Health and Safety Risks to Journalists During Pandemics

Introduction

Journalists play a critical role in creating awareness about pandemics and infectious diseases. For instance, journalists played a pivotal role in creating awareness about SARS, H1N1 influenza or “swine flu” pandemics. Therefore, it becomes all the more significant for journalists to stay reliable and credible sources of information. During these times of crises and high risk, the role journalists play is not only appreciated but their practices also come under scrutiny, as some segments of the society such as medical experts accuse them of misreporting or creating sensationalism (Vercellesi et al., 2010). Past research has mostly focused on journalistic practices during pandemics in the western countries (Holland & Blood, 2012; Holland, Sweet, Blood, & Fogarty, 2014; Hooker, King, & Leask, 2012; Sweet, Holland, & Blood, 2012), there is a lack of research on the influence of pandemics or health crises on journalistic practices in the emerging democracies of the Global South. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the challenges created by COVID-19 for journalists in Pakistan and how the pandemic has shed light on the disparities and safety risks in the Pakistani journalism and exposed fault lines in journalism practices in the country.