Open AccessRisk Communication Initiatives amid COVID-19 in India: Analyzing Message Effectiveness of Videos on National Television
Author(s) -
Neetu Purohit,
Sharad Mehta
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of health management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.179
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 0973-0729
pISSN - 0972-0634
DOI - 10.1177/0972063420935659
Subject(s) - pandemic , health communication , public health , public relations , social media , internet privacy , advertising , medicine , computer science , political science , business , covid-19 , world wide web , nursing , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Communication for all hazards including widespread public health emergencies is a massive task. The crucial element is to reach and cover maximum people in a timely manner. This article is based on a systematic content analysis of videos on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on National Television by Indian Public Service Broadcaster and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. A total of 36 videos were telecasted on National Television channel Doordarshan from 3 March to 21 April 2020 in between programme breaks. The article analyses the presentation characteristics of these videos with respect to timing, duration, language, characters, format and key message content of communication videos on COVID-19. The article deliberates about the manner in which the chronology of the communication messages synced with the external events of the trajectory of the pandemic and thereby information-need of the community in India. All the messages which evolved in these videos (real and animated) were built on each other and depicted an information hierarchy (e.g., washing hands to social distancing) which could be viewed as an empowering tool for the community. The videos were analysed based on the nine constructs of conceptual model of emergency risk communication given by Seeger et al. (2018) . The key preventive messages in these videos focused on generating awareness, which was the fundamental necessity in view of the new type of pandemic like COVID-19. The summated scores show that 36 videos were appropriate up to 79 per cent times for the nine constructs, indicating the effectiveness of the messages in communicating the intended message as per the assessed construct. Limitations of the messages were primarily related to the inability to design communication messages with respect to specific understanding, needs and culture of the community.