On Plugged In…
COVID-19 fatalities ...
around the globe…
are still rising …
But another growing casualty of this pandemic…
is Press Freedom.
Watchdog groups say some countries…
are using the coronavirus threat to control the media.
Are journalists voices being muzzled?
Is censorship shaping public perception?
And how are reporters responding to this unprecedented health threat?
On Plugged In...
the Coronavirus Crisis and Press Freedom.
((Greta))
Hello and welcome to Plugged In. I’m Greta Van Susteren, working from my home in Washington, DC.
Worldwide, there are now more than 2.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus.
According to Johns Hopkins University, coronavirus resource center - since early April, that number has been growing by about 100 thousand per day.
Nearly one-third of the world’s confirmed cases are in the United States.
There are some countries taking steps to re-open their economies, including Spain and Italy - two of Europe’s hardest-hit nations.
President Donald Trump announced a plan to re-open the U.S. economy in phases depending on a decline in new cases.
While Americans debate how and when to safely re-open the world’s largest economy, many around the world do not have that opportunity to voice their opinions or get factual information.
Some watchdog groups fear this unprecedented health crisis is being used as cover to silence government critics and members of the news media.
I spoke with Rob Mahoney at the Committee to Protect Journalists about the impact of this pandemic on press freedoms worldwide.
((Greta interviews Rob Mahoney, CPJ))
RM: Greta, we've noticed several trends since the coronavirus broke out with governments trying to control the narrative around the reporting of the virus: how many people have it and what the government's response has been. If we go back to the very beginning, China was where the virus started and where the repression of journalism also began. And we are particularly concerned about the fate of a Chinese video journalist, called Chen Qiushi, who went to Wuhan, was reporting on what was happening there in January, and then sent a message to his family on February, the sixth, saying, I'm going out on assignment again today. And since then we've heard nothing from him. The Chinese government has said nothing. So he's kind of the victim zero if you like, of reporting.
GVS: Do we know if he's even alive or do we know if he's been taken by the government? Would there be any reason that he would go sort of deep undercover and not keep contact with his family or colleagues?
RM: We believe that he is in detention. Not that he's gone deep undercover. This is more than two months now, and we believe that the Chinese authorities have him somewhere and have not - have not disclosed, where he is. so you can imagine the you know, the the distraught feeling for everyone that knows that person.
GVS: We've got countries like Turkey which has a terrible reputation for jailing journalists. They,they arrest people if they have what are called you know fake news, meaning that they are reporting something that's inconsistent with what the government wants.
RM: Yes, exactly. I mean, we've seen that in Turkey, where if anything that isn't government sanctioned is fake. I have seen this, disturbing to see also in democracies, that similar moves have been made. The Philippines has made it a crime if you like to report information that is false. That also means I get to tell you as the government what is real and what isn't, what is false, what is true. And even in India, the government of Narendra Modi tried to make it that journalists could only report news that the government said was true. And he went all the way up to the Supreme Court, just last week, the court rejected that but it shows the lengths to which even democratically elected leaders will do to try to seize control of the narrative around this disease.
GVS: You know we're lucky here in the United States, we have the First Amendment freedom of the press, but you've got Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates you've got, Iraq, you've got all these nations that seem to be putting so much pressure on journalists not to get the news out. And frankly, not to get the news out on something that is so profoundly important as a pandemic so people do social distancing is, you know, is, is astonishing. Not to mention the fact that the journalists are being locked up.
RM: Exactly. And I have to say this is about public health. This is not just about my right to express my political opinion. It's about getting information to people that can save their lives. And as the virus spreads in the Middle East, in Sub Saharan Africa, and other countries where there isn't as robust a healthcare system, as there is in developed Western countries, it is essential that people get good information about social distancing and about other such, such basic stuff as hand washing. Now if you are controlling independent reporting, that message is not going to get out and countries are trying to do it by controlling the domestic press, and the foreign press. Egypt for example expelled The Guardian correspondent just recently, and in Iraq, they pulled the license for Reuters news agency to operate. They can control their domestic press more easily but they're also trying to restrict access to foreign news organizations.
GVS: Is the State Department or any government entity here in the United States, attempting to help in these countries where they are suppressing the journalists - Turkey, Iran, Philippines, UAE, Saudi Arabia Hungary, any of these countries that have, whether they have new laws or old laws locking up journalists who are who are reporting on the virus who, when they don't like the information?
