Catholic media unite to verify information on anti-COVID vaccines
Spain
An international consortium of world-renowned Catholic media, information agencies and scientists have decided to join together to undertake a fact-finding work on information related to COVID-19 vaccines. The proposal, which is one of 11 projects chosen out of 309 proposals from 74 countries, by the impartial jury of the "Fund Against Disinformation on COVID-19 Vaccines," aims to help identify false or misleading news about vaccines.
The information was published on the current observer site, based on a report published on the Google News Initiative blog on March 16.
"The rapidity of the vaccination process against COVID-19 and the great anxiety caused by the pandemic worldwide make the issue of vaccines particularly vulnerable to misinformation," explains the Google News Initiative, adding that "Journalists can play a fundamental support and verification role, based on listening to the concerns of their audiences, offering corrective information on misunderstandings that circulate online and offline ”.
The consortium of Catholic media is led by Aleteia, a global Catholic information network in seven languages, in collaboration with Verificat, an agency dedicated to the verification of information, and I Media, a news agency specializing in information from the Vatican.
The initiating media of the consortium are Our Sunday Visitor, Družina, SanFrancesco.org, Religión Digital, Catalunya Religió, El Observador de la Actualidad and La Voz de Córdoba.
The project is open to all Catholic media, offering free and exclusive access to verified information, as well as the possibility of having the opinion of the experts of the Scientific Committee of the Consortium.
Catholic media interested in being part of the Consortium can write before March 31, 2021 to consortium@aleteia.org.
The Scientific Committee, which will offer scientific, bioethical and theological consulting, is made up of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a scientific pole of excellence in research, as well as expert epidemiologists, doctors, scientists, bioethicists and theologians. The full list can be found at the end of this release.
The consortium will publish an audience study on the web (weblistening) focused on the way in which the Catholic media is reporting on the immunization process, prepared by the Blanquerna Observatory of Communication, Religion and Culture of the Ramón Llull University of Barcelona . Likewise, this center will carry out a study on the impact that the information work of the Consortium will have on the Catholic community worldwide.
More information: press@aleteia.org
Source: The Observer of the present