The role of mass media during pandemic: Informative or Spooking?

We all have that one parent who always criticize us for being 24*7 in front of T.V/
phone/ internet and they are right, being too much addicted to anything has never
done us any good but who would have thought that a time would come when this
very distraction would once become a source of strength. Instagram/ Snapchat is no
longer just a platform for sharing pics, it has become a support system for many
people, it has become a source of mental strength during this pandemic. What's
more surprising is that internet which was once seen as a distraction for teenagers
from academics has now become the very and probably the only source of learning
for youngsters. Surprisingly newspaper which has always been the cheapest news
medium has now being looked upon as the medium of transmission of COVID-19.
Who would have ever thought that newspaper which can be seen at every person's
house would suddenly become the medium of transmission of disease!

It's true that this pandemic has introduced many problems to the human society
but lets be honest with ourselves, this pandemic has taught some very important
lessons to us humans as well and has changed our perspective towards the world.
Television is playing a major role during this pandemic by constantly making people
aware of the seriousness of the situation and by educating people the necessary
measures they can take in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. People are
showcasing their talent in their own unique way by either singing, dancing or
through other art forms to spread awareness among the people and let others know
how crucial this period is and how if we fight together, we can easily tackle this
pandemic.

Mass media is nothing short of a large modern family where Newspaper is the head
of the family, reliable and well respected by all. YouTube is the caring mother, who
will always recommend you the videos you may like but will irritate you at times
through its constant display of ads. Facebook is the eldest son who is going through
a rough patch. Whatsapp is the bipolar son (since we may never know whether the
info is true or not), Instagram and Snapchat are the twin sisters and Tiktok is that kid
who is confused of his own sexuality .In a sense they are actually a big family
since all of them are owned by Facebook now.

News channels have played a major role during this pandemic by providing their
viewers the info of what is going on around the world and making people aware of
various precautionary measures a person can take to keep themselves safe from the
virus but why is that most of the info that we get to know through news channels has
to be so depressing? Is there no good happening across the world? This very
question crossed through the mind of John Kransinski who is an actor by profession
and he ended up making a youtube channel which broadcast only good news!
People loved this idea of broadcasting only good news and within couple of days his
youtube channel got more than 1 million followers! I think every news channel out
there must take away a lesson from this, every news channel must have at least 1
segment where they broadcast only and only good news!
It is really great to see people of all ages regardless of what gender they are or
what religion they belong to come together and utilize mass media in all possible
ways to educate people of this pandemic and make people aware how important it is
to be optimistic during these days. After seeing so many people do their part during
this pandemic, i was inspired to express my thoughts through this blog (and also
because i got tired of sleeping all day long )