Essay Example on Media: An Integral Tool in Disseminating Information During Epidemics

Media plays an integral role in the dissemination of information from one group/individual to another. The use of electronic media like television, radio, and print media are important in passing information such as advertisement and sharing knowledge around the world. During the time of epidemic as with Covid-19, it provides what is happening and other important information to the public. Without media, people cannot know what is happening around and what is required of them during an epidemic. Over the last four months, media has played a significant role in sharing information and knowledge around the globe. However, since the media is not always perfect, it is necessary to assess whether it has been helpful or hurtful. In my opinion, the media has been helpful in the fight against Covid-19.

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Through the media, information has been provided to the public on how the epidemic is spreading. Every day, the media report the new cases of patients confirmed, those who have recovered, and those who have scummed from the infection (Okri, 2020). This information is important in creating awareness of the disease all over the world. The media has been providing details of the vaccines being developed. People are terrified by the disease, and therefore, any positive information on the discovery of vaccine or treatment has been highly anticipated by the public despite scientists having made little progress so far. People have been quarantined in their homes to curb the spread of the disease. Therefore, it is the media that provides information to the billions of people who have been quarantined in almost every country in the world. In addition to creating awareness of how the infection has been spreading and impacting health care as well as economy worldwide, the media has also been educating the people on what needs to be done to minimize its spread (Okri, 2020). Washing of hands, use of sanitizers, use of masks while in public places, and maintaining social distance have been some of the ways that the media has been educating the public every now and then. The media has created awareness on how people need to wash their hands, how they should put on masks, and some of the signs and symptoms of Covid-19 so that people experiencing those symptoms can isolate themselves and seek medical attention. It would have been impossible for many people to know much about the epidemic. That is why I believe media has been helpful to the public worldwide.

There is a big difference between creating awareness and creating panic. Awareness creation is always done with responsibility, a respect for the scale of the problem as well as a calm consciousness of what needs to be done to address the problem (Okri, 2020). People need to be aware of Covid-19 and understand what is required of them to do so that they can minimize its spread. However, some people may make the Covid-19 worse, and this may cause fear among the people due to negative imagination. This causes panic among the people, which is usually fear in the steroids. This results in losing sanity, and as a result, people become occupied by the problem, and this causes psychological harm. Since the Covid-19 first emerged in Wuhan, China, it has engulfed people's mental culture, and now the virus is omnipresent in every conscious person in the world (Okri, 2020). People may develop psychological symptoms of the disease due to panic that may be caused by others. For instance, someone reading too much of how deadly the disease is from some fake blogs and articles which may be trying to take advantage of the people and exploit them may start experiencing psychological symptoms of Covid-19, but when tested, they are found to be well.

To avoid panic, it important for people to learn how to differentiate people who are to creating awareness and those trying to cause panic so that they can take advantage. According to Leary (2017), to be able to doubt the information that is conveyed to us and term it as a panic, several factors should be considered. First, if the writer or the one conveying the information is guilty of simple formal errors, then readers or listeners have a reason to doubt the information being communicated. Also, if one's information presented about a problem like Covid-19 conflict with what we already know and have a reason to believe, then the recipient of the information has all the reasons to doubt. Additionally, blogs or articles talking about a problem without supporting its assertions, then the readers should doubt the article. If the presenter of the information is strongly biased, dismissive, and emotional, and as a result, does not treat the opposing views fairly, then a reader or a listener should have a reason to doubt (Leary, 2017). Finally, if the author's writing contains contradictions within the information, then readers have no reason to believe such information. Therefore, any information where the author makes formal guilty errors, conflicts with what we know and believe in, any writings that do not assert the claims, if the writer is biased, dismissive, emotional and does not treat opposing claims fairly or if the information contained in writing is confusing or contradicting, then the information can be doubted. Such information defensive arguments are referred to as fallacies. They are psychologically persuasive but logically flawed, and therefore, if taken seriously by the people, they can do more harm than good due to the panic they may cause (Leary, 2017).

Based on the above information on understanding those trying to cause panic, I believe the media has been creating awareness for the people rather than panic. First, most media report a consistent number of confirmed cases, those who have died, and those who have recovered from the disease. They are not dismissive or persuasive about how dangerous the epidemic, but they are reporting the cases calmly, consciously with respect, and responsibly educating the people on what needs to be done to minimize the spread of the disease.

From the above discussion, we can learn three main lessons which include:

Media is playing a key role in the fight against Covid-19-media like presenting bad news to draw the attention of the viewers or readers. As a result, many people do not take what the media says seriously because they think they are just trying to create attention. However, this has not been the case with the deadly Covid-19 epidemic as media has been in the frontline to report cases responsibly and calmly as well as educating the people on what needs to be done to minimize the spread of the epidemic.

People need to learn how to differentiate between those trying to create awareness and those trying to create panic. This is important in helping people avoid psychological symptoms and fear.

Finally, people should not rely too much on blogs and other articles online as they may be trying to create panic to take advantage of the people during this epidemic.

References

Leary, S. (2017). In defense of practical reasons for belief. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 95(3), 529-542. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00048402.2016.1237532

Okri, B. (2020, March). Fear of Covid-19 is a mental contagion - and that's something we can fight. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/26/fear-of-covid-19-is-a-mental-contagion-ben-okri. Accessed on April 25, 2020.