PA ImagesIn 2020, news travels extremely fast. The problem we face as a society is in the accuracy of what information is being spread.
The age of social media has brought people from all over the world closer together, but has also seen people’s thirst for information skew what’s reality, what’s agenda and what’s pure conspiracy.
Misinformation is, unfortunately, rife, and the coronavirus epidemic has brought out the worst in human ability to spread fear at an unprecedented global scale. People’s desire to not be affected will cause undue panic and the deluge of fake news and deliberate misinformation will only reinforce those fears. When so much information is being thrown around, it can be hard to cut through the noise and listen to the experts.
PA ImagesAt LADbible and UNILAD, we recognise our role in an industry fuelled by clicks. However, nothing is more important to us than our audience, and no amount of clicks can make up for the loyalty our 100 million-strong community have given us over the years.
That’s why we take the responsibility to deliver facts at times of high emotion so seriously. You’ve chosen to follow us for a multitude of reasons and we want to repay that faith by providing you with the information you need.
That information is not driven by an unverifiable tweet with 50,000 likes, but by experts who understand these complex issues better than anyone. Experts who can place information into a context that’s easy to consume and you know is reliable. Steve down the pub may have been right about the football scores at the weekend, but he probably isn’t an expert in the spread of coronavirus.
@whoWe are joining @tiktok to provide you with reliable and timely public health advice! Our first post: How to protect yourself from ##coronavirus ?♬ original sound – who
The aim of our campaign, Cutting Through, is to provide our global community with facts and stories from the people who are either qualified to comment or have experienced first hand the situation we’re facing. Facts and stories you know you can trust.
Over the next week and beyond, we’ll be teaming up with the World Health Organisation to make sure you know what you can do, what you should do, what’s actually going on and how coronavirus might affect your life without all the extra noise (and fear) attached. Just the questions you want answered, delivered calmly and using information from the people who have your good health and safety at the heart of everything they do.
We’re not telling you how to feel. You’re allowed to be afraid, but now is definitely not the time to bury your head in the sand. Sit up, pay attention to the people that know what they’re talking about, and we will all get past this.
Facts over everything.
It’s okay to not panic. LADbible and UNILAD’s aim with our Coronavirus campaign, Cutting Through, is 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. For more information from the World Health Organisation on Coronavirus, click here.
Taking the idea of ‘being woke’ to a whole new level over a decade-long career in sport, court and online news, George has worked for titles and agencies including ESPN FC, Eurosport, LADbible and Court News UK. He may not have a degree but does have an unhealthy obsession with Lord of the Rings.