‘Stop sharing visuals of funeral pyres & crematoriums, it is affecting our mental health’: Top Psychiatrists in an open letter to media
They criticized mainstream media who are trying to make TRP by filming crying families and dead bodies inside crematoriums.
“Images of bodies burning in cremation grounds, relatives of the deceased wailing inconsolably, emotional outbursts, and hysterical reporters with cameramen swarming over the bereaved who are going through deeply emotional moments – this may help garner eyeballs. But there is a steep price to be paid for such coverage.”
The letter criticized the mainstream media’s overtly negative, dower and opportunistic coverage of the Coronavirus pandemic.
In order to demonstrate their point, the health professionals put forth an illustration in the letter.
“Imagine someone has just tested positive for COVID-19. If they have witnessed the panic-inducing coverage from cremation grounds, it keeps weighing on their minds and their loved ones. The fact that a huge number of people who are infected by COVID-19 recover becomes immaterial. Only images and emotions stay with them.”
The mental health doctors emphasized the need for a positive mindset and requested the media to avoid “panic-inducing” coverage.
The letter was signed by Gautam Sinha (President, Indian Psychiatric Society), Dr. BN Gangadhar, Director of NIMHANS, along with Pratima Murthy (H.O.D. of Psychiatry, NIMHANS), and Rajesh Sagar (Professor of Psychiatry, AIIMS Delhi)
To send a message or for educational purposes, media may use such images once, but repeated images of every other victim do nothing but create panic amongst the public providing them TRPs.
Not to forget some media houses and journalists have completely settled their offices and reporting camps inside crematoriums, and making TRP by filming crying family members and dead bodies.
PS : The image in this article is for mere representational purposes, The Tatva has previously NEVER used any image related to COVID that involved dead people or cremation or funeral pyres like the current vulture media is doing.
