All around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a considerable toll on the media industry. While most countries face different realities, journalists everywhere experience common challenges provoked by the pandemic. This feature sheds light on some of the ways COVID-19 is affecting journalists and media workers worldwide, and explains how UNESCO’s Multi-Donor Programme on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists has been supporting them in overcoming these hurdles to perform their jobs safely and efficiently.
Sanitary safety and mental health risks
Many journalists are exposed to great sanitary risks when reporting on the health crisis and only a few ones receive safety guidelines or protective gear. For Fady Elhassany, a 36-year old freelance investigative journalist from Palestine, the risks linked to COVID-19 came to complicate pre-existing safety issues, such as the lack of safety equipment when covering conflicts or protests for his online platform Last Story.
He noted a general absence of a culture of health safety when journalists went to the streets during periods of complete confinement, regardless of the risks, and failed to adhere to safety guidelines on how to protect themselves and their interviewees. “Journalists in the Palestinian Territories are accustomed to dealing with security rules while reporting in places of conflict, but they have never dealt with any regulations that guarantee their health safety while covering affected areas,” says Fady Elhassany.
Prior to participating in a series of trainings organized by UNESCO on the safety of journalists and risk management, Mr Elhassany had lacked knowledge about COVID-19 safety protocols. Since then, he has gained the ability to pre-emptively determine risk factors and create contingency plans. He now feels confident he will be able to protect both himself and his team.
As a member of a Palestinian-based Safety Officers Network, set up with the support of UNESCO in 2019, Mr Elhassany shared his knowledge and educated his colleagues.
I was able to guide and advise some fellow journalists on covering the coronavirus pandemic and on how to protect themselves. With the assurance that nothing is worth putting your life at risk for. And that your safety is more important than any news.
In South Sudan, journalists likewise often lack guidance on how to report within the context of the pandemic. According to Michael Duku, Executive Director at the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS), this “climate of fear” prevented many journalists from reporting on COVID-19 from the field and resulted in limited coverage of news about the virus. At the outset of the spread of COVID-19 in South Sudan, AMDISS joined forces with UNESCO and the South Sudanese Ministry of Health in order to equip local journalists with the skills to continue reporting, without compromising their health, through the development of safety guidelines and toolkits.
Another aspect of the safety of journalists, which is too often overlooked, but which has become particularly relevant in times the pandemic, is the risk associated with mental health.
In Myanmar, journalists learned about the wide implications to their psychosocial wellbeing of the tremendous pressure they face within the context of the pandemic.
A series of trainings organized in 2020 in cooperation with the Myanmar Press Council supported 49 journalists covering the pandemic, many without access to professional psychological support and unaware of the impact of mental health risks to their work.
Aung Aung Htoo has worked for three years as a journalist at Radio Free Asia’s Rakhine Programme and has faced many challenging situations in the field, ranging from verbal assault to physical safety risks due to the highly conflictive situation in Rakhine State.
I have learnt how to evaluate my mental resilience and prepare myself before going to sensitive conflict areas or interviewing people who suffer from trauma. This helps me to deal with stressful situations and to apply the knowledge I have gained from the training in my daily routines.
Fighting back against disinfodemic
The overwhelming flows of information and disinformation about COVID-19 put journalists under unprecedented pressure forcing them to constantly verify the news they receive, to demystify myths, lies and false “remedies”, which mostly spread online. This debunking work is time-consuming, and many journalists lack expertise in the topic and the knowledge about fact-checking resources, among other obstacles. But they are organizing themselves, sometimes via online groups and other networks, to support each other in their verification activities.
Amal Saqr is an investigative journalist from Iraq, specialized in political, cultural, economic and corruption issues. She is one of the 300 participants who joined UNESCO’s training on the safety of journalists and disinformation in times of COVID-19.
She mostly appreciated the knowledge she gained about countering disinformation related to the coronavirus, which could allow her to save thousands of lives. The training also prompted journalists to organize themselves to dissipate false information circulating about the pandemic.
The most important achievement for us as trainees is the establishment of a group to combat misinformation related to COVID-19. This group has drawn the attention of health institutions, which started doing the same to fight rumours and incorrect information about COVID-19, and the means to prevent it.
Similarly, journalists in Yemen, a country experiencing one of the worlds’ worst humanitarian crisis, are particularly at risk, whether from contracting the virus, or by contributing to the spread of disinformation, which, in turn, can intensify the conflict. That is why, UNESCO, in partnership with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalists (ARIJ), organized a training for local journalists on safety and ethics during the pandemic. It aimed at supporting scientific journalism and training journalists on how to acquire the scientific knowledge to best inform the public and fight falsehoods, while equipping them with the adequate skills to protect themselves.
