COVID-19: Fighting the communication war

The multi-pronged war against Corona is not just a medical and economic challenge. As has become increasingly clear in the past some weeks, it is also as much a war on the communication front. Even before the first patient was detected Corona positive in the country, this communication war was looming over us like a monster. With an aggressive, fast spreading Virus engulfing continents in such a short time, lack of past experience, countless sources of unverified information reaching everyone's phones and laptops, just catching up with the flood of fake news, myths and misinformation is a nightmare.

On top of it comes the job of disseminating information in real time, not just from the central government agencies but collating data and updates from all the four corners of the country. With the 'system' being what it is, correct information needs to go through several layers of filter and verification before it can be put out in the public domain whereas the rumour mills have been churning stuff at breakneck speed.

Despite media personnel qualifying in the 'exempted category', practical challenges in commuting and field work have made them that much more dependent for information on government agencies as compared to pre-Corona days.

Those and many more are the challenges that the media related units and wings of the government face every day. No less is the burden on the media platforms under the aegis of Prasar Bharati, India's public broadcaster. The public broadcaster is shouldering the dual responsibility of putting out correct, updated and timely information through its television, radio and digital platforms and busting fake news.

At the same time, Prasar Bharati is also conscious of the fact that with the majority of our citizens confined to their homes due to the lockdown, anxieties, boredom, stress and restlessness can make things worse for them.

Hence, the decision to broadcast reruns of the most popular past Doordarshan serials and healthy, entertaining movies for the family. That this policy touched every family and citizen is borne by the fact that as soon as Ramayana and Mahabharata reruns were announced, people flooded the public broadcaster's social media accounts with demands for at least two dozen other shows such as Shaktimaan and Byomkesh Bakshi.

Enough has been written already on Ramayana bursting all viewership charts to emerge as the most watched TV show in the entire globe. The challenge now would be to retain this massive viewership in the coming weeks with new plans for shows.

Coming back to the task of disseminating timely information and exposing fake news and myths, dedicated teams created by the government are functioning round the clock for weeks.

They source social media posts, WhatsApp forwards, myths discussed by word of mouth etc and immediately get in touch with the concerned agencies to verify the authenticity of the information. If the information relates to a particular state, it is checked with the concerned state pronto. Expectedly, Press Information Bureau and its fact check arm have registered a whopping jump in following.

As if the fake news, myths related to Corona and mischievous elements pushing all kinds of misleading information were not enough, our western neighbour has been working overtime to destabilise us through a communication war. Its all powerful Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is on a massive overdrive to put Indians in a bad light by fomenting social, religious and sectarian tensions.

Their recent game plan of driving a wedge between India and the Middle Eastern Gulf nations by just using a few dozen fake twitter handles demonstrates how easy such things are in a largely internet driven world. This has taken low-cost warfare to another level. Thankfully India's leadership displayed a pro-active role to foil the nefarious designs but the fact that Pakistan will try it again is a given.

Besides battling a global pandemic, we are fighting an all out communication war unleashed by elements both inside and outside the country. Its impact on crores of gullible citizens cannot be discounted at all. It is a real war and hence must be fought with the alertness, planning and dedication required of a real war. Constant co-operation of the citizens is the strongest weapon the government and the nation have today.

(Smita Mishra, Adviser, Prasar Bharati)