Media, the fourth pillar of democracy, has long since played a central role in the progress of human civilization. Its ability to educate, entertain and engross consumers has driven the wheels of history and spurred social and political growth.
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1. A brief history of media
In the last century or so media had gone through seismic changes like when radio news reared its head out for the first time in the 1920s. The earliest participants of radio news were Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and National Broadcasting Channel (NBC).
Until then, print media was the only medium through which consumers found contemporary news and entertainment. Partisanship in newspapers and ideological ghettoising and compartmentalisation were common affairs since the late 1800s.
Albeit its faults, readership progressed by leaps and bounds and print media became an 18th-century sensation. And some newspaper companies of professional integrity emerged at the heart of this sensation.
At the turn of the 20th Century, these lot of newspaper companies engendered a new form of journalism — muckraking. It is an investigative form of journalism to unveil corruption and unscrupulous practices by notable entities. This movement shed light on incidents and occurrences that prompted historical changes.
Hence, it is an incontestable statement that media in any country plays an integral role in shaping its political and social changes. And the birth of the internet and online news perhaps brought about the most significant change in media, followed by the advent of social media.
In the span between the 3rd Q of 2016 and 3rd Q of 2018, online readership for top 50 U.S newspapers stayed continually just under 12.5 million.
This shows the promise of online media and the magnitude of power it holds in the contemporary world.
According to many, social media and misinformation over the internet prompted the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election to turn topsy-turvy. This and several other instances are sufficient to substantiate the role of media as a vital influence on society.
2. Role of media amid Covid-19 outbreak
It would be an understatement to say that the current global scenario is unusual and unique. The coronavirus disease has nudged the world in a direction that was unfathomable a few weeks ago.
It is the great modern crisis that has sent ripples across the globe with countries going into lockdowns and all economic and social activities coming to a cessation. Large swaths of numerous countries are under nationalised lockdowns including India, as global cases reach a tally of 1.25 million.
Countries like the USA, Spain, and Italy have been massively hit by the coronavirus pandemic with the USA registering nearly 325,185 confirmed cases as of 6th April. This situation means several things — social regression would impact economic growth and might lead to global depression, colossal health crisis, restructuring of prevalent economic functioning.
A lockdown also means a large section of the global population — workforce — would have to recede to the isolation of their homes for the time being. Add to that, a pandemic ravaging the globe and causing social and economic upheaval.
· Overview of readership growth due to Covid-19 outbreak
Consumers, now more than ever, are interested in news media and are actively consuming updates and news about the coronavirus disease.
As can be seen from the image above, online news readership skyrocketed by 33% from the last week of February to the second week of March. What changed was a pandemic peaked, and more and more countries went under lockdowns.
Alongside televised news channels, online news media, social media, and authoritative websites like WHO and CDC are emerging as crucial agencies of awareness about the pandemic. Total digital visits to websites of WHO and CDC and the likes had burgeoned to 45.8 million in the 2nd week of March from 14.6 million in the 2nd week of February.
· An upward surge of fake news
In the U.S., a survey revealed that more than 89% of respondents were following the news closely and approximately 70% of that lot conceded that media are covering the situation very or somewhat well. And as miscreants cannot resist themselves, more than 48% of the respondents admitted coming across fake news or misinformation concerning this Covid-19 pandemic.
And we have all come across these fake news, rumours, and conspiracy theories — tea is a cure for coronavirus, cow urine kills the coronavirus in the body, China purposefully created an artificial virus to obtain hegemony.
The general awareness about fake news, however, is utterly refreshing. Nonetheless, the inherent risk of fake news going undetected and causing unnecessary social media cacophony remains with consumption of online news.
It falls on tech giants like Google and Facebook to observe measures necessary for the prevention of fake news dissemination during this outbreak and the long-run as well.
Print media and television media are discounted from this risk. Consumers exclusively resorting to those two sources of information are secure against the wave of fake news that plagues social media.
In this respect, India is one of the largest markets for print media globally and has witnessed steady growth in readership rather than casual decline noticed in most western countries. In between F.Y. 2013 and F.Y. 2019, the newspaper industry has witnessed a near about Rs.100 Billion growth in its revenues.
3. Power of media
Even now, journalists and news channel reporters are working relentlessly to relay credible, accurate, and useful information to consumers. Several digital news portals have also joined the cause and are tirelessly trying to keep up with large media organisations in disseminating accurate news.
At these times of crisis, when the entire world has come to a virtual standstill and is facing the unknown, news media plays an integral role in ensuring an informed and rational audience that acts by facts and not rumours.
