scholarly journals Role of the Media in Health-Related Awareness Campaigns on Perception of COVID-19: A Pre-post Study in the General Population of Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atta Ur Rehman ◽  
Rubeena Zakar ◽  
Muhammad Zakria Zakar ◽  
Ume Hani ◽  
Kamil J. Wrona ◽  
...  

Medical preparedness and community education are the most valuable preventive tools for combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to assess the role of media public health awareness campaigns on the knowledge of the general population about COVID-19 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A quantitative study using a pre-post design among 384 respondents was conducted. A structured questionnaire was administered to the participants twice: The first response (t1) from participants was filled in during the 1st week in February 2020 before any confirmed cases were reported in the country, and the second response (t2) was completed 1 month after the first case detection in Pakistan (March 2020). Media health awareness campaigns were launched just after the detection of the first case in Pakistan. Exposure to the media and knowledge relating to COVID-19 increased over time. Whereas, only a quarter of respondents judged the isolation of suspected cases in quarantine to be important to prevent the spread of infection in society at t1, more than half did so at t2. Socio-demographic characteristics were not significantly associated with knowledge (gains). However, more frequent use of electronic media is associated with greater knowledge gains from t1 to t2. The findings of this study provide evidence that awareness and knowledge related to COVID-19 symptoms and preventive measures increased significantly over time. The increased frequency of following the media indicates that health awareness campaigns are important for enhancing the knowledge of the general public regarding COVID-19.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atta Ur Rehman ◽  
Rubeena Zakar ◽  
Muhammaz Zakria Zakar ◽  
Ume Hani ◽  
Florian Fischer

Abstract Background: In January 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global public health emergency. Medical preparedness and community education are the most valuable preventive tools for combatting this pandemic. The objective of this study was to assess the role of media public health awareness campaigns on the knowledge of the general population about COVID-19 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.Methods: A quantitative study using a pre-post design among 384 respondents was conducted. To recruit study participants, a systematic random sampling technique was used. A structured questionnaire was administered to the participants twice: The first response (t1) from participants was filled in during the first week in February 2020 before any confirmed cases were reported in the country, and the second response (t2) was completed one month after the first case detection in Pakistan (March 2020). Media health awareness campaigns were launched just after the detection of the first case in Pakistan. Data was analysed by computing descriptive statistics and paired t-tests to measure the level of association between variables.Results: Exposure to the media and knowledge relating to COVID-19, particularly its symptoms and frequent handwashing as a preventive measure, increased over time. Whereas only a quarter of respondents judged the isolation of suspected cases in quarantine to be important to prevent the spread of infection in society at t1, more than half did so at t2. The same increase was visible in relation to the statement that a lockdown helps to follow social distancing. Socio-demographic characteristics were not significantly associated with knowledge (gains). However, more frequent use of electronic media is associated with greater knowledge gains from t1 to t2.Conclusions: The findings of this study provide evidence that awareness and knowledge related to COVID-19 symptoms and preventive measures increased significantly over time. The increased frequency of following the media indicates that health awareness campaigns are important for enhancing the knowledge of the general public regarding COVID-19.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0259473
Author(s):  
Marrissa D. Grant ◽  
Alexandra Flores ◽  
Eric J. Pedersen ◽  
David K. Sherman ◽  
Leaf Van Boven

The present study, conducted immediately after the 2020 presidential election in the United States, examined whether Democrats’ and Republicans’ polarized assessments of election legitimacy increased over time. In a naturalistic survey experiment, people (N = 1,236) were randomly surveyed either during the week following Election Day, with votes cast but the outcome unknown, or during the following week, after President Joseph Biden was widely declared the winner. The design unconfounded the election outcome announcement from the vote itself, allowing more precise testing of predictions derived from cognitive dissonance theory. As predicted, perceived election legitimacy increased among Democrats, from the first to the second week following Election Day, as their expected Biden win was confirmed, whereas perceived election legitimacy decreased among Republicans as their expected President Trump win was disconfirmed. From the first to the second week following Election Day, Republicans reported stronger negative emotions and weaker positive emotions while Democrats reported stronger positive emotions and weaker negative emotions. The polarized perceptions of election legitimacy were correlated with the tendencies to trust and consume polarized media. Consumption of Fox News was associated with lowered perceptions of election legitimacy over time whereas consumption of other outlets was associated with higher perceptions of election legitimacy over time. Discussion centers on the role of the media in the experience of cognitive dissonance and the implications of polarized perceptions of election legitimacy for psychology, political science, and the future of democratic society.


