MENTAL HEALTH CONSEQUENCES

OF COVID-19 MEDIA COVERAGE:

THE NEED FOR EFFECTIVE CRISIS
COMMUNICATION PRACTICES
STUDENT NAME
INTRODUCTION

• During global pandemics, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), crisis

communication is crucial in dispelling concerns, uncertainties, and rallying citizens
globally in a joint battle against health risks.
• Inadequate crisis communication may have catastrophic human and economic
implications.
• Mounting study reveals that apparently unending newsfeeds relating to COVID-19
infection and mortality rates might greatly raise the likelihood of mental health concerns.
COVID -19 AND MENTAL HEALTH

• Unfortunately, media stories that contain infodemics about the role of COVID-19 on
mental health may be a cause of the unfavorable psychological effects on people.
• Owing largely to weak crisis communication techniques, media and news organizations
throughout the world have played little roles in countering COVID-19 infodemics.
PROBLEM STATEMENT

• Analysis of communication practices by amateurs and professional communicators must be conducted, and
timestamped responses should be made available to public immediately.
• 3. Promotion of citizen journalism, and broadcasting their reports, visualizations, character-based stories,
desirable situational monologues, and monographs, would become extremely effective. It will be much closer
to the reality, and to what people want to watch when they are in distress.
• 4. Voluntary newsgatherers may also be encouraged, and beginner level training sessions can be conducted to
make their valuable time and efforts an asset for the broadcasting institution, and resultantly for the public
amid emergencies.
• 5. Hiring of healthcare specialists, and professionals is a must, as they know how to handle emotionally
compromised people, and what kind of content they would wish to read or watch.
PROPOSED OBJECTIVES

• To analyse the impact of media on metnal health during COVID

SIGNIFICANCE

• Rhythm that inculcates motivation and provides guidance to all those souls involved in
the benefit of communities at large, putting their lives at risk for the people in distress and
providing quick and timely information (Yong, et al., 2020).
• In Pakistan, people living in urban outskirts and rural areas are particularly at stake
because of poor hygiene and sanitation conditions, which make the job of data collection,
fact writing and dissemination of news operations, and social-peer-to-peer interactions
and processes more problematic for the media personnel.
LITERATURE REVIEW

• Siddique (2020) elaborates how media sets the agenda, and why this setting is important amid the
current pandemic.
• Discussing several Pakistani newspapers, Siddique (2020) outlines why public is forced to
depend on media for critical information, i.e., during lockdowns, and what roles the newspaper
editorials, and news stories are playing in such situations.
• This agenda setting that the author has elaborated, is of particular significance for this writing to
understand the specific responses of media organizations towards COVID-19 and especially in
addressing the needs of communities at large.
METHODOLOGY

1. Mixed Approach
2. Primary and Secondary Data
3. Interviews and Media releases instances as sample
CONCLUSION

• Pakistani media has seen numerous troubles since its inception in 1964 (PTV, 2019).
• Private organizations began playing their roles in information and broadcasting affairs in
2002 (Din, 2020).
• However, mass media in Pakistan largely remained entangled to political, and socio-
political affairs, resultantly lacking experience of handling emergency situations,
especially health conditions such as COVID-19.