COMMUNITY MEDIA IN THE ERA OF PANDEMICS: A CONTEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLORATION

Author Name: Arpita Singh

Volume: 01 &  Issue:

Country: India

DOI NO.: 08.2020-25662434 DOI Link: http://www.doi-ds.org/doilink/01.2021-62676473/UIJIR

Affiliation:

1.  Trainer, Amity School of communication, Amity University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT

Community Media is persuasive, scalable, fast, influential and strong, and derives its strength from its constant relationship with communities. It is responsive to the needs of people and has the to empower them through knowledge. Community media is responsible for the incorporation of diverse voices within the community, and its dissemination and development processes underscore community engagement. Community media played a very important role during lockdown, which happen all over the world due to Covid-19.The community media didn’t only, made people aware about the virus but also helped them to get basic amenities during the whole lockdown. The evaluation of community media in the context of development communication is rational, constructive and pragmatic. Community media is by the small group of people and whose network is also limited to a particular region but it was used as the strongest medium during the pandemic. Community media during pandemic plays a very important role to make people aware about the myths and fake news that was spreading all over during lockdown and was creating a pressure and tension among the people. The purpose of the article is to make people aware about the Community media. The history of Community media and what was the role of community media in the era of pandemics. There will be the inclusion of case studies of all over India that how they create awareness among their region and helped people with knowledge and also make them believe that there is someone around them who are still listening to them. They keep their audience informed about everything from information about containment zones, the number of positive patients, where they are being treated in the district, the areas that need to be avoided, to the details of lockdown and everything in the middle. They station present information in a simplified and demystified manner, which can be easily understood by these rural communities as opposed to the complex advisories given by the authorities.

Key words: Community media, pandemic, myths, Radio, newspaper, social media