PCI asks govt, media houses to help journalists who have contracted COVID-19

The Press Council of India on Wednesday expressed "grave concern" over the large number of journalists contracting COVID-19 and urged the government and media houses to help such scribes.

In a statement, the PCI said it is saddened to know that a large number of journalists while on call of duty have contracted the COVID-19 virus.

It appealed to the government and all other authorities to help the those journalists who have contracted the virus while reporting on the pandemic from the containment zone, hotspots and other COVID-19-affected areas by providing medical help and required support to mitigate their hardships.

"The media persons who are working on ground zero are advised to take due health related precautions while performing their duties," the PCI said.

In view of their vulnerability, the management of media or publication house need to take necessary steps to ensure their care, the statement said.

The statement comes a day after the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi decided to arrange COVID-19 tests for media persons. Some journalists from a Tamil news TV channel in Chennai also tested positive for the infection.

Also, during a special camp organised at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai on April 16 and 17 for COVID-19 testing of scribes, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) collected swab samples of 171 media persons, including electronic and print media journalists, photographers and cameramen.

Out of the 171 mediapersons, 53 have tested positive for coronavirus.