By Matters India Reporter
Chennai: Disaster management experts, social scientists, activists, media professionals and theologians were invited to speak at an international webinar on media and pandemic organized by Signis Asia.
The November 18-19 online Zoom meeting on “Covid-19: The Role of Media and Communications, and Moving Beyond,” was attended by around 140 people from 20 countries.
The objective of the webinar was to study the impact of Covid-19 on the poor and vulnerable, role of media and communications, the learning from our interventions, and to explore the possibilities of converting challenges into opportunities, said Signis Asia vice president Magimai Pragasam.
Pragasam coordinated the event, supported by Father Anucha, the president, Bernadette Widiandajani, the secretary, Francis Kim, the treasurer and the members, Mac Machida, and Adeline James.
Emphasizing the important role of members in the present scenario, Helen Osman, Signis World president said in her message, “As the Body of Christ, the Church has been a beacon of true hope, a courageous witness of love in action. For us, there is no social dilemma. Instead, for us, social media presents another opportunity to be the voice of the voiceless, as our patron St. Oscan Romero, so eloquently said. Let us not only be the microphones for God, but also smart phone users for God and his people.”
Vinod Chandra Menon, the founder member of National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India, in his opening address pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected millions of people in Asia, and the worst affected are the poor, migrants, Dalit and tribal communities, minorities, elderly, women, children, palliative care patients, and the differently abled.
“Loss of jobs, salary cuts, partial payment, terminations, the myth of work from home, lack of access to important needs such as health care, education, social protection, food security, violence against women and children, depression, trauma and suicidal tenancies are some of the crucial issues faced by the people as the direct result of Covid-19.’ Menon asserted.
He further added that “the impact on the employment of migrant workers in the Asia Pacific countries is estimated to be remittance losses ranging from US$31.4 billion to US$54.3 billion.”
He stressed the need for people’s participation in decision making processes and exhorted, “We need to strive for social, physical, electoral, emotional, and digital inclusion of common people.”
The International Disaster Consultant Aloysius James warned, “the millennium development goals are kept aside and nearly 150 million will be pushed to extreme poverty soon.”
He noted that during the pandemic period, millions were denied human dignity and human rights. He urged all actors to uphold the rights and humanitarian needs of the marginalized while addressing the Covid issues.
While addressing on “Role of Media,” noted journalist Varghese V Joseph said, ‘Misinformation is worse than the disease itself.” He focused on “the contrasting behavior of the media, its misplaced priorities, engineered content, and denial to access real data.” He emphasized on the need for “evidence-based media training, right use of media and collaboration with UN in addressing the issues.”
Jesuit social activist Father Cedric Prakash appealed to the media professionals to raise right questions at right context, saying, “Communication is always contextual and cannot alienate reality.” He said, “every social actor must be critical, creative, courageous, collaborative and committed.”
Many participants shared their insights from Covid related interventions.
While Father Qaisar Feroz of Pakistan questioned the actions of some groups which used Covid for religious conversions, Indian Missionary Society Father Anand Mathew of India shared on the power of united action in addressing the needs of the vulnerable.
Jesuit Father Francis Guntipilly of Bangalore talked about the urgency and significance of initiating action to achieve results, and his confrere from Japan Father Hiroshi Katayanagi focused on using social media extensively to spread the messages of peace and hope.
Korean Catholic Church acted swiftly and Catholic Television began to feed the faithful with religions messages, said Helena Choi and Rumulus Lee of Korea. While Adrian Pereira shared on how migrants’ issues were addressed, Terence Charles shared on the launch of an awareness campaign in Malaysia to contain Covid-19.
Father X D Selvaraj, a noted theologian from India, said, ‘Everything in the universe is interrelated and interconnected and disasters of this nature are the symptoms of imbalances in social order. We need to strike a ‘balance’ by creating a culture of peace and empowering people to bring about equality and social justice.”
Signis is a non-governmental organization comprising members from more than 100 countries. As the “World Catholic Association for Communication,” it brings together radio, television, cinema, video, media education, Internet, and new technology professionals.
Signis was created in November 2001 from the merger between two organizations (Unda, for radio and television; and OCIC (International Catholic Organization for Cinema), for cinema and audiovisual) that were both created in 1928.
The activities of Signis cover all fields of audiovisual creation: promoting films or television programs, creating, producing and distributing radio, TV and video programs, building broadcasting studios, supplying equipment, offering Internet services by satellite, training professionals, encouraging the use of new media, promoting media education etc.
The primary objective of all these activities is to promote a culture of peace through the media, claims the organization’s website.