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Cambodia: ‘Startups and influencers’ to stop virus misinformation
Local media startups and social media influencers will be working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Cambodia to fight the spread of COVID-19 misinformation being shared online.
UNDP Cambodia’s Resident Representative, Nick Beresford, told Khmer Times that his organisation has been collaborating with a variety of health groups and local media channels to provide accurate information on the virus to the public.
“This project is not a fact-checker. It aims to flood social media channels with accurate, relevant information from trusted sources. We want to provide as much accurate information on COVID-19 to communities as possible through local media start-ups and influencers using insights from social media.”
The information shared will be in Khmer and distributed through popular social media sites such as Facebook and will explain how people can stop the virus spreading through hand-washing, social-distancing and other preventative measures. In addition, the content will attempt to expel certain deliberate and malign attempts to purposefully distort information such as blaming a racial or religious group for the current pandemic.
“We also want to challenge harmful myths and misinformation. This will be done by only using official sources and also a weekly Q&A with media startups and World Health Organization (WHO) technical experts, which encourages the flow of accurate and timely health-related questions.”
“The connect has been geared to generating a feedback loop with online audiences so that learnings emerge to make communication more effective in managing the pandemic by only using UN and government verified sources of information.”
In response to the concern that the project may stifle genuine differences of opinions surrounding the cause and origin of the virus, the organisation believes trust between the UNDP and its audience is paramount.
“The UNDP supports an open and free exchange of ideas and, as part of the UN Country Team, we support freedom of expression in Cambodia. Importantly, the UNDP project has been designed to build trust between audiences.”
“This has been done through clear, simple messaging and trying to encourage a two-way dialogue both with information being published and with the content creators and official channels.”
Beresford explained that selected startups were already part of an existing media alternatives project and have received or will receive seed funding that has already been allocated, but not specifically for the COVID-19 response – while influencers will be chosen on a case by case basis.
As of print time, Cambodia has recorded 126 cases of COVID-19, with only two remaining active.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/733171/startups-and-influencers-to-stop-virus-misinformation/