Global coronavirus collaborations have a common focus: Facts and accuracy
Here’s a look at how news organizations around the world are partnering in highly sophisticated ways to cover COVID-19
By Mariela Santos-Muñiz and Stefanie Murray
We wrote about collaborative efforts around the U.S. a couple weeks ago, as the new coronavirus had begun to ravage parts of the country.
But viruses know no borders, and as this coronavirus has intensified its spread around the world we wanted to also highlight some impressive and sophisticated global collaborative journalism efforts.
Collaborative journalism has become common and highly impactful especially in Scandinavia and Latin America, and increasingly so across parts of Africa and Asia. This is thanks in part to organizations such as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the International Center for Journalists and the International Fact Checking Network, among others, whose existing infrastructure had lent itself well to supporting partnered-work.
In surveying the current global landscape for COVID-19 collaborative efforts, a few things stand out. While there are co-publishing efforts and educational initiatives, many projects are focused on disseminating facts, fact-checking, accuracy and verification.
This is no accident or coincidence.
These kind of collaborative efforts are turned to first when news organizations work together in times of crisis in part because they have impact and they quickly sidestep competitive issues. While requiring a high level of coordination, they are often easier for news organizations to participate in, and that can have a big influence on the success of the work.
We fully expect to see more coordinated global investigative work being published about the new coronavirus, as well. But in the meantime, here are some excellent examples of COVID-19 collaborations around the world. If you’re not part of one, consider joining or starting an effort like the ones you’ll read about below. And if we missed something, let us know: email Stefanie Murray at murrayst@montclair.edu.
In Ghana, medical groups team up with journalists to streamline communication
On March 16, the Ghanaian government announced a collaborative information initiative on COVID-19 with six partners: the Ghana Medical Association, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, the Ghana Journalists Association, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association, and the Private News Papers Association of Ghana.
According to Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the collaboration is to “support and ensure that public education goes well so that when the public knows what to do, we are all better protected.”
Finland launches national project to share accurate coronavirus journalism
Beginning this month, News Now Finland announced it’s joining a regional collaboration to “share accurate journalism about coronavirus in English,” with seven Finnish-language newspapers and two Swedish-language newspapers. It consists of a daily round-up of COVID-19 news which is shared on all of their websites Monday through Friday nights.
The effort aims to reach people in communities across Finland who might not understand Finnish or Swedish.
The collaboration launch partners include: Lännen Media affiliates Turun Sanomat; Hämeen Sanomat; Ilkka-Pohjalainen; Länsi-Suomi; Keskipohjanmaa, Forssan Lehti and Kainuun Sanomat; and HSS Media’s Vasabladet and Österbotten Tidning.
CoronaVirusFacts Alliance on path to become largest collaborative fact-checking initiative in history
Since launching in February, CoronaVirusFacts Alliance has united more than 100 fact-checking organizations around the world. It could become the largest fact-checking collaboration ever based on the number of fact-checks it produces and publishes.
Several organizations are from Latin America, where the collaboration launched in January; DataCoronaVirus is the collaboration’s name in Spanish. Cristina Tardáguila, the associate director of the International Fact-Checking Network from Poynter, is the project coordinator.
According to IFCN’s website, more than 3,000 fact-checks have been published in more than 70 countries and 40 languages. The partners work together using an email listserv and Slack channel.
“Usually our collaborations have a deadline to end, now we have no idea how long we will have disinformation about the coronavirus in circulation,” Tardáguila told the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
Newspapers from multiple countries in Latin America team up to share COVID-19 message
Throughout Latin America, publications from more than nine countries coordinated and published identical front pages in March about combating COVID-19 in a unified manner.
Newspapers from countries including Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, Paraguay, and Mexico participated in the initiative, and each published their own national message or slogan.
The impetus for the campaigns came in part from Spain, where on March 15, several large newspapers published a campaign by the Ministry of Health with the slogan “#EsteVirusLoParamosUnidos” (United we will stop this virus), according to an article by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
Additionally, the Latin American Information Alliance shared a video showing journalists from across South America telling people to stay home.
Global Health Crisis Reporting Forum connects journalists reporting on COVID-19
In March, the International Center for Journalists announced the launch of the Global Health Crisis Reporting Forum “to connect journalists with some of the world’s top health practitioners, newsroom leaders and other experts, who can answer questions in live video chats.”
Journalists can join the Forum on Facebook, and find useful information on ICFJ’s sister site, International Journalists’ Network. There is now information on IJNet in more languages, especially Persian due to the COVID-19 situation in Iran. Forum webinars will be offered in Spanish, and other languages are in the works.
Comprova in Brazil pivots to a coronavirus focus
The Brazilian collaborative project Comprova has shifted its focus to fight coronavirus-related disinformation.
Comprova, a highly successful verification collaborative made up of 24 Brazilian news organizations launched in 2018 to combat disinformation about the presidential elections in Brazil. Last year the group worked on a federal public policies project and this year it had planned on covering municipal elections.
“We had planned to restart the more intense work around June, due to the municipal elections, but First Draft invited its partners around the world to reactivate the projects to combat disinformation at this time and we accepted the challenge,” Marcelo Träsel, president of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism, which organizes Comprova, told the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
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Mariela Santos-Muñiz is a freelance journalist. She graduated from Boston University with an M.A. in International Relations and International Communications, in addition to a B.A. from the Universidad del Turabo in Humanities in Puerto Rico. She is bilingual in Spanish and English. Find her on Twitter at @mellamomariela.
Stefanie Murray is director of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. Contact her at murrayst@montclair.edu.
About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is a grant-funded program of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Its mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism, and in doing so serve New Jersey residents. The Center is supported with funding from Montclair State University, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, the New Jersey Local News Lab (a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Community Foundation of New Jersey), and the Abrams Foundation. For more information, visit CenterforCooperativeMedia.org.