Making sure local communities remain informed
Radio Sarabela is a community radio based in the northern district of Gaibandha in Bangladesh. Since the onset of the pandemic, its 10 staff members and 70 volunteers have been working continuously to raise awareness among local populations about how to protect themselves from contracting the virus. The station has provided regular updates on the pandemic situation at national and international levels, and even started a new segment called “Hello Doctor”, during which specialized doctors responded to the concerns of the community members.
When the coronavirus broke out, there was anxiety among people here. Besides providing information and creating awareness, we started telemedicine. Every day, two specialist doctors took part in a live programme. We managed to reply to 800 calls and to provide medical advice.
Thanks to Radio Sarabela’s coverage of the health crisis, people in the area are well informed and many have adopted appropriate safety measures, like Sumi Kathun, a frequent Radio Sarabela listener from the town of Balua. According to her, people in her community learnt about the virus from Radio Sarabela and became much more careful, following the health guidelines.
Beyond informing local communities about health risks, community radios in Bangladesh have also played a role in ensuring that students and schoolchildren do not fall behind. At a time when many schools and colleges have temporarily closed to contain the spread of the coronavirus, community radio station Radio Padma has been airing classes for primary and secondary school students in Rajshahi.
The classes are developed based on the needs and demands of the students in an easy-to-follow format, and with guidance from governmental and non-governmental organizations. Thanks to this initiative, thousands of students have been able to continue their studies and to find a relief from their frustration to remain indoors.
This has been the case of K.M. Talha, a primary school student who has been following Radio Padma’s classes in Bangla, English, Mathematics and Religion, among other subjects. These educational programmes are also highly appreciated by the parents.
We were worried at the beginning of the pandemic. However, once the online classes and distance learning programmes started on the radio, we felt relieved. Before that, children were getting lazy and feeling suffocated within the four walls. Online classes on mobile phone and distance learning programmes have saved them from that condition.
Taking stock of the pandemic’s toll on media independence
The COVID-19 pandemic also came to expose other risks, such as those associated with the retribution to truthful and free reporting that exposed the mismanagement of funds and medical equipment to contain the pandemic. In addition, in the urgency to address the public health crisis, more than 80 governments around the world declared states of emergency, (see UNESCO’s Issue Brief Press Freedom and COVID-19) a context that could lead to censorship or other restrictions, and negatively impact the progress achieved by many countries regarding media freedom.
Through an initiative launched by UNESCO, media workers from countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi came together to jointly discuss and analyse these challenges, as well as journalists’ safety issues in East Africa, in a series of online webinars and trainings. Based on the discussions that emerged during the webinars, the Eastern Africa Editors Forum elaborated and published a special edition of the Eastern Africa Journalism Review entitled “Media Pandemics – Seeking Journalistic Answers in Eastern Africa”.
The discussions in the webinars primarily involved editors assessing what was needed to protect independent journalism in the region. It appeared that, while the countries in the region were at different stages of media development, they largely faced the same challenges.
The webinars, which took place at a time of lockdown in most countries, were marked by the apprehension of the participants about “the security of editors and journalists in neighbouring countries whose tolerance for democracy and free press have steadily declined”.
When interrogated on the impact of this special edition and on its potential legacy, Ms Omungo explains that the review has been distributed to various media stakeholders in the region, to members of the editor associations and to schools of journalism. Initial feedback gathered suggests that the review can help shape the trajectory of training to respond to contemporary media issues.
Safeguarding the right to information in times of a global health crisis
The COVID-19 crisis also shed light on the vital importance of the right to access information. At a time where citizens everywhere rely on information from their governments to guide their choices and actions in the face of the pandemic, many hindrances remain. At the same time, the pandemic has disrupted the functioning of access to information instances, as was the case in Pakistan, where UNESCO has been accompanying duty-bearers for the past two years.
While COVID-19 has impacted people all over the world in many ways, it has also affected citizens in exercising their constitutional right of access to information. The Pakistani Information Commission became unable to conduct personal hearings and to make decisions on the appeals pertaining to requests for information filed by citizens to the federal public bodies.
To remedy this issue, UNESCO supported the Pakistani Information Commission in digitizing its processes and in creating an online Appeals Management System (AMIS), which helps citizens in filing and tracking their appeals at various stages. Mr Abdullah welcomes this new system, which is going to assist citizens in exercising their fundamental human right of getting access to information held by public bodies and enable the Commission to manage, index and retrieve records of appeals.
About the Multi-Donor Programme for Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists (MDP)
The MDP serves to further strengthen UNESCO’s work at a global, regional, and national levels, by channeling funds towards emerging priorities and the most pressing needs to achieve its mandate on freedom of expression. It enables UNESCO’s Communication and Information Sector to address complex issues through the design and implementation of holistic medium and long-term interventions at national, regional and global levels. The clear advantage of this mechanism is that it allows UNESCO and its partners to achieve greater impact and sustainability, whilst reducing fragmentation of activities in the same field.
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