COVID-19: Arisekola Urges Government To Support Media With Palliatives

The novel Coronavirus pandemic has left many individuals, businesses, and even countries incapacitated while the role media —journalists and broadcasters— played in the day-to-day activities of reporting the lethal virus cannot be overemphasised.

In this light of this, a group of journalists and media practitioners under the aegis of Association of Online Media Practitioners of Nigeria (AMPON), has called on the Nigerian government to extend the palliatives support to journalists who are working tirelessly to gather information for public consumption.

Mr. Wole Arisekola, president of the group as well as publisher of Ireland-based media outfit, The Street Journal, said journalists are also on the front line in the fight of the deadly pandemic virus and they are also entitled to some form of palliatives and relief packages.

According to Arisekola, journalists are like health workers, soldiers, policemen, and other security agents.

“They are an integral part of essential service providers globally and as such must be included in whatever palliative package being rolled out by the Federal Government as well as other bodies,” Arisekola said.

He explained further that the media are also playing a critical and crucial role in the war against the coronavirus pandemic because without them, no one will even know what is going on, including what those in the medical field are doing.

“They should, therefore, be included in whatever palliative package being planned and again be adequately protected. They too are in the frontline. They are always there to write COVID-19 stories, cover COVID-19 outbreaks, supply all the necessary statistics, get the survivors to speak to them and so on. Their roles, therefore, are also key and must be factored into whatever palliative package the FG or any other body is planning,” Arisekola conscluded.