Aashish Mishra

The nation is in a crisis. Three cases of COVID-19 have been detected – one cured and two currently undergoing treatment. The latter two possibly came in contact with many other people, thus exposing them to the virus. Similarly, hundreds of Nepali nationals previously working in India and other coronavirus-hit countries, have arrived in Nepal in recent days and many of them have refused to be quarantined. The entire country is under a week-long lockdown, with even international flights blocked for the first time in Nepal’s history.
Everything has stopped, except information. Information is still flowing as freely as ever, in fact, more so than normal times. Newspapers have not stopped publication, radio and TV stations are still broadcasting and online portals are still churning news pieces at regular intervals. While the people may be physically locked indoors, their senses are still being fed real-time information about the situation outside. And this is all thanks to a fleet of journalists tirelessly working out on the field, leaving their families behind taking considerable risk to their own health and safety to ensure people’s constitutional right to information.
But often, their work goes unnoticed. People look at the works of doctors in times like these. They thank the security personnel for their dedication. They even praise the government for their efficiency and quick-decisions. But on one remembers the journalists.
Men and women out on the front lines, documenting, packaging and presenting the happenings of the day, contacting sources, making sure that the authorities don’t cut corners or that vested interests don’t take advantage of the closure to escape the public eye. All for a very modest salary and next to no public gratitude. People are all too conscious about the information, but don’t give much of a thought to the informer.
And this isn’t really fair. Reporters and editors get a lot of heat when they get things wrong – spelling or grammatical errors, misrepresentative headlines, conscious and unconscious biases, political leanings etc. But they don’t get the tiniest bit of love when they get things right. And for the most part, it’s okay. Journalism isn’t about glamour. It isn’t about popularity or about celebrity-status. The sole objective of a journalist is, and should be, delivering accurate and verified information that the people need packaged in a way they want. They don’t need recognition, but they do deserve acknowledgment.
Media organisations should pay reporters who are doing the rounds of hospitals, talking to potentially infected individuals, running around the city on foot and spending their own money on calling and texting news sources an allowance, in addition to their salaries, to show that their exceptional work has not gone unnoticed. After all, it is the media organisations that get the glory when journalists break the news first or present an in-depth angle that others have seemingly overlooked.
The audience should also now look at the reporters as people, just like them, instead of just an entity present before them. They should understand the work that has gone behind the news and the kind effort put into the information they are consuming. And most importantly, journalists should respect the profession they are in. They should understand the gravity of the work they are doing and the impact they are creating. In order to be loved by others, they should start loving themselves.
So, next time we pick up a newspaper, tune into an FM station, turn on our favourite channel or visit a news website, let us spare a thought for the people behind them, who are still working while we are at home with our loved ones, who are bringing accurate and verified information so that we don’t panic and who are still holding the power to account when we aren’t able to.