And. Reporting in the time of coronavirus the u. N. Is warning of what it calls a 2nd demick of misinformation and Conspiracy Theory so why are journalists now facing more threats to doing that job this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program im bernard smith. The spread of corona virus and how to stop it dominates the news agenda of almost every media outlet in the world right now Public Health bodies rely on them to keep people informed but journalists are facing threats as they try to separate fact from misinformation have been reports of retaliation against the media since the global outbreak began Rights Groups accuse some governments of using the pandemic as an excuse to censor the news and punish reporters the u. N. Secretary general wants more protection for media workers on World Press Freedom day we call on governments and others to get into their generally skin do their jobs throughout the coverage 1000 pandemic and beyond is the band then express it is also given rise to a 2nd pandemic of music from asian from Harmful Health advice to wild conspiracy to use the press provides the n. T. That very fired scientific fact plays news in the now is but says the pandemic began many journalists are being subjected to increase restrictions and punishments seem please for doing their jobs here are some of the challenges facing journalists during this pandemic us President Donald Trump repeatedly attacks reporters who asked critical questions during his daily briefings in hungary anyone accused of spreading misinformation could be jailed for 5 years journalists say the law is being used to deny them access to Information Police in china detained whistleblowers who 1st broke the story late last year while egypt expelled a correspondent from the u. K. s Guardian Newspaper who reported that infection rates may be higher than official figures amnesty says egypt has effectively made journalism a crime in iran 2 journalists were detained over a cartoon that made fun of officials who recommended Traditional Medicine to treat covert 90. Lets introduce our panel in paris we have pierre haski whos the president of Reporters Without Borders in new delhi we have barkha dutt a Television Journalist and in manila danilo aroud associate professor of journalism at the university of philippines dillon welcome to you all pierre im going to begin with you why has covering the coronavirus been so contentious. Well it was started as you mentioned in china and the cover up of the initial phases of the coronavirus appearance in will happen in the city or will happen was the the initial feeling and sense of you know sense that information was at the heart of the piece they make the cover up took many forms one was the arrest and pressure on the whistleblowers where doctors were expressing themselves on social networks on social media in china and the 2nd one was bloggers and independent journalists who tried to report on in will happen and who were detained 2 of them a studio and them and accounted for and we dont know what happened to them so that thats really the initial phases and we realized later on how Important Information is to control the spread of an epitome because information is is the key element to know whether you are under threat whether your city is affected your country is affected your neighborhood is affected so we see that in every single country information quality information proper and verified information as the u. N. Secretary general said but information as such is the key. Pierre if refers to that initial chinese attempt to cover up the outbreak how has it been contentious in india. Well really i think the problem has been somewhat different the media was listed as one of the exempt essential Services Even when the National Lockdown took place which means that we are free to move about it we should still jurors and some of us have chosen to do that my dispute with my colleagues in the media here is quite different the media has existed Television Networks and opted out of the story most i reported so inside the confines of studios not going out and telling stories of people who do not have a voice i mean india bigger than the pandemic itself has been i would say the humanitarian crisis the crisis involving the mass exodus of up poorest what force the Migrant Workers will who fled from the cities to their villages walking hundreds of kilometers and so i think one of the problems is been big Television Networks sitting out the story more than the government stopping them from doing this and the other psyche peculiar problem has been of the social media spoiling journalists responsible for what an interview me might see let me give you an example 90 beautiful its a prize winning immunologist will argue that your hydroxycut or queen was not effective in the teeth but of coronavirus patients and for that i was dubbed and national by some of the right wing is online because you know india had saluted boston most of these brother lost friends or a queen to countries that the United States of america as well as other countries and you know it took 4 journalists to sponsor for the content of the scientific opinion of the interviews to meet get it kind of test of nationalism whether you indian enough this is another peculiar problem but the biggest feeling i would see has been off journalists by themselves not the government stopping us but by so many journalists is sitting out the story and telling its own inside the state ok and diallo in your part of the world why in some respects has the coverage of coronavirus been so contentious. Less than just in the sense of the government of the useful but not the will of. The subjective or the were not just talking about progression. Where are hurting little as in the special a motorist a little 8 violent. Or me but the bottom of the mind what 4 or. So the main ones provincial governor are on some of. Them a little we need them fire on one already you know where her. Roles something. And they are going to go order with laughter even more as. The fact that she was on the money not knowing the. Fortunately and i thought if there are going to. Be we will need their jobs. Are joining and then the the part of the where the very irony that a baby or a man were 80 or over a city that the next they will mark. The ranks i. Work in the b. B. So we dont know whats going to have to be done by keeping our network. Fire on the. Grass i already. That additional work so that the objection offering me the right not so fresh. Even before now and then me being things thats not how laws are being led when im clear with me by the government under the leadership of the leader of that. One of the restraint one of the consequences of these restrictions on coverage of the story at our understanding of coronavirus. Well obviously to go