RM: Well you know it's been distressing to see the total silence that has come from Western countries about standing up for press freedom and access to accurate information. In my research, before speaking to you today, I couldn't find one instance of any Western governments, or any government that that has a democratic path standing off the street and speaking out for these journalists. I think everyone is preoccupied with their own country and with their own, their own attempts to counter this pandemic. But, journalists are on their own. I mean, the fact that you're doing this interview, the fact that the CPJ is doing its research means that we are trying to stand up for those journalists who are risking their own health. And as we talked about, their own liberty in trying to report accurately on this on this disease. But there's a certain lack of solidarity which is quite destructive.
COVID-19 Fast Facts:
This is a special presentation of Voice of America.
Wash your hands with soap and water – before you eat, after using the toilet, after touching anything many other people touch like a seat on a public bus. Scrub thoroughly for 20 seconds. If you cannot wash your hands, use a hand sanitizer. Taking these steps can prevent not only coronavirus but also colds and flu and other viruses.
VOA – A free press matters.
((Greta))
I also spoke to former CNN White House correspondent and CNN Bureau chief Frank Sesno about how journalists are holding officials accountable in the age of coronavirus.
((Greta interviews journalist Frank Sesno))
GVS: what's the state of journalism here?
FS: I think the state of journalism right now is very turbulent very uncertain and it's something that we haven't seen before. I mean when I was doing the work that I was doing I didn't need to think about taking security with me if I went to a political rally. When I was doing what I was doing there was plenty of contention and tension between political leaders, people who are trying to make the news and journalists those who are trying to report the news. 'Oh you're being unfair it's sensational it's whatever,' but they were never accused or, you know, put in the in the in the firing line as being enemies of the people or being, you know, constantly in the sides and the thorn of elected leaders. So it's a very, it's a very turbulent time, it's a very difficult time.
GVS: Is the field of journalists without blame I mean are journalists taking sides or are they purely reporting the facts, in general?
FS: In general I think most journalists are trying to do a very good job right now because we're at a point of national crisis where people's lives are on the line. Hospitals, many of them are stretched. Doctors have died, nurses and hospital workers have died trying to do this work, so have grocery store workers. We're at a stage in the story which I like to call informational, for the most part. and when you're in an informational stage, it's "what is the fundamental information that people need to be able to make decisions in their own lives to be able to figure it out?" As we move into more interpretive journalism and more of the sort of investigation examination that's where we get into trouble. And that's where we blur the line, with talk show hosts on radio and television, who have a strong point of view, and who put the point of view, before the information. They're not journalists, but they're often seen that way. that's one thing. The other is even with some mainstream journalistic organizations, frankly, they've stepped over the line. because in bringing so much interpretation and opinion into the reporting that they do, or the opinion reporting that they do, Again they blur the lines and they create a very contentious environment in their own right.
GVS: Do you see that line- is it distinctive between reporting and opinion by reporters?
FS: No, I mean the the line has blurred because media have blurred.
We also didn't have social media the way we've got now. and we didn't have the explosion of digital media, the very ideologically driven right wing and left wing media that exists out there. So pity the poor news consumer who has to go through all this. long long long gone are the days where there was an evening newscast or a morning, or an afternoon newspaper, and you knew what you were getting. So, we're in a very, very difficult turbulent environment and then even add to that, deliberate disinformation campaigns, DIS- information campaigns that are targeted, micro-targeted at people. So, the burden has been shifted, Greta, I think in many ways from the burden being on the, on the backs the shoulders of the editors and the reporters to put out a pure stream or a reliable stream of information, to the responsibility being put on the backs of news consumers to be sure that they're getting a reliable stream of information and that's very problematic.
GVS: Doesn't that burden fall on us as journalists?
FS: Some of the burden falls on us as journalists because journalists have to do a better job and they have to recognize the fine line they walk, how opinionated are they going to be? how antagonistic are they going to be? how much are they going to take a point of view or just sort of seek straight information? And there is a place in this ecosystem, I believe, to develop a very clear brand that you as a journalist you as a news organization are straight, you're credible, you don't have an axe to grind and you're going to be fair with everybody. But in this, you know hothouse of information and media that we've got, that's tough to do and a lot of it falls on the public. individual news consumers- every single one of us- like our like our food diet, we have to be responsible for our information diet. We need to read the labels and we need to know what's good for us and what's not.
