Since the confirmation of the first case Corvid-19 in Kenya on March 13, all media platforms have dedicated their reporting to the outbreak. This is commendable. The public needs information about this highly infectious disease.
What is worrying, however, is how social media users have handled the issue. For mainstream media, it was time to invite health experts to provide critical information on the disease that has sent the world into a panic.
Elijah Muthui Kitonyo using twitter handle @Hot elias/@EOzillexis6 was arrested in Mwingi for allegedly publishing misleading and alarming information on corona virus. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, he will be charged with publishing false information that is calculated to or results in panic contrary to the law.
One question that confronts all of us during this Covid-19 outbreak is how to regulate open platforms such as social media.
A big challenge facing interventions is management of huge information flow with fake content. For example, when Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe announced that Kenyans needed to wash their hands using alcohol-based sanitizers to avoid infection, some social media users changed it to mean people could drink alcohol to wash their throats. Thanks to traditional media for inviting experts like Dr Philip Muthoka from the Ministry of Health who was on Radio Citizen on March 16.
But it seems even mainstream media couldn’t handle its social media platforms without perpetuating what appeared like fake information, as seen below:
While we note the critical role played by mainstream media during the pandemic, some newspaper headlines seemed to ape social media in spreading panic. For example, reading newspaper headlines on March 16, one wondered whether indeed lockdown had begun in Kenya. Daily Nation: “All schools shut as lockdown begins”. The Standard: “Shutdown”. People Daily: “School now shut in corona lockdown.” The Star: “Schools shut and travelling limited as corona cases hit 3”.
It important for the government, media and other stakeholders to work together during this time to avoid causing panic. As the coronavirus spreads, misinformation continues to confront us even with sustained efforts by government and other agencies to contain the disease.
