When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Peru, Lucero Ascarza found herself staring down a new challenge in the classroom: disinformation.
She had started her career as a reporter for Convoca, a Peruvian-based investigative journalism organisation, digging into the Panama Papers as part of an international coalition of journalists. Later, Ascarza transitioned into education at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, where she helped the next generation of reporters learn the craft. But it wasn’t until the public health crisis — and the mistrust that fueled Peru’s anti-vaccine movement — that she realised how central the fight against falsehoods had become.