GVS: Now that we are in this coronavirus environment, it is the President himself who has comes out and gives these briefings, it can take anywhere from one hour to two hours. and he gets into fights with reporters. He also puts on his scientists, Dr. Fauci and Dr Birx and the Vice President. But the President also is a large part of these briefings and some news organizations have said that they won't follow it, they won't--turn it off, they won't broadcast when the President is speaking. What do you think about that?
FS: I think they're right. I think for a political leader to go out and occupy two hours of television time is more real estate than most anyone needs or deserves, absent a super important moment.
GVS: I'll tell you why I disagree. You want the consumer to make a choice of what the consumer wants to consume. And if a network disagrees with the president like CNN or MSNBC typically disagree with the president on so many things, at least broadcast it and then you have plenty of time after the press briefing to criticize or fact check the president You can do whatever you want after it, but at least let the people see it, otherwise you have a situation where you have a network telling viewers what they can see.
FS: I don't disagree with that basically Greta. and i would I would give a, I would grant a wide berth to that but I think after day after day after day of this, with hours and hours going by, and a point in which these in these briefings when there's no more news being made, what what a network can do especially today in the, in the work days of multimedia, you can say after 12 minutes or 17 minutes or 32 minutes however much is newsworthy where things are being said that are a value, we're going to break away now you can go to cnn.com or msnbc.com or whatever it's going to be and see the briefing in its entirety. But I don't, I think that you have to be very careful of a leader from any stripe, frankly who's using the media or the your, your medium, your medium you asked what can journalists do to do better? They need to, you know, use judgment. they use need to use judgment on their own reporting and what they're saying and also on others.
GVS: But Frank what I like is the direct access. I know --whoever the president is, if he is up there you can ask the President himself or herself, and that President can't hide behind some press secretary.
FS: I agree with that. I agree with that and you're right about the sort of the press secretary becomes you know the fig leaf behind people you know the President can issue a statement from the president’s four lines, and then all the heat falls to the press secretary. I mean one of things I do like about the current situation you're right is reporters they can stand their ground they can be snarky or tough or whatever they want. And the President actually has to answer it and people can decide for themselves, whether that's a credible response or not.
But again, finding that balance between the political leader who's out there with a political agenda, and somebody who's out there who's not going to be quoted, who is not famous who is able to just sort of give you the reporter, the nuts and bolts information you need to be able to report the story, at least from that perspective is really really important when you're actually trying to put it together.
Do the Five – Help stop coronavirus:
1. Hands - wash them often.
2. Elbow – cough into it.
3. Face – don’t touch it.
4. Feet – Stay more than 3 feet (1 meter) apart.
5. Feel Sick? Stay at home.
Do the five – help stop coronavirus.
((Greta))
Sometimes the nuts and bolts of a story come down to family and how our loved ones are faring during difficult times.
That’s what Heather Murdock, our Middle East correspondent and her partner found out while checking on the welfare of relatives and friends
around the world.
((Heather Murdock, Istanbul))
Last Saturday, my partner and I hunched over my laptop to talk to my family in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New York over Zoom. They were all healthy.
My cousins’ children were going to school online, but it was a little hard for them because there were no other kids their own ages to play with.
Then on Sunday, his family called from Libya. Shrapnel from a bomb had ripped through a nearby residential neighborhood and friend’s child had died. The boy’s name was Yamen and he was nine.
My partner wasn’t angry at my family for having problems that are far less tragic than his. But he was angry. He told me that people should be thinking about their children’s mental health, not about if their children will survive the next attack.
And for some families, isolation is becoming traumatic. There is nothing to do but watch online in horror as battles continue and the county’s financial crisis spins out of control. Prices of some basic food items have doubled and Libya is now fully locked down, under 24-hour curfew.
He told me people are facing horrible choices. They can risk staying home and their children possibly starving or they can risk going out and bringing home COVID-19.
Reporting from my apartment in Istanbul, I’m Heather Murdock, VOA News.
((Greta))
Corona virus lockdowns have forced many people to be more resourceful and step into new roles.