back to the chinese example there was a huge delay of several weeks and several weeks is a long time in a pandemic there was a delay of several weeks between the knowledge locally by certain actors with their media or whistleblowers and the fact that the rest of china and the rest of the world heard about the facts and the proper facts so this is obviously at the center of many controversies at the moment the u. S. Government is taking that as a tool to to wage war against china but the basic fact is that there was a this delay so this is very important and this applies to several other situations when governments are trying to either minimize or even deny that there is any problem with coronavirus you you mentioned in the introduction the case of the Guardian Correspondent in cairo who had reported figures and elements on the pandemic that were not officially recognized that they gyptian government and she was expelled so we have there elements of information that are key to the information of the public to understand whats going on to understand the also the logic of the other pandemic where were not used to to whats going on we we still you know the media are part of a key element to and the stand how you can be contaminated how to protect yourself how to protect your family or your neighborhood and if information is suppressed then you weaken the fight against the coronavirus baka youve been focusing on on the ground coverage throughout this pandemic in india is really what journalism is about you mentioned of the Television Networks of sort of abandon not why. I have absolutely no idea for one i dont know if its laziness if its if its if its that sense that at this moment there must be a singular narrative i have a problem with that i dont think there should be a singular narrative or any story certainly not the biggest story that we will see perhaps now in our lifetime and as i was saying earlier the special to convert news reporting into a test of nationalism that i think is very very dangerous for who bust storytelling nobody wants to add to it with all the burden administration everybody understands that his workers are risking their lives for journalistic ourselves are choosing to go out at this time are also risking their lives to be equal in the stories and i think seem movement for example across the states across borders with the new guys very important an awfully it has got to fall because of the new set of rules as in that it does the code is of the lockdown the other point id like to make is a while i still continue to believe that if there is willing attempts to tell the story it is to me nobody stopped me from telling the story and im more disappointed in the media than i am of the government of the show or the one point i would like to make is that there should be an opportunity to question and interact with the highest levels of government all press conferences and Media Conferences held by bureaucrats we have not had but it interactions and i think that thats very important no matter what you say about donald trump he does come out there however i do the seriously the he does come out there and open up the grilling by the media idea after day and i think that here in india we have not had that opportunity a chief ministers of different states auburn press conferences but i thought the federal government level we have not had high ranking politicians in gauge with the media in a few meetings that have questions about the 2nd point i think its very important the sag we must have the right here opportunity to be able to question and counter question done i lowed you get that in the philippines because you as you mentioned before that Major Network a. B. S. C. B. S. Is on the verge of losing his franchise as that scared it away from d authority asking questions over the governments approach to the coronavirus. No right now i. Think that is the part of the this or maybe i dont know are what i can vote for many of the 4 are there but again something that doesnt sound. Like. The issue of i think my hearing the be one Government Official they are not me simply organizing what we. Are wearing. Or. Sending a certain. We are going to. Find that they are or what ever they assign to. The hardware. Not me i. Might not that much were before we saw that i dont have the or not me who. Work for me though the thinking i think. I wonder why im. Doing the. Work. For. So in that kind of rational for me shaun of the. Piano the thing is this outbreak has led in fact to bump of viewing figures for Television News channels im no use pages getting more hits online of a have a hobby full house not know what you think lead to people to having to progress or precision for a free press and for those leaders who criticize the press to understand how important it is. Well that in an ideal world the reality is that indeed there is more busy access or more need for information but it hasnt. Down reduce the eagerness of the political leaders to suppress free formation sometimes its the continuation of pressure that existed before the crowbar Virus Outbreak but sometimes its also due to their own weaknesses mistakes or d even downplaying the importance of this outbreak so we are in a very mixed situation in the world from country to country in which the indeed there is a lot of consumption of news but it doesnt mean that the news is completely free and independent then add another dimension which i should mention is that this crisis is having a huge impact on the economy of the media many newspapers or Television Networks have lost a lot of d advertising revenue for example and has now been weakened by the current Economic Hardship that we are going through and are starting to lay our laying off 1st tasks so we are faced with an increasing need an appetite for news and reliable news and more and more strained resources for the news media because of the consequences of the outbreak back about the funding is a an issue all over the world youve got your own you tube channel but how the how can you suppose fund these things without advertising revenues is falling off a cliff. Well oddly being the small digital stop at this point i have the advantage that we both know this is do not i know everybody in the Television Industry has had to do massive p. Cuts here in india having joked about cider drying up i dont dismiss its a nice people its been even worse a lot of our newspapers and t. V. Networks are dependent on government advertising which automatically business questions about you know how independent they can be and i think the area is a very important point because where you get your revenue from is directly sometimes to how independent or how critical and how see you are able to be and i think that this is going to be the crisis in the upcoming weeks and months when we talk about how the economy has been hit the economy of wheels media has been very very badly and i think that the news media will have to adapt to sort of Disruptive Technologies smaller teams and a different kind of storytelling i actually do not think that and this is said and done quickly many of the media organizations in india are going to be able to survive in the way that they have thus far face to face book says its chipping in 100000000. 