World Press Freedom Day: Paying homage to valiant journalists lost to COVID-19

By Habib Toumi

Manama: Since the United Nations proclaimed May 3 World Press Freedom Day in 1993, the day has been used to celebrate the fundamental principles of media freedom, highlight how very important it is to have freedom of the press, and to sing or lament how much freedom of the press has advanced or deteriorated from the earlier years.

The issue of the extent of press and social media freedom has deserved been highlighted on this and other days, especially that it has now become a much hotter debate across the world amid the sharpening differences in views between populists and non-populists, the more pronounced quarrels between those who place themselves on the ideological left or right and the more acrimonious disputes between religious and non-religious perspectives.

However, this year, and as the world is facing highly uncertain times and vague conditions, the focus should also be on the human sacrifices and noble attitudes that are not bound by populism or ideology of journalists and people in the media and on their bravery and suffering as they cover and report on the coronavirus (COVID-19). They committed themselves to difficult and draining work and put themselves at risk, and as such they deserve the world’s applause and in some deplorable cases its homage.

In the last two months, the world has lost some of the finest media workers to the lethal disease. Some of them have survived horrible wars and deadly conflicts, but unfortunately could not win the ultimate battle against the virus.

Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said that since March 1, it has recorded the death of 55 media workers in 23 countries as a result of the coronavirus: Algeria, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Iran, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Togo, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

Ecuador was the hardest hit country, with at least 9 journalists killed as a result of Covid-19, ahead of the United States (8), Brazil (4), United Kingdom (3) and Spain (3), according to PEC.

Unfortunately, these colleagues, and possibly others, will remain mainly numbers except in their home countries or if they work for international agencies.

Poynter has distinguished itself by posting “published obituaries of the journalists and those employed by the media around the world who have died because of the coronavirus.”

We feel pain when we hear about the increasing number of journalists who died while covering, often with massive courage and amazing dedication, COVID-19, and reporting on dramatic situations, gloomy developments as well as rays of hope.

Their work was not confined to the field of action and they had to take up another challenging battle – Sifting through the massive information provided and bombarded from all sides so that they can to discern facts and truths from lies, misinformation and disinformation in order to provide reliable facts and deliver credible news.

Throughout the merciless assault of COVID-19, journalists have risen to the challenge, challenged obstacles and ignorance, and have contributed to keeping societies safe, healthy and aware. It was crucial for them to gather and publish all relevant information freely and they did it.

“The press provides the antidote: verified, scientific, fact-based news and analysis,” United Nations Secretary General António Guterres succinctly said.

“As the pandemic spreads, it has also given rise to a second pandemic of misinformation, from harmful health advice to wild conspiracy theories.”

WHO director-general Dr Tedros A. Ghebreyesus spoke of the same battle grounds: “We are not just fighting a pandemic; we are also fighting an infodemic.”

Journalists are the ones at the forefront of this battle. Their fighting spirit and their valiant courage should be celebrated on World Press Freedom Day and on all other occasions.