Media & COVID-19
- Khwaish Gupta
- Sep 4, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 30, 2023
Survival of the better adapted
“Bhaiya, kal se newspaper band kardena”, or “unsubscribe me from newspaper delivery” was one of the common sentences that newspaper vendors got to hear in the beginning of April 2020. The spread of the novel coronavirus was taking the form of fear, crawling into people’s minds and making them do things they had never imagined. What fear couldn’t restrict, the nationwide lock-down did.
The newspaper industry was watching as it happened- an evolutionary shift in people’s consumption from print to digital news media. Most news publications were extremely responsive and worked hard on their online presence. Newspapers like Indian Express, The Hindu and Times of India already had an app with their e-papers too. They developed them further and worked actively on getting consumers to download their apps. With time, a daily podcast was added. After months of doing it all for free, they moved their e-papers behind a paywall. These publications were adaptable and were thus able to survive the strict lockdown.
The newspaper sector was still hit for sure- with demand falling and even supply getting hampered due to the lockdown. It was quite evident. The number of pages reduced significantly, yet gradually, in printed editions.
The Hindu shut its print publication for months in a row. Hindustan Times stopped publishing Brunch, its weekly magazine. The Indian Express started including the magazine section within the normal one, instead of printing it separately.
In the midst of this pandemic, the TV news media thrived. With more people tuning in, their ad revenue also shot up. While this happened, we could see a clear collaboration of the government with TV news media houses. Channels like Republic TV, News 18, AajTak, ABP News, Times Now etc. were firm on their pro-government stance throughout the pandemic and they still are.
As India records 84,000 (approx.) COVID-19 cases in 24 hours and enters recession, none of these channels was interested in such a coverage. Joining hands with the government or self-censoring news, their media houses have been quick to shift their focus to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput.
In an infodemic as this, even the most accessible forms of news media have been a disappointment. Most channels were propagating Islamophobia when COVID cases skyrocketed due to the Tabhliqi Jamaat gathering. News channels would call sadhus instead of scientists to claim that Gangajal could cure COVID. Taimur’s potty routine was more important than the migrant crisis.
source: Huffpost
Journalistic standards have stooped to a new low and most people don’t realize this. While news business, as a whole, continues to thrive, we see journalism falling prey to political fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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