Media Influence on COVID-19 Reportage in African Rural Communities

Consistent with the mandate of the project, the following areas will be covered: 1. Developing media content on public health data that can be accessed by a wide variety of communities; 2. Developing media reporting on the socioeconomic, political and cultural impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; 3. Evaluation of media messaging, false news and audience engagement across different media channels; and 4. Building online collaborative platforms for science journalists and communicators in support of disseminating coordinated science communication outputs. The overall objective of the project will be to make a significant difference through deliberative communication strategy in a well-planned manner with series of actions aimed at achieving certain objectives through the use of communication methods, techniques and approaches within the specified time frame of eighteen (18) months. The communication tool to be deployed will be edutainment video and radio transmissions. The aim is to establish facts about the COVID-19 pandemic as well as debunk some false news about it. Elements of the video and radio broadcast will constitute individuals projected in a local setting who rely on someone who seems to be more educated than the rest of them for information. Unfortunately, the person (OlukoAgba) has some wrong information about COVID-19 pandemic as well as some right information. Many of them believed him until when one of the sons (Adio) of the community who returned from school due to the closure of schools came back and began to challenge the heresy. Communication pattern will involve the use of multimedia approach; use of television stations, radio, internet and the possibility of staging drama in some communities can be explored. The content of the video and radio broadcast will be duplicated in languages such as Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Pidgin. Major characters' names will be changed based on the language of communication in a particular setting. Expected Outputs 1. Increased media literacy on the COVID-19 virus especially in rural communities. 2. Collaboration with journalists on consistent reporting of factual information on COVID-19 in rural communities. 3. Socioeconomic data of rural dwellers visited.