“How visual journalists cover the COVID-19 pandemic”
COVID-19, now a day this is a matter of worry. This situation is comparing with World War-II, so it couldn’t be an easy going matter. As a photojournalist I have to keep many things in mind when I go to cover any news on COVID — 19.
First thing that come to mind is the safety of mine. I have covered many risky things but this is different because when I had covered the protest, the fight, the shootout and the fire, I knew how to be safe or what distance I should maintain to be safe but this is something that I couldn’t measure that safe. Most difficult thing is if I got affected, it is not only affecting me, it is going to affect my family as well. So this thing comes to mind that should I do my duty or think about safety. It’s an example of ethical dilemma.
Another thing about covering the news of COVID — 19 is people’s anxiety. When I am in the field many news I got to know but everything I couldn’t cover or spared out as it could increase people anxiety. Not only that the government also gives restrictions like we don’t even go to cover some news. Here’s come the ethical dilemma, what should I do. Should I cover the news that I get to do my duty or I shouldn’t cover and spread the news to control people’s anxiety. Because anxiety could be bad for controlling the whole situation. One example could be when people started to know that after some days there could be a lockdown. Then people over busted to markets for storing food and necessary products. This not only increased the risk of the virus spreading but also create the shortage of some necessary products to market. As some people buy more than their needs and for that some people couldn’t able to buy a single piece. So, people’s anxiety could make the situation more difficult.
The third thing is the donation. Government gives donations to help the poor or needy people. But some of the responsible government employees are not giving to them they keep most of the donation at home rather give that to the needy people. So this is another challenge. Because Sometimes I could know this but couldn’t cover as it could be risky or I may not able to publish the news. This is another example of ethical dilemma.
So many things I need to keep in mind when covering the news of COVID-19. Sometimes I couldn’t able to publish because of the authenticity. There is some fake news as well. As government restrict to cover the actual sum of affected and death by COVID-19, some people are working to spread fake news to make people anxious. So this news shouldn’t be published. Ethics comes to every aspects of news. So by keeping ethical thoughts and doing duty becomes challenging. But at the end, ethics could be a peace of mind. That I have tried my best to do what I could.
Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury (Anando)
Photojournalist and Documentary Photographer Based in Bangladesh.
Student of Diploma in Visual Journalism
The Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University