Among them - Dr. Taheera Hassim. She is a gynecologist in Johannesburg, South Africa - home to the most coronavirus cases in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Now, she is a volunteer for disaster response. She told VOA what it is like on medicine’s front lines.
((Dr Taheera Hassim, Johannesburg))
My patients look at me petrified. When they sit in front of me, they ask me, ‘Doctor, are you not afraid?’ I look at them. In my heart of hearts, I am so afraid, but I have to give them a reassuring face.”
After my day in the rooms, I then rush off to the Gift of Givers testing station at the Wits University, where I am frontline once again. I’m involved in testing patients who arrive in their cars. And these are patients that are most likely positive or have been exposed.
I was once asked, ‘Why do you do this?’ This is completely different to other mission work. And my answer would usually be – to save lives. But with this, I don’t know… I really don’t know. All I can say is that I have to put my anxieties one side. I have to put my family aside. And we all have to do what we can.
In my hospital we only have 20 ICU beds. And from what I’ve read is that 80% of ventilated patients die. So, my question is – should we get more ICU beds, or should we get more ventilators? But then at the end of the day, are we keeping those patients alive for 10 to 20 days while ultimately, they’re gonna die and exposing our staff and using our limited resources? That’s where the ethics comes in.
One of my patients came to my rooms and she wanted to bring me flowers. And she said to me that it would be better to give me this crinkle paper flowers because they don’t die. Fresh flowers die. And she believes that the coronavirus won’t kill me because those flowers that she gives me won’t die. And these flowers are my beacon of hope.
Video vignette:
Thank you to everyone working on the frontlines, keeping all of us safe!
((Greta))
Among the many philanthropies and charities trying to help is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
It recently added 150-million dollars to the 100-million dollars it pledged in February to help at-risk communities in Africa and South Asia fight this pandemic.
Co-founder Melinda Gates recently spoke to VOA’s Linord Moudou about the challenges they face tracking the virus:
((Melinda Gates interview))
MG: I think one of the things we need to recognize as a global community is that COVID 19, anywhere is COVID-19 everywhere. And we're just starting to see the effects on the most vulnerable parts of the population. So one of the things our foundation has been doing, actually, for the last couple of years, is working to make sure that the African CDC is very strong, so that there can be an African response. So we continue to work with the African CDC, we are doing disease modeling very proactively to show as we get more and more data about how this disease spreads and who it affects the most in terms of vulnerable populations.
The other thing that we're doing is trying to make sure people understand that testing needs to happen for everyone. And it needs to happen in a very equitable way. Testing is fundamental. You have to know who's sick and who's not sick. And if you don't do testing and don't do contact tracing, you will get mass spread of this disease. And so what we need to make sure is that testing kits are available, that they can be easy to use. And also, one of the things the foundation has been working on with the FDA here in the United States is working to show could we have a home test kit available, then you could get them out very broadly across Africa, because as you know, one of the things that's going to be very, very difficult for somebody who lives in a township, or who lives in a refugee camp is to social distance. So the only tools we have right now are physical distancing, and washing our hands. I've been in many African settings where people don't have running water to wash their hands. So we absolutely have to help people understand who has this disease and who doesn't. And how do we help them self isolate so that it doesn't become a widespread infection throughout an entire region.
And then we need to make sure lots of protective gear gets out, this PPE that we're all talking about that healthcare workers wear, and masks so that healthcare workers can protect themselves, and can keep the health system up and running so that those who are sick can still come in and get what they need.
Listen to the medical professionals and listen to the scientists. They are the ones to go to they know what's going on.
I would go to the Africa CDC website. They have the real information. And then spread that to your neighbors. This is a time we have to come together with Unity. We're learning from the industrialized nations that a coordinated response at the national level is the way to make a difference in this disease. So you see that in South Korea, you see it in Germany as two very different examples. But they took a very strong approach early on of making sure that many, many people in their population get tested. And that that those people then isolate themselves and aren't out in society spreading the disease. And so what that means then is the healthcare system doesn't get overcrowded by very, very sick people.
We're working on therapeutics, that is a medicine with many, many, many partners testing different types of medicines. And we're working on a vaccine. And we're bringing eight vaccine candidates forward.
