation Open Fund.
The $4.2m fund has been allocated across a number of similar journalism projects around the world. All are designed to fight falsehoods about the Covid-19 vaccine. The fund was also designed to encourage projects that aim to reach audiences underserved by fact-checking or targeted by misinformation.
Google separately announced it is planning to launch its Google News Showcase service in New Zealand later this year, which will see it pay licensing fees to mainstream publishers to highlight curated news from them in its Google News app.
READ MORE:
* Covid-19: Controlling the vaccine campaign narrative - is the Government holding the reins too tight?
* Covid-19: Pasifika vaccine concerns valid but information key to easing fears - expert
* Covid-19: Nearly a quarter of Kiwis unlikely to take coronavirus vaccine, Ministry of Health research shows
Our vaccine hesitancy problem
New Zealand’s long-term strategy for managing the impact of Covid-19 is to achieve herd immunity via mass vaccination.
But a significant number of people are likely to refuse the vaccine. Many of them will do so because of misplaced fears about the vaccine, stoked by misinformation.
Across the country, the proportion of Māori children and babies vaccinated against a range of diseases is about 5 percentage points lower than for children and babies of European ethnicity. Among people aged over 65, there is a 9 percentage point gap in vaccination rates for the existing flu vaccine between non-Māori and Māori.
Common across all groups where vaccine uptake is at dangerously low levels is the impact of social media in fomenting distrust.
In a previous Stuff investigation into vaccine refusal, Jill Clendon, a senior nurse with more than 25 years of experience in immunisation said the burgeoning network of misinformation on social media was the single biggest change she has seen in her time in the field.
“It is difficult. People often don’t know which way to go and what is the truth and what’s not the truth,” she said.
A failure to achieve herd immunity would be especially dangerous for Māori. Research shows Māori are 50 per cent more likely to die from coronavirus. During the 1918 influenza pandemic, Māori death rates were seven times higher than Pākehā. In 2009, the H1N1 influenza (swine flu) pandemic saw hospitalisation and fatality rates for Māori about 2.6 times worse than non-Māori.
The Whole Truth
For the 2020 election, Stuff introduced a fact-checking project, The Whole Truth. On a platform built specifically for the project, dozens of short articles were published on matters relevant for people deciding how to vote in the election.
The Whole Truth emphasised what's right, rather than amplifying what's wrong. It corrected falsehoods but also proactively explained topics or issues especially prone to misinformation. The writing calmly, and clearly covered each topic or statement, seeking to inform, rather than inflame.
The Whole Truth will form the basis of this project to address misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine.
This time, however, we’ll go further. A series of animated videos and shorter visual stories will be published on Stuff and across the Māori TV and Pacific Media Network platforms.
“Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic we’ve seen misinformation and conspiracy theories on the virus, and vaccines in particular, reach fever-pitch,” said Stuff editorial director Mark Stevens.
“Our priority is ensuring we can get our trustworthy journalism to the audiences that need it, so people can be armed with the facts when making decisions about how to protect themselves from the virus. We commend the Google News Initiative for recognising the desperate need to fight misinformation around this important topic.”
Google New Zealand Country Director Caroline Rainsford said a massive immunisation effort is underway.
“All over the globe, a massive immunisation effort is underway. The relatively rapid nature of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out and the great anxiety that the pandemic has provoked have made this topic particularly susceptible to misinformation.
“Journalists can play a fundamental role by listening to their audiences concerns and providing corrective information about misconceptions that are circulating.”
Applications to the Google fund were reviewed by team of 14 jurors from across the academic, media, medical and non-profit sectors, as well as representatives from the World Health Organisation.