DaKshina Kannada corona warriors working on fake news & voluntary activities

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, April 09, 2020:    D.K Corona Warriors is a team of 483 volunteers registered with Dept of Information and Public Relation in response to an appeal by Govt Of Karnataka. These are citizens from all walks of life  representing the diversity of Dakshina Kannada district.

 

The primary mandate for the Corona Warriors is to fight fake news and to broadcast authentic,  helpful information to citizens of the district. Additionally they are involved with daily reporting of lockdown status & issues in their neighborhoods. They are also involved in implementing social distancing and usage of masks, by helping neighborhood businesses and by appealing to people. The group is also committed to support the district administration in relief works and emergency situations.

The warriors are organized into 9 Taluk groups. The broadcast messages are curated by a core group of 4, assisted by an investigation/tech team of 18 people. The group has broadcasted 81 messages between 31-March and 6-Apr which includes 25 Fake Alerts. Out of these, 6 were local fake news investigated and busted by the team.

The Warriors group operates in a highly disciplined manner, overseen by a DIPR master volunteer. The core team is continuously scanning social media platforms and Govt’s official websites for messages and bulletins relevant for Dakshina Kannada district. All such messages are shared in the taluk groups. Also every time a group member reports a suspicious / inflammatory / fake news the core team takes it up for investigation. If the investigation team’s findings are conclusive and backed with corroborating evidence, then a fake news alert is prepared (often in both Kannada and English) which is shared in the taluk groups. Each warrior in turn will broadcast these messages to his/her contacts, who will further disseminate the information to more people.

By conservative estimates, messages broadcasted by the DK Corona Warriors are reaching at least 264000 people each day.

Apart from the focus on information/fake alert broadcasting, the group is continuously sharing information about relief needs at various parts of the district and solving issues. The volunteers have been connecting people in distress to appropriate governmental departments and social service organizations. In many cases the Warriors have arranged relief materials by themselves too.