In the academic article “COVID-19 and Infodemic in Southeast Asia” published in the first issue of Thai Media Fund Journal, Dr. James Gomez and Dr. Robin Ramcharan examine COVID-19 related ‘infodemic’ from 2020 to mid-2021. They take stock of how the ‘infodemic’ has adversely disrupted access to accurate public health information in Southeast Asia by and assess existing non-legal measures that have been used in response to the infodemic. Strategies reviewed in the article include: information sharing, fact checking, responses of technology companies, quality journalism and media information literacy (MIL) – each with shortcomings of their own. The situation in the region calls for a concerted effort to develop MIL education as a long-term guarantee against infodemic; while other strategies noted in the article must also be developed to accompany MIL.

See other articles (in Thai) in the first issue of TMF’s Journal here.