Padma Priya is co-founder and editor of Suno India a multilingual multi-generational podcast platform for issues that matter she has written for leading media houses and has worked as an advocacy and communication specialist for Doctors Without Borders. She has experience of running a multilingual and multi-channel media platform that covers a whole range of issues and during this webinar, she advised journalists on communicating pandemic-related terms to people who speak different languages, are from different generations, and are all affected by this outbreak, perhaps, in varying degrees.
“Keep communication at the center, not an arm”
On experiences of working as a health journalist
I think we could have done better while communicating with more sensitivity and empathy towards those who are affected by COVID-19. We keep coming across policing language – of criminalizing language towards patients. Referring to patients kept in custody and not in isolation. Referring to people going back to their native states, as a stupid person who carried the disease back home. The use of corona suspects is really not the right kind of language. Headlines, at times, are quite disturbing. Talking about patients escaping quarantine facilities – I think are just some examples. There is a lot of difference in how you communicate and especially as leaders it becomes extremely critical that the right language is used. Empathetic language has been thrown out of the window.
Things we have forgotten:
Little is known about the infection.
Everyone can get it.
There is no cure for it.
One of the biggest challenges remains the massive disinformation that has spread. A lot of the disinformation in the misinformation is because of an information vacuum in a lot of places. The vacuum that has been created is being filled by fake news from WhatsApp. State governments regularly briefing press will be significant.
Communicating when language is a barrier.
Language can be a barrier too. At Suno India, we began a show in Telugu where we got a doctor who was also one of the first doctors to identify a case of swine flu in the country. He did a myth-busting session in a very engaging and fun manner for people who understand Telugu. He used metaphors and language very comprehensively to a Telugu audience. I think that’s the kind of language we need more experts to come out and to speak in.
You need to speak like you would with your neighbor or your friend. You wouldn’t be talking ‘R0’ or ‘flattening the curve’ or physical distancing. If you had to explain it, you will do away with the jargon.
Communicate. Don’t stigmatize.
Using quarantine seals and placing stickers on homes of those quarantined may seem like an effective strategy on the part of public health authorities. The intention is to give the best care possible but what’s happening, unfortunately, is that this is criminalizing those affected. Words and phrases like super spreaders have a huge impact on how these people/communities feel about themselves. The label has a huge impact.
It may lead to people turning away from even accessing health care facilities. People not allowing health care workers to come to their homes. A similar incident was reported during a polio immunization campaign. A message went around that the vaccine itself could cause death and there was a lot of fear among the community who eventually refused the polio immunization. When fear takes over, it overpowers the rational side of us as human beings and has public health impacts.
I do agree very much that the humanizing aspect of this pandemic is not happening. It’s gone to mere numbers. Thousand new cases have been added in India; a million more in the world. We seem to forget that these are family members. Unless it hits us close home, we seem to not be able to empathize and understand what they are going through. I do believe this is because of how the reporting has happened so far.
Social distancing has a very different connotation even in cultures like ours. There is an entire caste/class angle to this. That’s not what social distancing is. I think a lot of countries now have moved to adopt the physical distancing aspect.
On the geographical barriers to communication
I think we can agree that radio penetration is quite high. I do believe that some people are getting their information and from the radio. Community radios are doing some very incredible work when it comes to dissemination of messages especially when it comes to vulnerable populations (Read here and here). These populations need credible information and in their local language on how they can protect themselves against this disease. I did this episode on how the lockdown is impacting farmers and one of the things that the speaker told me was that the farmers don’t understand how to go to the fields. What is it that they are supposed to do to keep themselves safe? What are the measures they are supposed to take to keep themselves and their family safe? I think community radios are a great starting point and some of them are doing some fantastic work already to communicate with this section of society.
For the interior tribal communities, who have, say no access to these kinds of means of communication, a good example was set by an MLA in Andhra Pradesh. She walks into these remote places, delivering ration, and also telling them what is happening outside. How is this disease spreading? What do they need to do to take care of themselves? I think here it is really worth investing in good old traditional methods of health education where you send a health educator or a doctor and you to talk to the communities. It’s a good starting point to actually start off some really good behavioral communication. ASHA workers are playing a very critical role in these geographies. They’re going door to door to inform people. We spoke to some ASHA workers. They said they got to know about this through TV channels or newspapers. Also, not all ASHA workers are getting trained to disseminate messages so they themselves are relying on other forms of communication for this. I think we need to factor in the fact that these people also face stigma, they also face fear. An ASHA worker told me that every day when she comes back home, her husband scolds her saying why are you doing this and he does not let her sleep inside the house. So, she sleeps outside the house. Now you know there are all these things that seriously need to be taken into consideration.
On communicating with the elderly – Don’t tell them. Talk to them.
When it comes to communicating with the elderly, I think of my parents. This is a very unusual situation for a lot of our parents and our grandparents. I think saying constantly that they are at risk and then adding a layer of fear to it is not going to help. I think communicating in general, by making them aware, asking them to be careful while weighing the words and telling that ‘this is the reason why we are not able to come to visit you’, or ‘why we need to stay indoors is because there is so much unknown about the disease’.
We really need to stop patronizing people. That’s happening a lot because of a one-way communication right now. Most of our peers don’t exactly know where to share or get information which is why it is even easier to sort of capitalizing on that fear by spreading misinformation. By saying that you know standing in so and so degrees will help you beat cold. I do feel that because of the fear of the unknown, people are also willing to consume this sort of information. I think this is where it’s really important to sort of just take a step back and tell people to have a conversation.
If that is done from the beginning, it will be easier to also then communicate uncertainty. Being honest and transparent and telling people that listen we don’t know when this will end. We don’t know how this is going to pan out. I think being honest will really help.
We have this tendency to believe that the community does not know. That they will not get it. I think that’s not how it works. We need to factor in what is their understanding and how we can work along with this community to explain to them the challenges.
I would just want to end with this one really beautiful video with a police officer approaching a homeless man to give him ration. When he steps towards him to offer it to him, the homeless man asks him to place the food at a distance and step away. How a homeless man has been informed about social distancing, is something I don’t know about. I can only guess that someone from his community told him and in a language that he understood. People from such communities can be educators if trained well. That is the power of language.
To those shaping the discourse – policymakers, scientists, media professional
One thing that has happened is that a lot of reporters have now been all turned into pandemic or COVID reporters. This is the reality in newsrooms which are also shrinking in size with massive layoffs happening across India and other newsrooms around the world because of the pandemic itself. Reporters with no prior experience in health reporting are having to have a sort of a learning curve. I think that can’t be a better time than now for editors and newsrooms to actually invest in training reporters on how to make that jump. They can put processes in place to help journalists themselves to understand and to how to do simple reporting, a more empathetic reporting. We should start investing in health communications. Start understanding why health is very political. Equip reporters to use the right kind of language so that they can communicate efficiently with the public.
Read Part 1 and Part 2 for perspectives from other panelists.
Watch the complete webinar on YouTube here.