My message is that we are all in this together, life has changed for everybody. And we need to pull together. But I have faith. I have seen that people come together around science to change things when there's disease outbreak. I see so many scientists coming forward. I see pharmaceutical companies doing the right thing. I see CEOs doing the right thing, putting their resources forward, putting their company forward to have a platform for vaccine development. We will find some solutions. We will find medicines over time to tamp down the disease when someone gets it and we will find a vaccine.
((Video vignette))
COVID pandemic changes perception about essential workers. Courtesy Reuters.
((Greta))
Human ingenuity, pulling together, and finding ways to cope - these are things people all over the world have been doing since the pandemic began.
Before we go we would like to share some of those moments to show you how people are helping one another - even finding ways to have fun in a time of crisis.
((video vignette))
The pandemic has dramatically changed people’s lives. But it doesn’t stop some from having fun.
((Nova Knight, 5 years old))
"Stay home. I'm sorry if you can't go to your play dates. Don't go anywhere and wash your hands. I'm serious."
"Cause I want to make more videos to help people not get the virus."
"Soap. Rub it on. What’s the next spot?"
"Thank you to all the doctors working out there."
Stories are everywhere about the kindness and generosity of strangers and individuals.
((people applauding))
Retired British army captain Tom Moore, 99, raises more than $19 million by completing 100 laps of his garden.
((Tom Moore, World War II vet, who turns 100 on April 30))
"By the time I get to 100, we do 100 laps. And that's how we set out, but then it seemed to get bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Until now, I don't know where - it just seems to go on and on. I mean, from a thousand pounds we now seem to have got now into millions. But it's not for me. It's for the National Health Service."
((Harper Moore, 6 years old))
"Social distancing for me has been really hard because I miss my friends from school, and I want to see them again."
((Haven Alexander, 12 years old))
"I don't want to catch it. And I pray for everybody that has it."
((Blake Davis, 12 years old))
"I just hope everyone can remember that the situation that all of us are in is not permanent. Everything will get better eventually."
John Kline, 80, sings Amazing Grace from outside his wife’s nursing home. Ann, John’s wife, has been battling Alzheimer’s for 17 years.
((Greta))
That is all the time we have for this edition of Plugged In.
We will continue to follow this crisis.
But for the latest updates, please visit our website: VOANews.com.
And do not forget to follow me on Twitter @Greta.
Thanks for being Plugged In.
We hope to see you again next week!
COVID-19 fatalities ...
around the globe…
are still rising …
But another growing casualty of this pandemic…
is Press Freedom.
Watchdog groups say some countries…
are using the coronavirus threat to control the media.
Are journalists voices being muzzled?
Is censorship shaping public perception?
And how are reporters responding to this unprecedented health threat?
On Plugged In...
the Coronavirus Crisis and Press Freedom.
((Greta))
Hello and welcome to Plugged In. I’m Greta Van Susteren, working from my home in Washington, DC.
Worldwide, there are now more than 2.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus.
According to Johns Hopkins University, coronavirus resource center - since early April, that number has been growing by about 100 thousand per day.
Nearly one-third of the world’s confirmed cases are in the United States.
There are some countries taking steps to re-open their economies, including Spain and Italy - two of Europe’s hardest-hit nations.
President Donald Trump announced a plan to re-open the U.S. economy in phases depending on a decline in new cases.
While Americans debate how and when to safely re-open the world’s largest economy, many around the world do not have that opportunity to voice their opinions or get factual information.
Some watchdog groups fear this unprecedented health crisis is being used as cover to silence government critics and members of the news media.
I spoke with Rob Mahoney at the Committee to Protect Journalists about the impact of this pandemic on press freedoms worldwide.
((Greta interviews Rob Mahoney, CPJ))
RM: Greta, we've noticed several trends since the coronavirus broke out with governments trying to control the narrative around the reporting of the virus: how many people have it and what the government's response has been. If we go back to the very beginning, China was where the virus started and where the repression of journalism also began. And we are particularly concerned about the fate of a Chinese video journalist, called Chen Qiushi, who went to Wuhan, was reporting on what was happening there in January, and then sent a message to his family on February, the sixth, saying, I'm going out on assignment again today. And since then we've heard nothing from him. The Chinese government has said nothing. So he's kind of the victim zero if you like, of reporting.
GVS: Do we know if he's even alive or do we know if he's been taken by the government? Would there be any reason that he would go sort of deep undercover and not keep contact with his family or colleagues?
