A study on the news management of Indian media houses while covering the pandemic.

Author- Mr. Siddharth Sharma, Amity University Gwalior

Media Management- Response of Indian Media houses during the pandemic.

Unlike other countries that took early measures at the rise of the pandemic, Indian
authorities took a bit of time to analyze the situation and take the proper measures. The
uproar of cases was heard in early march and rest no measures were taken to control it.
March is also the season that witnessed the festival of Holi, a festival that encourages more
and more people to come in a group, resulting in a breeding ground for the virus. As an
early measure, a lockdown was imposed throughout the country, and was thought that it
will resolve the issue. (Depoux et al., 2020)
This sudden lockdown resulted in an information gap as people were forced to stay inside
their homes. That was the time when every Indian citizen was looking for news, more
credible news. The biggest alternative that appeared at that time was social media.
That was the time when citizen journalism was at its height, everyone became a publisher
and started publishing articles on media. There is no denying that at times, social media has
played a great role in spreading the awareness related to many issues but it played a
different role in this pandemic. This was used to create unrest, fake news and rumors were
on-trend. News related to racism dominated the media circle. Ref-1
It was not even the time when the pandemic marked its first infection in the country there
was a huge uproar which resulted in shorted of basic needs. Shops ran out of surgical masks
and sanitizers. Due to existing medicopleuralism in India, messages containing fake claims
about the use of herbal and immunity-booster medicines, and other topics related to
spiritual ways and treatment started circulating which resulted in deeper confusion. Ref-2
This was just the starting of panic as the whole media was filled with fake news related to
the mass killing of patients in China and news related to extended lockdown. This news
made many migrant laborers leave their workplaces for their hometowns. People fled from
quarantine or isolation facilities and unnecessary travel before lockdown or even during
lockdown for returning to their hometowns. Unfortunately, logos and website links of
national and international health agencies, news channels, and leading newspapers are
being misused in such fake news.
Chronology of events: If we look at the trend of the coronavirus from the year 2020, we can
deduce a chronology. It was January 30, 2020, when The World Health Organization (WHO)
declared the novel coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern. (Dhanashree et
al., 2020).
This chapter will focus on how Indian media managed this infodemia concerning social media.
In India, the first COVID case was reported in Kerala on January 30, 2020. That was the time when
the news related to other preventive measures started circulating on social media
Here is the fig attached to show the chronology of the cycle
Mass media highlights during covid19 from January to June 2020, in India.

Source: (Dhanashree et al., 2020)

Lockdown first ended in April post which lockdown 2nd started. This was the time when social media
was flooded with trolls about the new task. It was no time when the focus of the media shifted to
migrant workers traveling hundreds of miles to reach their homes amid lockdowns. After being in
lockdown for over a month, the media showed photos and footage of a clean environment and clean
air. That was the time when every person was inside their house and was relying on media for their
information vacuum. Students also started sharing information without even cross-checking the fact.
This led to an information bubble where everyone started sharing without even thinking, and media-
fuelled this.
In the study, it has been found that during this tenure most people in India used social media and
recorded the highest viewership. On the opposite, print and television viewership declined
drastically.
Media and Misinformation: The terms misinformation, disinformation, and fear have been
widely used in mass media during the pandemic. All the media and mediums had a great
impact on the mind of the public. In a study published in the Electronic Journal of General
Medicine, the researcher used a method to measure the three-factor related to media, fear, and
information on people.
It was the time when all other news was outpaced by misinformation prone to the pandemic. The
biggest problem with such information is that they can travel at a very fast speed (Venkata-
Subramani & Roman, 2020). One of its kind of studies that took place in IRAQ on the potential
impact of social media stated that social media harm the mental health of the audience.
Pandemic was a time when people spent most of their time on mass media. Social media became
the main source. It was a matter of time when media deviated from covid to another incident.
As per the article published in the Scroll, The larger section of Indian media during the pandemic
was event-driven and focus on publicity instead of addressing the actual issue. Coverage of
healthcare policy or the medical research process to improve public knowledge about health and
medicine is uncommon. Much Indian media followed the pattern of sensationalism. During the initial
days of reporting the pandemic much of the focus was on controversial claims related to its origin
and access to vaccines. That was the time when awareness was to be spread. It was the time when
early depiction of health information was necessary as it influences public perception. It was the
duty of the media to ensure its coverage is relevant and to encourage individuals to respond
accurately.
In research conducted (Gupta et al., 2021) it was found that very few articles provided actionable
suggestions to readers that includes options like staying home and maintaining social distance. Many
of the articles that came were related to symptoms, prevention, and hygiene. The study found that
40% of the information that was provided was misleading information ranging from plasma therapy
or chloroquine. Out of the published article, media coverage also did not appear to reflect WHO
updates promptly
This study focused on the leading newspaper of India such as The Times of India, Indian Express, The
Hindu, and The Hindustan Times. The researcher selected the articles published in these papers and
where news was divided into two sections ‘Coronavirus and Covid-19’. If we go by the official
statement of WHO only those sources are considered credible who have technical expertise in public
health issues. The researcher found that only a few articles have used credible sources such as of
government or hospitals but have taken non-credible sources such as individuals.

(Making Waves in India: Media and the COVID-19 Pandemic, n.d.) In the study, the researcher traced
the online forum via a number of tweets tweeted for different categories. The same can be
understood with the help of the figure as proposed by the researcher

Source: (Making Waves in India: Media and the COVID-19 Pandemic, n.d.)
the above figure represents the number of responses this individual topic got. The responses were in
the form of tweets and retweets. The researcher used 125499 tweets for its analysis and it was
found that COVID-19 related topics had the least engagement in terms of the number of retweets,
likes, and replies compared to other issues—and this trend is consistent across the entire timeline of
the study. Issues related to China, elections, and farmers’ protests had significantly higher counts of
retweets, likes, and replies. It clearly shows that there was less engagement with the topic of Covid-
19.
When the cases were at their height during the second wave in India, the time when the number of
deaths was more than five times as compared to the first wave, little attention was paid to the
media while covering this. Media act as a bridge between the government and the public, News
institutions are essential to bringing the government’s attention to early outbreaks while also
nudging, using novel messaging. The irony of the moment, is that the discussion in media outlets
was least on the most number of deaths were recorded due to the pandemic.

Conclusion:
Media is a powerful tool to provide information to the general public and to promote a positive
environment during the COVID pandemic, but it may also spread misleading information.
There is a huge chunk of the population in India that uses social media as a primary source of
information. With a such number of people using it, it makes social media the biggest news outlet.
The power of the media is bi-fold, either it can follow the protocols and can play a huge role in
containing the spread, or can do otherwise. It becomes an important duty of both media and
government to take care while using
this media platform.
Reference:

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