The Public Foundation for Support and Development of National Mass Media, together with the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan, has developed and launched the infodemictoolkit.org platform
Due to the situation with the coronavirus, the vast majority of human activity has gone online. The network has generated huge flows of information that many cannot cope with. The coronavirus has become the reason for a large number of fakes, which not only have a detrimental effect on the mental state and health of a person, but can also hinder the battle against COVID-19. This phenomenon has become so large that WHO even introduced the term "infodemic", which means information that does not correspond to reality.
Uzbekistan, as part of the global information community, has also come across this problem closely. New ways of communication, the growing influence of social networks and other factors have become an ideal medium for the dissemination of inaccurate information.
In order to help journalists and bloggers competently and professionally cover the COVID-19 crisis, timely identify false information, be able to promptly fact-check and resist the dissemination of untrue data, the Public Foundation for Support and Development of National Mass Media, together with the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan, has developed and launched the corresponding toolkit (https://infodemictoolkit.org/).
The platform is available in Uzbek, Russian and English languages. It consists of two sections:
- An infodemic toolkit, which includes 5 units containing a training course, tips for fact-checking and writing articles, applications for quickly checking his/her content, collecting and monitoring news;
- Debunkers Database (fakes database).
We hope that using the opportunities provided on the platform, representatives of the media will be able to improve the quality of their content on COVID-19 coverage, quickly track a large flow of information, while simultaneously identifying what is not true, and resist the unintentional or, on the contrary, malicious dissemination of inaccurate data, which can harm the health of people. We also hope that our journalists and bloggers will also contribute to the Debunkers Database and help prevent the spread of fakes.