00 to help fund local News Coverage is that money has been used particularly us to increase coronavirus coverage is that a is not a welcome gift from facebook or just a drop in the ocean. Well its a its a real question because the relationship between. The Big International american mainly Big Companies like facebook or google and the news media in every single country in the world has been a problem there hasnt been yet the kind of right balance between them and the providers of news so obviously this is a relief for the song media and they will use it gladly but i dont think its the permanent solution that has to be found many medias will have to revise their economic model their Business Model because some of the income they used to have will disappear and will not come back easily so. Part of the solution is with the distribution that the social networks are providing really for you know without paying for the content in the past few years so i think that will have to be on the table in the very very soon to never conies in the in the developing world can you see the sort of money money from facebook helping fund independent journalism. For themselves and im sure that. Any time for you but in the heat. Or the more. Air or all over me and im. Deciding the finding that the movie provides them i either win or were done for life. And we. Do use me less i dont get funding sometimes boring your performance by me but we are here for. The weekly even if not the solution. So im going to end my very early bite me. Pretty face that part is in there for. Me he said. About a baby or. Baka in india and a random ot asked edits has of the 20 biggest mainstream print Media Outlets to publish positive stories about a coronavirus not just a link between the government and the people what is it the makes leaders like Narendra Modi know of us about the coverage of coronavirus. Well i think it wouldnt just be them or the government right to be a government across the world right now. Would nor that a pandemic like this is a direct guest of or governance of efficiency of actually the entire mood of the government system so again i would underline that the politicians job. In many countries is to try and get the best possible messaging for her or his political narrative but a journalist job is to keep that honesty and call out the gaps where there are gaps say ok well done where its well done and we should not be overly bothered by what politicians just do we should just do our job i continue to underline that democracy such as ours i cannot speak to any other countries experience i continue to underline the inciting i feel when jonas and become some sort of mass popularity test or when online on these will come off to young Reporters People like myself have been around for what 25 years but there are people who were just starting out and if you have organized foreign armies coming off them in particular coming after women and saying youre around to National People will pause and think is this story going to create a backlash when a journalists job is to take the debate is to be unpopular sometimes and we should never lose track of that it doesnt really matter what any politicians p. R. You were talking earlier about how china had covered the initial. Cover covered up big outbreak of coronavirus that is troubling though to manage the narrative is masked diplomacy as its been called isnt really working do you think china would one day see the benefit of a in a future pandemic of allowing the free flow of information is china learning anything from this. Im afraid not you know i was a correspondent in china during the sars epidemic in 2003 and there was already a cover up of the of the of the beginning of the epidemic and in plastic for weeks and we actually learned about this when it started in hong kong and yet there are more in canada and you know 17 years later we see exactly the same pattern and i think this is the problem of. A system that is based on control of the news control of the news flow control of the work of journalists control of d any independent source of media and i think thats a part of the contradiction of the chinese system that it really wants to be more efficient particularly in face of a danger like this one and it has the constraints of it the basic fundamental idea of control so i dont see it changing and particularly with presentation being who is really insisting on making it even firmer control at the moment ok ive got time for one short question with one short answer baka what advice would you give to viewers who want to sort fact from fiction where should they go for there is an illusion. Well i think they should launch months of multiple sources and i think the agents social media and its that easy i would be very hesitant get my information from anyone please anyone journalists any one organization any more and i think in the age of you know twitter and facebook and instagram you can get a multiplicity of things that lead you to content and it is over time dont look so consummation of your own pledge this is this is not about opinion this is about dont believe everything on the internet but at the same time expose yourself to a lot of sources of information. Ok well were out of time but i think our 2 other guests would agree with the with that advice thanks to all 3 of you to pierre haski to bach adopt and to download a route and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website aljazeera dot com and for further debate go to our Facebook Page facebook dot com forward slash a. J. 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Talk to aljazeera we ask what will force work when you saw that document for the 1st story we listen to after the war saying your europeans go build united the stage of you know what we will not be with you we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on the whole just 0. The be. I dont know clark and the top stories here on al jazeera and after 8 weeks in lockdown italy is starting to ease restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic the construction and manufacturing sectors are restarting people also allowed to visit family members francisco. Says the next 2 weeks will be crucial. While her feelings of the talons are mixed there is a glimpse of hope that the worst has passed but many are concerned this phase could bring a 2nd wave of cases the government was