India: CFWIJ stands in solidarity with women journalists reporting on frontlines amidst the worst pandemic crisis

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April 29, 2021- After more than a year into the pandemic, India has been hit by the most lethal wave with presumably a new variant. Hospitals have fallen short of oxygen supplies and beds for COVID-19 patients. The cremation sites are full and scenes of dead bodies arriving one after the other are beyond horrific to explain. To report on this worst crisis, news and media outlets sent their reporting staff to cover the situation on the spot and bring more and more accurate data. While it is the primary job of a journalist to cover matters of public interest, their safety must also not be compromised in these testing times. According to the Press Emblem Campaign, India has reported the highest number of COVID-19 casualties among media journalists crossing the figure of 100, while the 45 deaths were reported in just the last two weeks. CFWIJ offers condolences to the grieving families of journalists who lost their loved ones. We demand the Indian government to take emergency measures to cease further surge in COVID-19 within the country and stop harassing journalists for reporting facts as the social media reports suggest. 

Kakoli Bhattacharya, a senior journalist, and correspondent to The Guardian lost her life battling COVID-19 on April 23. She did catch coronavirus a week before her death. Kakoli, a graduate from Delhi university started her journalism career in 1990 with international correspondents and TV channels like BBC. Before joining The Guardian in 2009, she had worked for french daily publication La Monde for ten years. Kakoli is not the only woman journalist who expired during this latest COVID-19 surge, the data is still being compiled and it is increasing every day.

Washington Post journalist Rana Ayyub shared on Twitter that some of the best journalists covering the COVID-19 devastation are not active on social media. She stated that away from the din of social media, they try to get us the truth while being vulnerable to “punishment” by state governments and no access to legal protection and healthcare. The journalist also raised the question that, “Is there a single newspaper in India that will publish the names of those who we lost to covid on their front page. Is there a single newspaper in the country that will ask for Modi's resignation?” CFWIJ is astonished by the inconsiderate approach of the Indian government to deal with this crisis.

Journalists are not just facing obstructions over their coverage of a national health crisis in fact they are fighting the oppression against freedom of the press. According to the latest report, microblogging website, Twitter has taken down 52 posts that were critical of governments’ handling of this crisis. The journalists who are reporting harsh but truthful facts are also being persecuted online with hateful comments and abuse. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism stands with women journalists all across India in these testing times. We support them and offer our solidarity. We demand the Indian government to provide safety and protection for the journalists reporting on COVID-19 and stop intimidating them. The journalist should be able to report the exact situation rather than a false narrative forced by the state.