Journalist colleagues, I& #39;d like to have a word, because - and I will give you the benefit of the doubt here - many of you have not reported about health before.

There are two dangerous forms of Covid-19 info doing the rounds: blatantly false info and groundless speculation. https://twitter.com/CollinsMandy/status/1249661525490622464">https://twitter.com/CollinsMa...

Both of these can be avoided by interviewing proper experts - and that doesn& #39;t mean anyone with a medical or health sciences degree.

You wouldn& #39;t take your broken leg to an ophthalmologist. You wouldn& #39;t ask your biokineticist to treat your cervical cancer.

Medicine/evidence-based health is a vast subject. The human body and the field of human disease are both very complex and there are many specialties, so you can& #39;t just take any doctor and get their opinion. You run the risk of spreading bad, inaccurate information.

That just adds to the panic and has a knock on effect as it gets passed on in the grisliest game of broken down telephone.

If you& #39;re interviewing half-assed experts and speculating on data with only your own "knowledge" and opinion, you may well be complicit...

... somewhere down the line, in someone& #39;s death.

So get the right experts. For a pandemic/epidemic, that means epidemiologists, infectious disease experts, virologists. Maybe an actuary with solid experience in modelling this kind of data.

But please, don& #39;t just get any old kiepie with a medical degree. Do your job. Balanced, fair - and calm, non-sensationalist reporting - is crucial right now. This is the time to use your skills in service of South Africans - for all of our sakes.

Ending lockdown safely is a collective effort - and spreading the right information is your part to play.

Here endeth the rant.