College Students in Delhi feel Media Coverage during COVID-19 was Useful but Negative: LSR Survey

The LSR Survey also finds that COVID-19 media vocabulary found a way into everyday conversations of the people.

The second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic has been a crisis like no other. It has left an unprecedented impact on the lives of people, especially in developing countries like India. The news of soaring numbers of fatalities, shortage of oxygen cylinders and ventilators, and the state’s inability to meet the demand of vaccines naturally instilled a sense of urgency. During critical times, when the masses turned to the media for updates, most media sources seemed to be overflowing with messages to raise awareness and inform the public. But some messages also did the complete opposite.

Recently, Department of Journalism, Lady Shri Ram College for Women carried out a survey on ‘crisis communication’ under the guidance of the Head of the Department, Dr. Vartika Nanda, helped by three research associates, Deepika Saini, Samridhi Chugh and Shivangi Chopra. It was conducted amongst 105 college-going students in Delhi-NCR in the age group of 18-25, with 73 female and 32 male respondents.

Consisting of six questions, the qualitative survey first asked the respondents to mention the sources of information they had exhausted the most during the second wave of the pandemic. They were then asked to choose the most frequently used terminology in these media sources, from the given list containing 30 terms, during the second wave. In the subsequent question respondents were, then, asked to mention the key words and terminology used most frequently by them during this time. Further, they were asked to rate the information delivered by media sources, during the given time period, on the scale of 1 to 5, with verifiability, usefulness and positivity as the key qualitative bases. 

Successful in shedding light on several notable media trends prevalent during the last few months, the survey found that the majority of respondents considered social media platforms as their go-to media source. Traditional media sources like TV channels and newspapers remained the second-preferred choice for participants during the past few months as sources of essential information. 

A crucial finding of the survey was that the terms like ‘oxygen’, ‘vaccination’, ‘ventilators’, ‘death rate’, ‘ICU’, ‘donate’ were observed by the participants as quite repetitive in their frequency on popular media sources, including on social and digital media. The survey also revealed that the respondents had also made use of similar terminology in their day-to-day conversations during the past two months, with the dominant media vocabulary becoming a part of their vernacular. Since the media focus was mainly on issues related to the pandemic, these words were also used in the public domain, sometimes to discuss the situation in a general vein, or sometimes as a cry for help.

Notably in the survey, more than 57% of all participants emphasised that the role of various media sources was quite useful and vital for them during the second-wave of the pandemic. However, when asked to rate the overall level of positivity in media coverage, the maximum participants ranked information on media sources with a score of 1 or 2, indicating a higher prevalence of negativity, or pessimism, in terms of tone and content matter in the circulated information.

One of the participants, Rhythm Sharma, said over a telephonic conversation, “There came a time in April when I stopped watching news and using social media altogether. While I wanted to keep myself abreast of the latest information, the news started to affect my mental health and made me feel scared and helpless. My mental state further worsened because I started to feel doubtful of the information reaching me through even the trusted media sources, in the first place.”

Similarly, participants were most uncertain and divided on the question of verifiability of the information they received during the second wave. When asked to rate the information in terms of verifiability, over 38% participants picked the score of 3 out of 5, suggesting a level of uncertainty in analysing whether the information they were receiving was verified, accurate and/or based on official sources. But over 43% respondents rated the information with a score 4 or 5 indicating that the information they were receiving was more or less verified.

Dr. Vartika Nanda added, “The survey was a completely student-driven initiative. The students of journalism have actively participated in the entire research process. The research has helped the students gain better insights on the use and role of media, and they made maximum use of primary-data to procure evidence-based results.”

Overall, the survey has shown that while the media has done its primary job of disseminating essential information, the respondents believe that media reportage needs to be more sensitive to issues concerning the masses. It should take into account the psychological and disruptive impact it may have for society in times of crisis.

The survey has proved the aggravated need for mass media to fulfil its role in disseminating information while also making sure that it enhances sensitivity during times of mass-urgency. Key insights from the survey will help media sources to not just achieve the objective of crisis communication, but also help aid the public in a much more significant way in any situation that requires its active presence, including in times of the current pandemic.

 

Written by

Deepika Saini, Samridhi Chugh, Shivangi Chopra

Batch of 2022

B.A. (Hons.) Journalism

Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi