Assessing Media Literacy Levels among Audience in Seeking and Processing Health Information during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Assessing Media Literacy Levels among
Audience in Seeking and Processing
Health Information during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sandhya Rajasekhar¹, Deepa Makesh² & S. Jaishree³
^1,3M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women, India
²Loyola College, India

Abstract

Media plays a crucial role in information dissemination during significant social, economic, political events and crises, including epidemics. Public look upon the media for credible and authentic information during such times resulting in a surge in information seeking. In 1976, Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur proposed media dependency theory (Lin,2020). Audience dependency on the media increased with the rise in social conflicts, resulting in greater chances of the media’s potential effect. During epidemics, media is known to spread awareness and disease mitigation efforts (Xiao et al., 2015). But in the digital age, information overload, misinformation, and rumours tend to be detrimental to such mitigation efforts. The Director-General of WHO (2020) stressed the importance of facts, stating that misinformation makes health workers’ efforts challenging. While social media platforms have been asked to screen fake news, the influencers have been asked to actively promote facts in their posts, as some of the measures to tackle the ‘infodemic’ regarding COVID-19. This study uses the concept of media literacy, active audience, media dependency theory, health information-seeking behaviour, expectancy-value theory, among others, to recognize information search patterns and assess media literacy levels, including processing and verification of information by mainstream media audiences and social media users during the COVID-19 pandemic period in India.

Keywords: Audience, health information, information overload, media literacy, misinformation, pandemic

References

Aldwairi, M., & Alwahedi, A. (2018). Detecting Fake News in Social Media Networks. Procedia Computer Science, 141, 215–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2018.10.171

Arnold, M. (2020, March 31). Seven ways to protect yourself against misinformation. Retrieved from https://research.asu.edu/: https://research.asu.edu/seven-ways-to-protect-yourself-against-misinformation

Aufderheide, P. & Firestone, M. C. (1993). Media Literacy A Report of The National Leadership Conference on Media Literacy. Communications and Society. 36. Washington: The Aspen Institute, U.S.A.

BARC. (2020). The Crisis Consumption – Impact of COVID -19 On TV And Smartphone Behaviour Across India – Edition 4.

BBC. (2020, March 27). Trusted News Initiative announces plans to tackle harmful Coronavirus disinformation. Retrieved from bbc.co.uk https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/coronavirus-trusted-news.

Bhadani, P. (2020, April 16). TV, digital rule in times of COVID-19: What BARC-Nielsen report says. Retrieved from https://www.theweek.in/

Brennen, J.S., Simon, F., Howard, P.N., Nielsen, R.K. (2020), Types, sources, and claims of COVID-19 misinformation. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Retrieved from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/types-sources-and-claims-covid-19-misinformation

Celot, P. (2015). Assessing Media Literacy Levels in Europe and the EC Pilot Initiative. Brussels: European Association for Viewers Interest.

Chaturvedi, A. (2020, May 15). WhatsApp launches ‘check it before you share it’ campaign to stem misinformation. The Economic Times. Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Chew, C., & Eysenbach, G. (2010). Pandemics in the Age of Twitter: Content Analysis of Tweets during the 2009 H1N1 Outbreak. PLoS ONE, 5(11), e14118. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014118

Comscore (2020, March 30). COVID-19 and its impact on Digital Media Consumption in India Retrieved from https://www.comscore.com/: https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/COVID19-and-its-impact-on-Digital-Media-Consumption-in-India

Eristi, B., & Erdem, C. (2017). Development of a Media Literacy Skills Scale. Contemporary Educational Technology, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6199

Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., & Holman, E. A. (2020). The novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) outbreak: Amplification of public health consequences by media exposure. Health Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000875

Hussain, W. (2020). Role of Social Media in COVID-19 Pandemic. The International Journal of Frontier Sciences, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.37978/tijfs.v4i2.144

IANS. (2020, April 30). Facebook issues 40 million warning labels on Covid-19 fake news content www.businessinsider.in. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/facebook-issues-40-million-warning-labels-on-covid-19-fake-news-content/articleshow/75467644.cms

Ireton, C. & Posetti, J. (2018). Journalism, ‘Fake News’ & Disinformation Handbook for Journalism Education and Training. UNESCO.

Jayaseelan, R., Brindha, D., & Kadeswaran (2020). Social Media Reigned by Information or Misinformation About COVID-19: A Phenomenological Study. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3596058

KPMG. (2020). Covid-19: The many shades of a crisis – A media and entertainment sector perspective

Kumar, Srijan & Shah, Neil. (2018). False Information on Web and Social Media: A Survey. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.08559.pdf (cs-S1)

Lin, Y. (2020). Media dependency theory, Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/: https://www.britannica.com/topic/media-dependency-theory

Livingstone, Sonia & Ding, Susanne & Bachmair, Ben & Rumble, Jane & Celot, Paolo & Papaioannou, Tao & Costa, Conceição & Drotner, Kirsten. (2011). Media literacy: Ambitions, policies, and measures Editor: Sonia Livingstone. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271765062_Media_literacy_Ambitions_policies_and_measures_Editor_Sonia_Livingstone

Livingstone, S. (2004). Media Literacy and the Challenge of New Information and Communication Technologies. The Communication Review, Vol. 7, No.1. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714420490280152

Mandavia, M. (2020, March 20). Indian government asks social media firms to control Coronavirus fake news. The Economic Times. Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Narula, U. (2006). Communication Models, (p.21) India: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.

Ngodigha, S. A. (2016). Re: How to score a Likert Scale?. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_score_a_likert_Scale/56d83bb4b0366deda5252531/citation/download.

Nielsen. (2020). COVID-19 and the State of Media in North Asia. Insight. https://www.nielsen.com/apac/en/insights/report/2020/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-media-consumption-across-north-asia/

Orso, D., Federici, N., Copetti, R., Vetrugno, L., & Bove, T. (2020). Infodemic and the spread of fake news in the COVID-19-era. European Journal of Emergency Medicine, 1. https://doi.org/10.1097/mej.0000000000000713

Palit, P. S. (2020). India and COVID-19: Misinformation and the Downside of Fake News. Retrieved from https://theasiadialogue.com/2020/04/06/india-covid-19-misinformation-and-the-downside-of-social-media/

Perakslis, E., & Califf, R. M. (2019). Employ Cybersecurity Techniques Against the Threat of Medical Misinformation. JAMA. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.6857

Potter, W. J. (2001). Media Literacy.(2nd ed.). California: Sage Publications Inc.

PTI, (2020). COVID-19 worst crisis since World War II, says U.N. chief. Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/covid-19-worst-crisis-since-world-war-ii-says-un-chief/article31223646.ece, April,1,2020.

Rayburn, J. D., & Palmgreen, P. (1984). Merging Uses and Gratifications and Expectancy-value theory. Communication Research, 11(4), 537–562. https://doi.org/10.1177/009365084011004005

Renjith, R. (2017). The Effect of Information Overload in Digital Media News Content. pp: 73- 85. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324088772_The_Effect_of_Information_Overload_in_Digital_Media_News_Content/

Tai, Z., & Sun, T. (2007). Media dependencies in a changing media environment: the case of the 2003 SARS epidemic in China. New Media & Society, 9(6), 987–1009. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444807082691

Tighe, Rosie. (2013). Re: How to perform data analysis for multiple-choice, multiple answers questions?. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_perform_data_analysis_for_multiple_choice_multiple_answers_questions2/515c8f2ad2fd643b1f000028/citation/download.

Tumpey, A., & Daigle, D. & Nowak, G. (2019). Communicating During an Outbreak or Public Health Investigation. Chapter 12.Eds: Rasmussen SA and Goodman RA. The CDC Field Epidemiology Manual. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/eis/field-epi-manual/Publishing-Reference.html

UNESCO. (2013). Global Media and Information Literacy Assessment Framework: country readiness and competencies. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000224655.

WHO. (2020, February 8). Director-General’s remarks at the media briefing on 2019 novel coronavirus. Retrieved from https://www.who.int: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/director-general-s-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-2019-novel-coronavirus—8-february-2020

Worldometers. (2020). Countries where COVID-19 has spread. Retrieved from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/countries-where-coronavirus-has-spread/Sep2/2020.

Xiao, Y., Tang, S., & Wu, J. (2015). Media impact switching surface during an infectious disease outbreak. Scientific Reports, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep07838

Xinning, G., Yue, W., Yubo K., Tera L.H.(2017). Understanding the Patterns of Health Information Dissemination on Social Media during the Zika Outbreak. Retrieved from https://mediawell.ssrc.org/citation/understanding-the-patterns-of-health-information-dissemination-on-social-media-during-the-zika-outbreak/

Yousman & Bindig, L. (2017). Critical Media Literacy in the Age of Neoliberal University: Challenges, Strategies, and Rewards. SoJo Journal: Educational Foundations and Social Justice Education, v3 (2). Information Age Publishing, Inc., 35-48.

Sandhya Rajasekhar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism (School of Communication and Media Studies) at M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women (Autonomous), Chennai, India. Her research areas include digital literacy, uses and gratification studies, health communication, and film studies.

Deepa Makesh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Communication at Loyola College, Chennai, India. Her focus of research is health communication.

S. Jaishree is an Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Communication (School of Communication and Media Studies) at M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women (Autonomous), Chennai, India. Her research areas include women’s studies, development communication, digital literacy, uses and gratification studies, social marketing campaigns, and health communication.

Correspondence to: Deepa Makesh, Department of Visual Communication, Loyola College, Nungambakkam, Chennai-600 034, India