Chair of the South African Editor’s Forum and editor for Eyewitness News in South Africa, Mahlatse Mahlase, Africa Check chief editor, Lee Mwiti and director at First Draft News Claire Wardle were in conversation with head of Wits Journalis, Prof Franz Kruger about the virus, fake news and journalism.
The department of journalism at Wits University held this webinar on 15 April 2020 with the aim of tackling some of these questions during the Covid-19 lockdown period in South Africa:
- Why has the current Covid-19 crisis led to such an explosion of fake news?
- What should be done about it? We’ve seen lots of fact-checking stories, some criminal charges, technical solutions and others — what’s working?
- How should journalism respond? Is this perhaps an unrecognised opportunity for journalism to rebuild trust with audiences?
