News
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has clarified that its Geneva headquarters are not at the centre of a recent occurrence of COVID-19 (coronavirus), after a Swiss television report misidentified the WCC offices in a graphic about a case of the virus in a nearby institution.
During a 29 February newscast about the coronavirus, the Geneva-based RTS television station correspondent described how one early case of the virus arrived in Switzerland via an asymptomatic employee of the European Broadcasting Union (UER), which neighbours the WCC offices.
In a graphic accompanying the report, however, the letters UER were superimposed on an aerial photo of the Ecumenical Centre, the headquarters of the WCC.
“The news outlet has yet to correct the mistake on air,” said WCC director of communication Marianne Ejdersten, adding that the WCC is urging media to share accurate information about the virus.
The report could lead viewers to believe that the WCC was at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak in Geneva, she said.
The news report with the misleading infographic was later broadcast on TV5Monde throughout the world. It is still available on replay on the RTS website.
RTS corrected the misstep via their Twitter account with 13,118 followers and the WCC communication department received a letter from RTS with apologies but requesting no publicity regarding the letter.
“Journalists play a significant role in the reporting about the virus, and we are asking for a proper correction in the same channel as where the misleading information was provided,” said Ejdersten.
In a 7 February news release, the WCC called for “accurate information and education” about the virus.
“It is vital that faith communities and leaders depend on reliable and up-to-date information, and share it, not succumbing to misinformation and contributing to panic,” Dr Manoj Kurian, coordinator of the WCC Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, was quoted as saying in the news release.