RM: We believe that he is in detention. Not that he's gone deep undercover. This is more than two months now, and we believe that the Chinese authorities have him somewhere and have not - have not disclosed, where he is. so you can imagine the you know, the the distraught feeling for everyone that knows that person.
GVS: We've got countries like Turkey which has a terrible reputation for jailing journalists. They,they arrest people if they have what are called you know fake news, meaning that they are reporting something that's inconsistent with what the government wants.
RM: Yes, exactly. I mean, we've seen that in Turkey, where if anything that isn't government sanctioned is fake. I have seen this, disturbing to see also in democracies, that similar moves have been made. The Philippines has made it a crime if you like to report information that is false. That also means I get to tell you as the government what is real and what isn't, what is false, what is true. And even in India, the government of Narendra Modi tried to make it that journalists could only report news that the government said was true. And he went all the way up to the Supreme Court, just last week, the court rejected that but it shows the lengths to which even democratically elected leaders will do to try to seize control of the narrative around this disease.
GVS: You know we're lucky here in the United States, we have the First Amendment freedom of the press, but you've got Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates you've got, Iraq, you've got all these nations that seem to be putting so much pressure on journalists not to get the news out. And frankly, not to get the news out on something that is so profoundly important as a pandemic so people do social distancing is, you know, is, is astonishing. Not to mention the fact that the journalists are being locked up.
RM: Exactly. And I have to say this is about public health. This is not just about my right to express my political opinion. It's about getting information to people that can save their lives. And as the virus spreads in the Middle East, in Sub Saharan Africa, and other countries where there isn't as robust a healthcare system, as there is in developed Western countries, it is essential that people get good information about social distancing and about other such, such basic stuff as hand washing. Now if you are controlling independent reporting, that message is not going to get out and countries are trying to do it by controlling the domestic press, and the foreign press. Egypt for example expelled The Guardian correspondent just recently, and in Iraq, they pulled the license for Reuters news agency to operate. They can control their domestic press more easily but they're also trying to restrict access to foreign news organizations.
GVS: Is the State Department or any government entity here in the United States, attempting to help in these countries where they are suppressing the journalists - Turkey, Iran, Philippines, UAE, Saudi Arabia Hungary, any of these countries that have, whether they have new laws or old laws locking up journalists who are who are reporting on the virus who, when they don't like the information?
RM: Well you know it's been distressing to see the total silence that has come from Western countries about standing up for press freedom and access to accurate information. In my research, before speaking to you today, I couldn't find one instance of any Western governments, or any government that that has a democratic path standing off the street and speaking out for these journalists. I think everyone is preoccupied with their own country and with their own, their own attempts to counter this pandemic. But, journalists are on their own. I mean, the fact that you're doing this interview, the fact that the CPJ is doing its research means that we are trying to stand up for those journalists who are risking their own health. And as we talked about, their own liberty in trying to report accurately on this on this disease. But there's a certain lack of solidarity which is quite destructive.
COVID-19 Fast Facts:
This is a special presentation of Voice of America.
Wash your hands with soap and water – before you eat, after using the toilet, after touching anything many other people touch like a seat on a public bus. Scrub thoroughly for 20 seconds. If you cannot wash your hands, use a hand sanitizer. Taking these steps can prevent not only coronavirus but also colds and flu and other viruses.
VOA – A free press matters.
((Greta))
I also spoke to former CNN White House correspondent and CNN Bureau chief Frank Sesno about how journalists are holding officials accountable in the age of coronavirus.
((Greta interviews journalist Frank Sesno))
GVS: what's the state of journalism here?
FS: I think the state of journalism right now is very turbulent very uncertain and it's something that we haven't seen before. I mean when I was doing the work that I was doing I didn't need to think about taking security with me if I went to a political rally. When I was doing what I was doing there was plenty of contention and tension between political leaders, people who are trying to make the news and journalists those who are trying to report the news. 'Oh you're being unfair it's sensational it's whatever,' but they were never accused or, you know, put in the in the in the firing line as being enemies of the people or being, you know, constantly in the sides and the thorn of elected leaders. So it's a very, it's a very turbulent time, it's a very difficult time.
GVS: Is the field of journalists without blame I mean are journalists taking sides or are they purely reporting the facts, in general?
