Journalism in the time of the coronavirus

(马尼拉)作为COVID-19流行构成的威胁mes closer to reality, media practitioners must face up to the possibility that they may end up being more than non-participant observers.

The18beplay下载 , which has killed over 2,800 people and infected more than 82,000 mostly in China where the virus is believed to have originated, has met two of the three factors for a pandemic — rapid sickness and death and sustained person-to-person transmission. The third criteria, worldwide spread of the virus, seems like just a matter of time.

“Those in the media face a direct threat to their health and lives as well”

Joel Adriano, SciDev.Net Asia & Pacific Regional Coordinator

为了防止或停止全球传播，几个国家已实施了往返中国，现在是韩国的旅行禁令，即病毒的热点。世界各地的许多活动已被无限期地取消或推迟。

For a journalist, this means fewer events to cover. Particularly impacted are those covering sports beats as many schedules have been called off. There is even a chance that the 2020 Olympics in Japan might be moved to a later date. And then there is the ripple effect on those on thetechnology由于全球供应链造成的破坏，节拍和产品推出。Many events have been dropped with no fresh dates set.

Those in the media face a direct threat to theirhealthand lives as well. Many developing countries lack the resources to test and identify those infected with the virus and put up with the nagging fear that the virus may already be circulating in the local population. For instance, it is hard to believe that Cambodia and Laos, which border China, have remained COVID-free. The same is true for Indonesia where a large population is exposed to tourists flying in from China and headed for destinations like Bali.

Over the past month or so, many journalists on the science beat in the Philippines have been down with the ‘flu. And that includes our columnist, Crispin Maslog, and this writer. While there is a test for coronavirus, the actual testing and reagents cost hundreds of dollars to administer individually according to a source. And the results are not reliable as there have been instances of false negatives. “So, you have to be really smart in selecting who to test,” one doctor explained. “Only those with a history of travel to highly infected areas or exposure to those who came from such areas will undergo basic tests.”

这是likely the reason why the number of confirmed cases is stuck at three in the Philippines. Authorities made most of the testing during the early days after the confirmation of the outbreak in China and on people flying in from Wuhan. As the flights got cancelled, the numbers of people from high risk areas also came down.

As for Maslog and myself, we will never know for sure what we were infected with. We may never find out what kind of flu it was and whether COVID-19 is circulating locally since sick people aren’t being tested for it. According to the PSA Philippines Consultancy Inc., as of February 24, the Philippines’Department of Healthhas tested just 516 people — nowhere comparable to South Korea’s 27,852.

Freelancer writers are the worst-hit since they have neither health insurance nor leave benefits and need to be out in the field often. And that adds to extra expenses such as working with facemasks and sticking to the safer and therefore costlier eating places to grab a quick bite.

对于媒体上的人来说，可以在远程工作时最大化生产力可能是一个好主意。需要认真考虑在线新闻报道，以最大程度地减少人类接触和曝光，并使作家甚至在床上躺在床上也能继续前进。

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Asia & Pacific desk.