2020 ◽  
Vol V (II) ◽  
pp. 130-137
Author(s):  
Arsha Saleem Meer ◽  
Rao Shahid Mahmood Khan ◽  
Malik Adnan Adnan

The core objective of the study was to find out the knowledge, attitude and practices of women in the general population and also to investigate the significant role of media awareness campaigns in each aspect of KAP among women. A total number of n=375 women of three renowned universities of southern Punjab were selected through simple random sampling technique. Data was collected through a self-constructed questionnaire comprised of socio-economic status and knowledge, attitude and practices section in their respective educational institutes. Findings indicated that media campaigns had established good knowledge and satisfactory attitude towards breast cancer, but these campaigns are proved less significant in convincing people for screening their breast without any prominent symptoms. This study concluded that media awareness campaigns are significant in providing knowledge and establishing good attitude but less effective in providing knowledge about the importance of screening practices among women of the general population.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Ellis

Representations of war in the media have changed drastically over time. Like the media representations of war, the American public's view of wars has also shifted over time; this is often a result of the media portrayals of war events. This paper examines the role of newspaper, yellow journalism, and sensationalism writing during the Spanish-American War on the American public's support for the war and juxtaposes this with television media accounts of the American war in Vietnam and how this created public disapproval for the war. Both had everlasting effects on US war policy for the future.


Journalism ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 611-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Ardèvol-Abreu ◽  
Catherine M Hooker ◽  
Homero Gil de Zúñiga

This article explores the role of trust in professional and alternative media as (a) antecedents of citizen news production, and (b) moderators of the effect of citizen news production on political participation. Using two-wave panel survey data collected in the United States between December 2013 and March 2014, results show that trust in citizen media predicts people’s tendency to create news. In turn, citizen news production is a positive predictor of both offline and online participation. More importantly, trust in the media moderates the effect of citizen news production over online political participation. Overall, this article highlights the importance of trust in the media with respect to citizen news production and how it matters for democracy. Thus, this study casts a much-needed light on how media trust and citizen journalism intertwine in explaining a more engaged and participatory citizenry.


2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (S1) ◽  
pp. S86-S88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Fernández-Celemín ◽  
Anna Jung

The increasing availability of nutrition and health information has not always increased the knowledge of the general population, but presents them with the need to know and understand in order for choices to be made. While communicating science to the lay public, several challenges are encountered, ranging from the heterogeneity of the audience, the consumers, who demand certainty and a straightforward message, through the different aims and agendas of all the communicators, to the inherent complexity of the scientific message. Nowadays, the media is one major source of scientific information to the general public. The present article examines what the role of the media and scientists should be in bringing scientific communication to the public and how this communication could be improved.


Author(s):  
Lieke van Deinsen ◽  
Nina Geerdink

The early modern commercial book market was the cradle of authorial branding. Authors and publishers increasingly explored the construction of authorial brands: a set of recurring and recognizable characteristics associated with authorial images. This chapter looks at branding in the context of the media landscape of the early modern Dutch Republic. Authorial branding developed over time in conjunction with new conceptions of the individual, technological innovations, and the changing role of – amongst others – patrons and publishers. Analyses of the branding of Jan Jansz. Starter (1593-1626) and Sara Maria van der Wilp (1716-1803) illustrate how the non-formalized, dynamic constellation of the literary field inspired various agents to create a range of (multifaceted) author brands on the spectrum ‘economic-symbolic’.


Author(s):  
Denis Galava

This chapter examines how the Kenyan press has adapted to a constantly changing political landscape and media ecosystem, from the colonial period to Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidency. It interrogates the roles of key actors over this period—press owners, journalists, and successive political regimes—whose interests have helped to shape the moral and practical trajectories of reporting. Using the Daily Nation and The Standard newspapers as case studies, the chapter argues that despite the constantly waxing and waning relationship between the media and the government over time, the press in Kenya is part of ideological state apparatuses and other hegemonic structures that help to “manufacture consent” amid broader discourse over the place of democracy in Kenya’s elections. It concludes that the press was founded to secure and enhance the interests of its owners, not to expand the bounds of debate and expression.


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (Supplementum) ◽  
pp. 63-66
Author(s):  
Michal Stehlík

The Pantheon has been the heart of the National Museum ever since its foundation. It was intended to serve the role of honouring personalities of Czech history, science, and culture. The composition of the busts and statues of represented personalities changed over time due to the current political and social situation. It was necessary to define its future form in the context of the renovation. In 2017, discussions of its composition raised the interest of the media and the public. Several possibilities of the new Pantheon were considered, the National Museum finally chose to return to the state of 1948 (55 busts and statues). The Pantheon gallery will exhibit the changes of the compositions throughout time.


Politics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlomo Shpiro

This article argues that the events of 11 September 2001, and the subsequent ‘war on terror’, have highlighted the role of the media in both the coverage and conduct of modern conflict. The article concentrates on the ‘conflict media strategies’ pursued by belligerents and examines the development and refinement of such strategies over time, from the Second World War through to the conflict in Afghanistan. Using data from Vietnam, the Falklands, the Gulf, Kosovo and other conflicts, I argue that an effective conflict media strategy is an essential tool of warfare that is used by states and terrorist groups alike.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document