Join this webinar (happening now) from @NASEM_DBASSE on reporting on COVID. From @vishplus: "Journalism has been a saving grace" during the pandemic. His surveys show people who read traditional media are well informed about vaccines & eager to get them nationalacademies.org/event/02-05-20…
The @BostonGlobe has been gathering data on racial disparities of the pandemic and identifying problems and inequities in vaccine distribution -- drawing attention more than anyone else, @vishplus says
From James Druckman & his team's survey: Lots of people who are hesitant don't know that vaccines were extensively tested. Reporters should emphasize the size and clear findings from clinical trials to increase vaccine uptake
From @_AllisonMathews: Showing people where they can find trustworthy resources builds trust. Data visualizations, presenting accessible info, helps especially if people have lower health literacy levels. Short video clips useful. Need more in Spanish.
From @_AllisonMathews: Show researchers who are Black, Latinx or Indigenous. Show the power of community health workers for addressing health equity. Lots of story ideas for reporters in this webinar, stories that haven't been told sufficiently.
From Stephanie Fryberg: Indigenous perspective has been relatively ignored in general and during the pandemic. Seeing huge social effects among Native people & they're more likely to know people who have died. Big motivation for vaccination: protect elders and community members
From Stephanie Fryberg: Everyone has that one "Native nerd" in their family. That's who they'll listen to on the data about vaccines.
Q for Stephanie Fryberg: Best way to engage with Native American? Best frames for stories? SF: There are lots of great stories. Show sources of resilience rather than deficit perspective. Don't treat us as primitive or childlike. Capture diversity, Native scholars & scientists
Stephanie Fryberg: There's a lot of confusion about vaccines: microchips, will we get the placebo. We're trying to build up knowledge and trust, deal with historical mistrust and trauma. Need people to understand that everybody has to get vaccinated to protect elders.
Crucial point from @_AllisonMathews: Lived experience, not some genetic factor, is why pandemic has been so dangerous for Black people. Racial difference is about systematic, structural differences.
Next panel is "anticipating challenges in reporting changing science and potential events," moderated by @rick_weiss. With @marynmck @rrichardh & @scheufele Drop by if you can: nationalacademies.org/event/02-05-20…
What have we learned from pandemic? @scheufele says science is faster than ever, under more scrutiny. Has led to coverage of single studies & preprints. Conservative media use retractions or changing understanding to say you can't trust science.
Problem with scarcity: People want whatever they can't get their hands on. Is there a positive effect of the very unfortunate shortage of vaccines? -- idea from @scheufele
From @rrichardh When there's a public health emergency, science journalists wear two hats: usual watchdog role, but also messengers of public health. Don't abandon usual tactics, but it's worth being repetitive and conveying messages. Especially when officials muzzled.
Always convey the idea: This is the best we know right now. @rrichardh who had to listen to Trump's briefings in real time & his job was to immediately deal with all the misinformation on the fly. Important to say what you do and don't know.
From @marynmck Remember how much the public health system has been hollowed out in the US -- years of underfunding, lost more than 50,000 public health workers, even more when the pandemic started and they were overworked and harassed.
There was an information vacuum -- and that's where misinformation flows. -- @marynmck
We've failed to communicate that COVID is a natural disaster. The response always breaks down in the last mile -- where things break, and where most people are needed. We've failed to help people understand the last-mile fragility. By @marynmck
Join us for the next session: "avoiding common pitfalls in communicating vaccines" with Melba Newsome, @Broniatowski & @tarahaelle moderated by me. Send in your Qs in the chat box, thanks! nationalacademies.org/event/02-05-20…
From @scheufele: In the last week of the Trump administration when he was deplatformed, we saw what journalism could have been like if we hadn't been covering his every tweet.
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