Research Paper: Coverage of Pandemic by Indian National Media

 Coverage of Pandemic by Indian National Media: With the focus on Electronic Media

by Zenith Khan

M.A Defense and Strategic Studies

 

INTRODUCTION

Highly connected world comes with its own challenges which are sometimes in the form of large-scale causalities which are unavoidable. Security is no longer limited to armed forces but covers a large scale of issues, Health Security being one the many. Covid-19 pandemic that has gripped the world since the beginning of 2020 remains the biggest threat to International Security even after a year of fight against this invisible enemy. Vaccine has been the most important weapon against any diseases followed by communication. Unlike other outbreaks seen in the past Spanish flu the new pandemics like Ebola or the recent Coronavirus were accompanied by a supplementary challenge of Infodemic (An epidemic of Information). Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Director General of World Health Organisation gave a statement saying, “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an Infodemic which spreads faster and more easily than this virus”.  The dissemination of this is in the hands of Media Houses, both electronic and print accompanied by social media which is the largest source of information and disinformation. A study by Reddit and Wikipedia on the Covid-19 pandemic showed that people are highly reactive to the news they are exposed to, in the beginning of an outbreak, the quality and type of information provided might have critical effects on risk perception, behaviours, and ultimately on the unfolding of the disease [[1]]. In April 2020, research by Harvard observed that a number of March 2020 polls showed that Republicans were less worried than were Democrats about exposure to the virus (Gallup 2020), less likely to consider the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak a major health threat [[2]]. All the choices and bifurcation were based on their preference of Media Consumption which in turns was based on their political inclination. This brings us to another point of media biases, which is selective in the information they deliver to the audience or twisting the words to make it appear either pro- government or anti-government. Nevertheless, both the scenarios are capable of creating inevitable damage to the already existing Covid Situation.

Covid Coverage by Indian National Media:

There is a certain pattern that is followed by the left media houses which is very critical of the current government in India and then comes the pro-government which are all praises to the current establishment. The predominant anti-government electronic medias are NDTV, the wire, BBC India etc and for pro-government we have Republic TV, Zee news, Times Now etc. This polarity within the landscape of Journalism in India was not visible before 2010 but political dynamics have changed since and have created information warfare especially during the time of Pandemic. Coverage of number of deaths was very different for both the sides. For the second wave coverage itself in the last two months the pro establishment media stuck to the official number provided by the government which would remain around 2,19,272 cases of infection and 2812 deaths (26 April 2021) [3]. While the right-hand media houses like Times Now[4] who use English as the medium of coverage did question the data provided by the government. This isn’t a news that people tend to incline to news channel according to their own political leaning, hence people who prefer English language are mostly the educated class of the country, which is the reason, that though right-wing Hindi National Electronic Media Houses are very explicit in defending the government, the English counterpart continues to remain implicit. If we talk about the anti-establishment media houses, starting from NDTV [5] it was observed that they did use the analysis done by the international media house like the Guardian and the data collected by the regional media house like Sandesh newspaper based in Gujarat to question the government on the official data it provided and the basis on which they were recorded. During the second wave the Sandesh newspaper reported 200 deaths on 16^th April 2021, in and around city of Ahmedabad but the government report only showed 25 deaths. This same report was also used by BBC while covering

Indian Covid Crises[6]. The Wire which is part of Foundation of Independent Journalism and has its audience base on YouTube for its audio-video coverages, took up the technique of interviewing the experts which would help predict the Covid Fatality Graphs instead of having Politician on board to defend themselves and their stand. They had interviews with epidemiologist, Mathematician to challenge the data provided by the government [7]. Same panel was also seen other Left wing media houses too like scroll, quint, NDTY etc.

