BENGALURU:  Media has played a very significant role in the last few months in educating and spreading awareness on Covid-19, but there seems to be an ‘infodemic’ on the pandemic, which needs to be balanced by other news stories and information, according to Dr S K Chaturvedi, senior professor, psychiatry, NIMHANS.

“There has been so much attention on health in the last three and a half months. There is a need for a lockdown on the media because an overload of information also leads to unfounded worries and public anxiety. There has been no other news other than Covid in the media except Vikas Dubey (the UP gangster, who had massacred eight cops and was later shot dead in an encounter).

There should be a balance,” he said during a webinar organised by the National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) on Saturday for media personnel and students. The webinar was inaugurated by NIMHANS Director Dr Gangadhar.

He added that Covid has adversely affected everyone. “The concept of home is lost because home has become the workplace, gym and school for a family. Media professionals are also under stress. There is risk of reporting on Covid cases on the ground along with the stress of missing out on news,” said Dr Chaturvedi.

Dr Naveen Kumar, professor of psychiatry, said, “Media can play a big role in taking the stigma out of the infection. Stigma undermines social cohesion and prevents people from going for early testing. Media alone can help in giving proper information on the infection, the rate of recovery and preventive measures,” he said.

Dr Meena K S, additional professor and head, Department of Mental Health Education, NIMHANS, spoke about the role of media as a key stakeholder in building resilient communities. “They should state facts and not use scary adjectives like ‘killer virus’, ‘super spreaders’ or something we recently heard – vishkanya,” she said.