News Media in These Trying Times – An appreciation

“Stay at home. Be safe” is a must obey advisory of the Government. Keeping people at home is a big battle plan to win the Covid-19 war. Had it not been for the News Media, we, who stay at home, would have been like the Blind Boy of Cibber asking “O say what is that thing call’d Light…”, when the Corona Virus would have already attacked us. True to its name ”Watchdog”, the news media has been busy alerting us of the dangers of the virus.

The critical role of the media, providing us with credible news, during this Covid-19 pandemic is nothing short of giving us a second life, by informing of the risks and educating us on Government’s safety measures. Covid-19 is unprecedented in its novelty, damages and spread. It has put the world in agony!

By linking the world in its fight against the common enemy, the media has built a strong bond of international solidarity. Each country is waging its own battle, to win the global war. The media has strengthened the global intent to win the war, while also exposing the gains and the losses , the hurts and the wounds of the countries.

The TV channels, the print media, are only the visible faces of the real heroes and heroines, behind the scene, who are out in the field, taking risks to get the facts to give information for our safety and social choices. The reporters in the field are as vulnerable as any one of us to the dangers of the virus, (and at times from the very people it wants to serve!). Even George Washington called his administrative reporters “infamous scribers”.

What makes them so brave to go where “the angels dare not“? That question is not for them to answer but for us to appreciate. This Covid-19 pandemic is an extra-ordinary time, with extraordinary risk factors. The time has produced heroic and passionate media reporters. We, who stay at home, are not only safe but also well informed because of their reporting.

Thank you, would even be an inadequate expression of the gratitude we owe them for their selfless service.

Joe Ngamkhuchung
Burma Camp