Next major issue during the second wave of Covid Crises was the shortage of vaccine and oxygen cylinder. In March 2021, Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan declared that country was heading to the “end game’ of Covid-19 Pandemic yet Right next month surge in Cases were reported. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad’s Professor Chinmay Tumbe stated that failure to prevent second wave was due to failure of government to keep track of different strains of variant. Journalism is mainly responsible for highlighting issues that are otherwise left unchecked. Real time surveillance and reporting are the responsibilities of the media. When the surge came down in February with average of 11000 cases per day and deaths per day had slide down to below 100 the covid was also out of media coverage for a while if not entirely.  At the same time the beginning of the year saw Kisan Andolan which was where both the pro and anti -government media houses were primarily focused. Only major news related to covid was Vaccine Diplomacy when India decided to support other countries by exporting Vaccines made by the Serum Institute. Though the cases were less and out of the central concern of media, it doesn’t imply that the Pandemic was over. This was where both the sides unfortunately created a communication gap. In the past whenever the world was gripped by the pandemic it had faced at least three waves which is one the lesson that both the sides should have learned and should have continued to look at the strategy that government should work on in terms of setting up hospitals and oxygen plants. Though it was difficult to understand the intensity of second wave few things were established during the first wave that was the need of oxygen as the virus mainly attacked lungs and basic medical supplies like Remdesivir injection and a fast-paced immunisation program. It was During the time of Farmers Protest followed by Election from March to May in five states that major under reporting took place. This shift in focus from the health to political arena took away the pressure from the government to setup accurate health system in the given span of time between the first wave and the second wave.  This under reporting is also responsible for creating a wrong impression in the mind of people who still needed to take precaution, but visuals of Gathering in Rallies were like free pass for all to move around without precautions. Two important points to remember here are that firstly, covering the Farmer’s Protest through the pandemic angle would have had portrayed the protest in negative light which is the reason why the anti-government media houses avoided extensively talking about covid concern during this time. Secondly, During the election it was pro government who avoided questioning the political leaders for not wearing the mask and massive gathering.

Coverage of two major religious gathering during Covid

Tablighi Jamaat

The “Markaz event” was dubbed by Indian media as a coronavirus hotspot by the right-wing media. It was reported that the information on COVID‐19 were given a communal color on social media and TV channels, with the “Muslim” community demonized. The editorial in Hindustan Times argued that while actions must be taken on the Tablighi Jamaat leadership for violating social distancing rules, blaming Muslim community for this whole episode must be resisted (Hindustan Times, 2020). There were fake videos which were also used as sources by right wing media houses to spread hatred.  The State's handling of the Markaz issue have been quite apparent but was not covered well in the mainstream media, especially on the inability of both Delhi and the central government. [8]

The Kumbh Mela

The government was widely criticized by left wing for organizing this gathering which also worked in its favour as it mostly covers news which is anti- establishment. While the right wing called out opposition for their statements on rituals of Kumbh rather than questioning the permission given for such a mass gathering. It is important to note that both the gatherings were wrong. The first gathering of Tablighi Jamaat could have been used by both the sides to analyze other major gatherings that may take place in future and how government can prevent it. The extensive ground reporting before the start of Kumbh was major source of information for the Hindu pilgrims.  Had the media shown repercussion of such mass gathering during covid crises they would have also influenced the choice made by pilgrims.

 

Conclusion

Pandemic was one point where both left and right could have come together taking a neutral stand but political biases did not allow it to happen. While anti-government media houses were able to question the government better during the pandemic, the pro-government media was able to question other stakeholders working on the ground level. The communal gap which was created was the major setback. If there was a violent reaction to the situation by any of the communities, it would have only made it hard to contain the entire pandemic in the overly populated country. Indian media needs to learn to represent and use facts in its reporting rather than promoting the individual opinion of their respective journalists.

 

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[1] Nicol`o Gozzi, Michele Tizzani, Michele Starnini, Fabio Ciulla, Daniela Paolotti, Andr´e Panisson and Nicola Perra, CollectiveresponsetothemediacoverageofCOVID-19PandemiconRedditandWikipedia, Networks and Urban Systems Centre, University of Greenwich, London, UK, June 12, 2020.

[2] The Relation between Media Consumption and Misinformation at the Outset of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in the US, The Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review 1, The Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review1,  April 2020, Volume 1, Issue 2   April 2020, Volume 1, Issue 2

[3]Zee News, important news on coronavirus , https://youtu.be/CePMNxt_BCw,  DNA, 26 April 2021

[4] Times Now, Frankly speaking with Union Minister, https://youtu.be/kbqRRvq8Z8U,  18 April 2021

Times Now, did Delhi Government create oxygen panic, https://youtu.be/kUYhSVhVHWk,  25 June 2021

Republic tv, Time for India to unite and not settle political score, https://youtu.be/b4FhTP9KJaU,  24 April,2021

[5] NDTV, Are Government Covid data accurate, https://youtu.be/Jr14SC3aoHI,  Prime Time, 26 May 2021

NDTV, Centre Trashes New York Times report on Covid,  Prime Time, https://youtu.be/Jr14SC3aoHI,  27 May 2021

[6]  India’s Covid Crises

[7] The Wire, Karan Thapar for Wire, 19- April 2020      

[8] Parth Sharma,  Abhijit Anand, Indian media coverage of Nizamuddin Markaz event during COVID-19 pandemic, APP Wiley, 3 November 2020