FOLLOWING the rise in misinformation and disinformation around health issues on Social Media, Digital Media trainer, media and gender consultant, Buhlenkosi Tshabangu-Moyo has called on heath Journalists to take charge and lead the conversati0n on health issues online.
By Nthokozo Gudu
Addressing journalists at a half day training on digital and social media skills that was hosted by the Health Communicators Forum (HCF) in Harare, Buhle said Journalists need to connect the dots to conversations happening online around health issues and probe further to come up with factual, verified and well researched reports.
Many a times, when conversations are happening on social media, as Journalists we join in and comment and leave it like that. That’s is not what should be happening, you need to connect the dots and ensure you inform social media users from a factual point of view,” said Buhle.
She also highlighted that language plays a critical role in reporting and Journalist should be wary of how they portray certain issues.
“As people that are in the business of communicating, you have a role to play in society. Y0u can begin to change some of these harmful social narratives because there are certain things we might have accepted from 20 years ago because that is just what we knew, but overtime we now know better we can do better.
“I am challenging journalists of the way you report a health related story,the words that you use ,the phrases that comes there are attached to a certain meaning,for example a story of a sex worker who have been abused and in the story the person is described as a ‘hooker,’ it already has its meaning attached to it ,we have already implied that it is okay to abuse her through the framing of our language, so collectively if we change and say sex worker, it does not change what she is doing but then changes the way we perceive abuse,she is a person and if denied treatment we are supposed to take it up but if we say hooker then we do not really worry about it ,but that becomes a problem in accessing health and I think it is important for you as the media to advocate for such issues because from a public health perspective you would want everyone to access health services.’’
Buhlenkosi advocated for health communicators to be consistent in reporting health issues, hence creating a space for people to open up.
‘’In this season we are in , a lot of issues will be about elections especially on social media, the challenge there in health issues is to be consistent so as to be reliable sources and keep people informed about health awarenesses, the facts the figures for example of cholera, as the media you should be the sources of such information by being consistent. Again what makes health stories not interesting is that collectively we are not connecting the dots,once you starts connecting the dots you make it easier for us to see the value,lets also create spaces which accommodate people to open up,” she said.
