Day #13: Ouroboros Media in Pandemic times

1st April 2020: Last 24 hours has been difficult, the Indian corona virus positive cases reported has gone  up consistently last couple of days and if the trend continues with the same level of acceleration as it has happened elsewhere, we are looking at very big numbers being impacted in the next 2 weeks. Much depends on how much people pay respect to the #lockdown and their own urge to break it. 

In the last 24 hours also most of the media has been about the recent discovery of the large number of corona virus infection among the people who gathered in an islamic religious programme in Delhi . Each media houses  has responded to this development with its own view. Some outrageous and other in rhetoric. But, what is interesting is the online debate between the media houses, they seem to be behind each other all the time. 

In a world where machines using AI, continuous intelligence gathering, spying through mobile phones and internet usage are fast changing the perception of everyone by altering the information ecosystem in which they operate, the conventional media houses managed by  analogous people uses shrill, sharp, loud and colourful noise to sustain itself. The smarter the machines get, the stupider the human media seems to become and there are people who choose either or both.   

The Indian media post-2012, can be divided into sane, stupid and reaction media. The minority sane creates news, the stupid shouts noise and the reaction media is only reacting to stupid ones, much of social media belongs to the third category.  Obviously for their entertainment value, the later 2 categories of media have more patrons. 

Shaping public perception during  time of Pandemic could either enhance stress levels or provide hope to public, rightfully, the governments everywhere are worried about the kind of news published in the media. People have phones and internet as they sit at home and work and no one has a single source of news any longer, people also analyze on their own and sometimes their analysis surpasses the quality of the media houses. Hence, the easiest path for the government currently would be to state the  truth as it were, to practice honesty with the media houses and through them with the citizens and not cause panic.  Lack of honesty is the biggest reason for panic and being transparent, even if things are not great, is helpful for citizens to know what to foresee. 

However, such transparency has not been shown till now by the government and many questions by the media have remained unanswered. Specific questions on the testing procedure, on the way the quarantine is monitored, on the availability of various utilities have all been stonewalled. With the Disaster Management Act (DMA) in vogue, the media houses cannot carry unverified information either and are left with no choice but to hold their tongue and just broadcast what comes out of the government official announcement.    

This has left the stage for yet another showdown and name calling between media houses of the stupid and the ones that react to stupid. For every article that has been circulated insinuating a point of view, several fictional pieces and hyperbolic statements and single point extrapolations have been made in response. The citizens are not as much being given any clarity as much as being provided entertainment and further stress. One of the worst creative products of our times is the 'digital meme', a product that reduces all news of value into entertainment of irrelevance. A public given to comparing the creative nature of one meme against another soon loses perspective to even analyze any news of value.  We are being overfed digital memes in current times to benumb our perceptions. The worst phenomena is when people take sides between these two and repeat the news in the social media to amplify either the stupid or the response to stupid. In doing so, they polarize every debate, belittle the gravity of the situation and contribute to the demise of their own commonsense. 

ONE OF THE REFLECTIONS DURING THE PANDEMIC IS THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN OUR LIVES. DO WE REALLY NEED 24x7 NEWS TO THE LEVEL THEY OCCUPY OUR TIME AND LIVES TODAY?  IS IT POSSIBLE TO PAY FOR SANE MEDIA THAT PROVIDES NEWS AND NOT TRIES  TO INFLUENCE US?