Former Journalism student Laura García Merino works at Maldita Ciencia, a section of Maldita.es where “we try to disprove myths and fight misinformation in science. Both myths and hoaxes that can be dangerous to health. Although they are not only dedicated to denying false information, one of the main objectives of this medium is "to try to transfer scientific and medical knowledge, especially regarding health and nutrition. Chew it up, make it simple, and put it into easy words to get it circulated as much as possible.”
The current worker for Maldita.es carried out both university and extracurricular internships at the Sinc news agency. A news agency that also deals with scientific issues but which, according to García herself, “is a totally different kind of journalism. At Maldita we do data journalism and fact checking while at the Sinc agency I had to be aware of the embargoes on scientific studies.”
In Maldita they fight against misinformation, Laura García says that “one of the hoaxes that has caught my attention the most is the one that said that a glass of tequila with aloe vera cures cancer. It is very dangerous for someone to believe this because they can stop a treatment that medicine does approve of by trying a homemade potion that makes you worse."
Science in Spain has taken a step forward as a result of the pandemic. “Now much more interest is given to scientific journalism. When I started, the truth is that I didn't even know it existed." At the beginning of the pandemic, as Laura García argues, “many journalists who were not related to scientific journalism, upon finding a preprint, which is true that in form it is very similar to a study, published it as if it were a contrasted study when It wasn't real, so there has been a lot of news that has come out ahead of time and later it has been shown that the information given was not really correct. She also adds that the importance of the figure of the scientific journalist has become quite evident, a certain type of knowledge is needed to deal with these issues. ”
Social networks are where more hoaxes and misinformation are found. This is why Laura García sends the message to "give the citizen sufficient criteria and tools to be able to suspect the information", she warns that it is necessary to "go to the original source of the documents, when something is suspicious, go to the origin of the information and have that critical sense that puts you a little on alert. Which is what we do a little in Maldita. Promote critical sense.
Laura García Merino is one of those in charge of running Maldita's social networks. They spread science with a humorous touch on Tiktok (@malditobulo). She is also in charge of making live shows on the Twitch platform (https://www.twitch.tv/malditaes) where people can ask their questions and invite different experts in scientific matters.