The newly elected parliamentarian from Shiv Sena, who had initiated the Covid-19 testing camp for television reporters in the city, expressed shock over the reports, which revealed that nearly 53 journalists, photographers and videographers were positive. Now, the MP - Priyanka Chaturvedi has urged Union ministry of information and broadcasting to follow the suit and conduct such camps across the nation for journalists.
Speaking with the Free Press Journal, Chaturvedi said, "The reports are shocking and scary because most of these positive patients were asymptomatic."
"I have urged Prakash Javadekar ji, the Union minister for information and broadcasting, to conduct similar camps at Delhi and other states. This, because, even media has been listed as an essential service and we can see journalists are risking their lives by coming on the field and providing us the information. So, they are also vulnerable on getting infected," Chaturvedi added.
Accoridng to Chaturvedi, the media houses or the employers of the journalists must ensure that all precautions are taken for these employees. "I think the onus is on the employers, who must provide all the safety gears to the journalists, if they want them to come on field and report. Secondly, I have observed that several media workers are sacked despite state government's appeals to all the sectors not to sack any employee. Something needs to be done on this aspect too because sacking someone in these trying times is not correct," she added.
