Dainik Bhaskar says the threat remains

Media effects, panic, and scaremongering raised its head once again in Indian media as the media and communications industry attempts to cope with the explosive growth in liberalised conditions. A girl in Bhopal, India, has been reported to have panicked over the CERN experiment and committed suicide. The government has blamed television channels for generating  mass hysteria through the messages of “misinformation, fear and horror”. What are the different ways we can approach this and what does it tell us about media growth in South Asia?

In their advisory, ‘Communicating during uncertainity’ Science Media Centre explains that “science moves from observation to observation and you get scientific progress. There is no end point”. So there is always room for dissent and contrary views. The spectre of the experiment folding the earth unto itself was challenged by a range of people including environmentalists and academics (read Gray, Richard (2008) ’Legal bid to stop CERN atom smasher from ‘destroying the world” Daily Telegraph [Online] 9 Sep here).

The other view is of media effects and the Times of India’s representation of Indian government’s umbrage might paint a picture of an overzealous and reactionary government. The Indian media cannot be faulted for representations of dissent. Media and communications research strongly suggests that media has limited effects. Using this approach one could argue that the blame lies more with the immediate environment of the girl — family and friends — which may have exacerbated her anxiety and panic. There could be other reasons the girl might have taken to the grave with her. We have no way of knowing. Thus, attributing a causal link between the suicide and media coverage is dubious. This does not take away criticism of media practice.

The issue at hand is how media represented the CERN experiment and more importantly why would it do so? Here we need to examine economics of media, sociology of media, and journalistic skills. The simplistic view of the issue would be media training and this is where Indian needs its own version of Science Media Centre. But this training also requires journalists and editors to be sensitised to views about knowledge and power and how discourse is created and perpetuated by those who have the power and means of communication. In this case, the media may have selectively highlighted the sceptics — knowingly (that shock increases viewership/readership) or unknowingly (in the mistaken belief that every contrarian voice needs to be given equal space). Here we need to pause and reflect on the political economy of the media market in India. Millions of rupees have been poured into media companies by investors with the hope that those who gain the maximum audience foothold will eventually win the race.

In my own interactions with editors at leading Hindi news channels indicates anxiety driven by commercial pressures to maximise audience. This leads to an incestuous media scenario where the points of reference for media are their competitors and fellow journalists rather than broader and long term editorial vision.

A fourth angle of this is media literacy, where audience are encouraged to critically examine media and be aware of the text, sociology, economics, and politics of the media and communications industry. Myths about the fourth estate and journalistic independence have to be dismantled so that audience is aware of the biases, inconsistencies, and omissions in media discourse.

Anon (2008) ‘CERN Big Bang: TV channels draw I&B ire for spreading panic’ Times of India [Online] 11 Sep 2008 (read here)

Anon (2008) Indian girl kills self over “Big Bang” fear: family Reuters.com [Online] Wed Sep 10, 2008 (read here)

Arshad (2008) Big Bang myth: Bhopal girl commits suicide NDTV.com September 11 [Online]  (read here)

Anon Communicating Uncertainty in a Soundbite Science Media Centre [Online] (read here)