Workpoint COVID 19 Website provides news you can trust and understand during COVID-19 pandemic

Workpoint News news agency of Thailand’s biggest entertainment network, has been credited for delivering trustworthy, easy- to-digest information during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports are presented in a simple and straightforward manner, and include daily data on infected and cured cases, graphs showing the country’s status compared to other nations, COVID-19 information from elsewhere around the world, and things everyone needs to know while living under the threat of the virus.

More than half a million people logged onto the website when it launched, and hundreds of thousands check it on a daily basis.

Behind the site are the collaborative hard work, sweat and tears of four parties: Workpoint News, who leads the editorial direction; digital venture Cleverse, who does the graphic work; and Chulalongkorn University and Journalism Funds, which initiated and funded the project, and provides additional sources of information. “I’d like it to be a one-stop website [for those looking for the covid-19 info],” says Workpoint News digital editor Noppatjak Attanont. He and his team have chosen to adopt a “conservative” approach when publishing content. “We report only verified information from the Ministry of Public Health because this kind of information is very sensitive.”

Cleverse also has the same approach in coming up with the visuals that go into the site. “We only use pieces of information that are valid. If we can’t confirm that info, we ditch it. Photos and information that can easily identify a particular person will also be declined.
There are journalism ethics we strictly hold to,” says Cleverse managing director Kittichai Jirasukhanon.

Creating graphs and visuals that could be easily understood has been a huge challenge for Cleverse. “Visualization isn’t just about putting up a chart. It’s about the core idea you’d like to communicate,” Kittichai continues to explain. “Take the number of infected cases as an example. If we only show the number of cases, readers would have no idea if this is a high or low figure. But if we say the number has increases by this percentage, then people would know right away it’s becoming more serious.”

Check out the website (available only in Thai) at covid19.workpointnews.com.