India has been struck hard by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic—daily cases and deaths peaked at more than 400,000 cases and 4,000 deaths, respectively, almost four to five times higher than the peak number of cases and deaths in the first wave. The second wave was largely attributed to complacency by the Indian government. As important as this may have been, it is crucial to examine the role of the media during the pandemic. In particular, what were the discussion topics on the eve of the second wave, and was COVID-19 a fading topic of discussion when the tragedy struck? In this paper, we answer this question and discuss how inadequate media coverage may have slowed India’s COVID-19 response.

News media is an important institution in a democracy. It is instrumental in conveying information to people and drawing the government’s attention to issues of concern, and provides a platform for advocacy and criticism of policies of the government in power. In the context of a pandemic, the media’s role becomes even more significant: It can be a vital source to identify early outbreaks, and it can inform the public about non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) like maintaining physical distance, hand hygiene, wearing a mask, etc. to contain the spread of the disease and limit its impact. Although NPIs and government-imposed travel restrictions can be burdensome—requiring significant alterations in human behavior, which is difficult to maintain over extended periods—the media can ensure compliance with these important measures by educating the public on their effectiveness at fighting diseases and preventing additional outbreaks.

Furthermore, research on epidemics has shown a cyclical behavioral response with respect to the disease; that is, more disease leads to more demand for self-protection, in turn leading to less disease; however, this results in less self-protection, which then leads to more disease. Unfortunately, this implies that until a sufficiently large number of people are vaccinated or protected from the disease, an epidemic is likely to come in waves. Therefore, it becomes imperative for the media and the government to repeatedly, perhaps in a novel manner, convey messages to the public regarding NPIs to the public to lessen the impact of the disease, primarily when the prevalence of the disease is in a downward trend.

Read the full article about media and COVID-19 in India by Mudit Kapoor and Shamika Ravi at Brookings.