The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, WSCIJ has commenced the ‘COVID-19 Reality Check’ project as part of the efforts to ensure the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its impacts gets well reported.
The COVID-19 Reality Check project will examine government interventions and promises in relation to the realities on ground in terms of social welfare, water and sanitation, economics, security, food availability and accessibility, education, electric power supply, and more.
In a press release signed by Motunrayo Alaka Executive Director, WSCIJ, it was disclosed that the WSCIJ and its partner, the MacArthur Foundation, will support reporters from various media organisations to better report such stories and point out gaps.
The WSCIJ team held a virtual meeting with reporters on Friday, 3 April 2020, to discuss the ramifications of the project. At the event, the team decided on strategies for crowdsourcing information to help reporters to do the work, mostly from home. The meeting laid emphasis on the safety of the chosen journalists who would have to go out to get their stories.
“The project will include a media campaign on reports to support on-ground interventions by all stakeholders to save lives and reduce the impact of the pandemic on our country and by extension on the rest of the world”, Alaka noted.