Defenceless corona warriors
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: June 15, 2021 -

IT'S an irony that three journalists have died in quick succession due to coronavirus weeks after chief minister N Biren Singh announced that the government would declare working journalists of the state as frontline Covid warriors and would be vaccinated on priority basis.

In the first wave too, scores of working and non-working journalists contracted the virus but there were no deaths in the state unlike in the current virulent pandemic which has seen surge in both the number of infections and fatalities among those working in media houses.

From the early stages of the pandemic, there have been commendations from diverse sections of the society over the role of the frontline workers with the media fraternity too evoking intermittent praises for the daily updating on global happenings.

While frontline workers like medical professionals and security forces were among the first to be enlisted for vaccination against the virus, the same protective measure for the journalists was initiated belatedly as could be comprehended from almost the entire media fraternity yet to be administered the second dose of the vaccine.

It means that the media persons, having been portrayed as one of the frontline workers, remained exposed to the virus as the new concept of work-from-home is not feasible for all the journalist community.

With salary not commensurate with the huge responsibility entrusted as reformers and propagators of both positive and negative facets of the society and governance the journalists do not have the luxury to decide on quitting the job fearing the virus other than executing their daily assignment.

The spread of Covid-19 has been deadly for everybody but for those in the essential sector, including media persons, it is a challenging time as they can't stay home due to the nature of their jobs which entail working at the field level.

However, compared to the frontline workers, who are guaranteed paid leave, and provided food and lodging facilities to remain in isolation on completion of their duty roster, for the journalists home is the only place to dine and rest at the end of the day, not to speak of the risk of contracting the virus and transmitting it to the family members.

Thus, the pandemic situation is so grave for the media persons to work that many must now be convinced that rushing to cover shootouts during the height of insurgency were much safer than dodging the invisible enemy as is the case at the juncture.

In-spite of the grim realities, journalists have been trying to provide daily doses of news to the public as it has become unavoidable and continue serving the society, no matter how precarious the situation might be.

Regardless of the precautionary and preventive measures adopted by the media houses to keep the business alive, cases of media persons contracting the disease in their line of duty underscores the challenging situation confronting the journalists.

With no certainty when the second wave would end or whether the state will encounter another mutant ofthe virus, the only hope that the journalist community has is that the government will value the contributions of the journalists in this crisis situation and do the needful.