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UNESCO deplores fatalities among journalists covering the COVID-19 pandemic
Media workers covering the pandemic in the field are particularly exposed to the virus, and the drop in revenue for media outlets has add extra complexities to this scenario, affecting the actual jobs of media workers, and the availability of protective equipment and necessary sanitary safety training for journalists and their crew. The situation of freelancers has likewise become increasingly precarious.
While the monitoring of the deaths of media workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic is a difficult exercise and is still underway, the Swiss-based non-governmental organization Press Emblem Campaign recorded at least 127 deaths of journalists in 31 countries between 1 March and 31 May, two thirds of which were on duty. In some countries, journalists have also been subject to harassment, persecution and detention as a result of their work to inform citizens about the crisis.
UNESCO promotes the through global awareness-raising, capacity-building and the implementation of the , and implements actions to enhance access to information and . In order to assist journalists around the world in enhancing their safety (including regarding their physical and mental health) while reporting on the pandemic, UNESCO, in partnership with the World Health Organization and the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, has deployed a on this subject, which has so far enrolled around 9,000 journalists and media workers from 162 countries.
