Cutting Through Coronavirus: Fighting The Spread Of Misinformation

Now more than ever, news travels fast. The problem is, not all of it is accurate.

The social age brings us all closer together, but it also makes the world a noisy place when people are hungry for information about a big news story or talking point.

The coronavirus is a serious issue - and one which impacts upon us all as a global community. In times such as these, we instinctively wonder if ourselves or our loved ones could be the next affected.

But that desire for information often leads to panic. Worse, it can be heightened by fake news and deliberate misinformation by those with an agenda, or just a twisted sense of mischief.

The pursuit of clicks and views on social media tend to be driven by that human interest and behaviour, rather than by cold objectivity. The type of articles that the media produce are done so because the audience consumes them in huge volume. It becomes a self-fulfilling cycle. Write more about that subject because the audience wants to read about it.

We recognise that we are a big part of that industry.

When emotions are high, misinformation tends to surface over accuracy. But our responsibility is to cut through the noise and zero in on the facts.

With great social power comes great social responsibility. And we wouldn't be doing right by our audience if we allowed ourselves to get drawn into it just for the numbers of clicks on offer.

We represent a community of more than 100 million people worldwide. It's a community we value more than anything. You've chosen to follow our brand and we want to repay that loyalty.

So we're going to give it to you straight.

It's more important than ever that we give you the information you need. Information that is driven, not by word of mouth or hearsay, but by the experts who understand these complex issues and can put them in context.

With our series - Cutting Through - we want to provide our community with facts and stories from the people who are either qualified to comment or have experienced first-hand the situation we're facing.

What can you do? What should you do? What's actually happening? How will coronavirus affect your day to day and what practical steps can you take to mitigate it?

It's up to us to ask those questions and give you the answers in a calm, accurate and easy to understand way, working with experts in the field.

It's okay to be afraid - but this is not the time to bury our heads in the sand. Let's sit up and pay attention to the people that know what they're talking about.

Just the facts. Always.