Role of Media in Depression to The Viewers Watching Covid 19 Related News

Abstract

Purpose: The prevalence of depression among the general population is closely associated with exposure to COVID-19-related news but being a recent phenomenon, little work has been done on this issue. The focus of the present study is to hypothesize the relationship between media exposure to COVID-19-related news and the prevalence of depression across populations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. and comparatively, measure the source of news watching on a gender basis during Covid-19 among the different age groups. Methods: Primary data were collected from 1150 respondents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan through a structured questionnaire. Chi-square tests were applied to measure the relationship between media exposure to covid-19 news and depression at bi-variate and multivariate analyses.  Findings: Results disclosed that media exposure to covid-19 relates news causes depression among people. In addition, Media exposure was significantly associated with the respondent’s mental health problems at a 0.01 level of significance. Implications: Findings of the study confirm most of the previous scholarly work on this issue, which concludes that watching Covid-19-related news is closely associated with a consequent increase in depression. The study recommended that health intervention campaigns should be initiated by the government on media to decrease the level of fear among people. The study also recommended that content spreading false information regarding COVID-19 may also be removed by the government from the media. Moreover, medical specialists and psychologists may be called to different media programs to share useful information about the pandemic. Official pages, containing the correct and useful information on the said pandemic, may also be created on various social sites by the government authorities for the benefit of the general population.