FS: In general I think most journalists are trying to do a very good job right now because we're at a point of national crisis where people's lives are on the line. Hospitals, many of them are stretched. Doctors have died, nurses and hospital workers have died trying to do this work, so have grocery store workers. We're at a stage in the story which I like to call informational, for the most part. and when you're in an informational stage, it's "what is the fundamental information that people need to be able to make decisions in their own lives to be able to figure it out?" As we move into more interpretive journalism and more of the sort of investigation examination that's where we get into trouble. And that's where we blur the line, with talk show hosts on radio and television, who have a strong point of view, and who put the point of view, before the information. They're not journalists, but they're often seen that way. that's one thing. The other is even with some mainstream journalistic organizations, frankly, they've stepped over the line. because in bringing so much interpretation and opinion into the reporting that they do, or the opinion reporting that they do, Again they blur the lines and they create a very contentious environment in their own right.
GVS: Do you see that line- is it distinctive between reporting and opinion by reporters?
FS: No, I mean the the line has blurred because media have blurred.
We also didn't have social media the way we've got now. and we didn't have the explosion of digital media, the very ideologically driven right wing and left wing media that exists out there. So pity the poor news consumer who has to go through all this. long long long gone are the days where there was an evening newscast or a morning, or an afternoon newspaper, and you knew what you were getting. So, we're in a very, very difficult turbulent environment and then even add to that, deliberate disinformation campaigns, DIS- information campaigns that are targeted, micro-targeted at people. So, the burden has been shifted, Greta, I think in many ways from the burden being on the, on the backs the shoulders of the editors and the reporters to put out a pure stream or a reliable stream of information, to the responsibility being put on the backs of news consumers to be sure that they're getting a reliable stream of information and that's very problematic.
GVS: Doesn't that burden fall on us as journalists?
FS: Some of the burden falls on us as journalists because journalists have to do a better job and they have to recognize the fine line they walk, how opinionated are they going to be? how antagonistic are they going to be? how much are they going to take a point of view or just sort of seek straight information? And there is a place in this ecosystem, I believe, to develop a very clear brand that you as a journalist you as a news organization are straight, you're credible, you don't have an axe to grind and you're going to be fair with everybody. But in this, you know hothouse of information and media that we've got, that's tough to do and a lot of it falls on the public. individual news consumers- every single one of us- like our like our food diet, we have to be responsible for our information diet. We need to read the labels and we need to know what's good for us and what's not.
GVS: Now that we are in this coronavirus environment, it is the President himself who has comes out and gives these briefings, it can take anywhere from one hour to two hours. and he gets into fights with reporters. He also puts on his scientists, Dr. Fauci and Dr Birx and the Vice President. But the President also is a large part of these briefings and some news organizations have said that they won't follow it, they won't--turn it off, they won't broadcast when the President is speaking. What do you think about that?
FS: I think they're right. I think for a political leader to go out and occupy two hours of television time is more real estate than most anyone needs or deserves, absent a super important moment.
GVS: I'll tell you why I disagree. You want the consumer to make a choice of what the consumer wants to consume. And if a network disagrees with the president like CNN or MSNBC typically disagree with the president on so many things, at least broadcast it and then you have plenty of time after the press briefing to criticize or fact check the president You can do whatever you want after it, but at least let the people see it, otherwise you have a situation where you have a network telling viewers what they can see.
FS: I don't disagree with that basically Greta. and i would I would give a, I would grant a wide berth to that but I think after day after day after day of this, with hours and hours going by, and a point in which these in these briefings when there's no more news being made, what what a network can do especially today in the, in the work days of multimedia, you can say after 12 minutes or 17 minutes or 32 minutes however much is newsworthy where things are being said that are a value, we're going to break away now you can go to cnn.com or msnbc.com or whatever it's going to be and see the briefing in its entirety. But I don't, I think that you have to be very careful of a leader from any stripe, frankly who's using the media or the your, your medium, your medium you asked what can journalists do to do better? They need to, you know, use judgment. they use need to use judgment on their own reporting and what they're saying and also on others.
GVS: But Frank what I like is the direct access. I know --whoever the president is, if he is up there you can ask the President himself or herself, and that President can't hide behind some press secretary.
FS: I agree with that. I agree with that and you're right about the sort of the press secretary becomes you know the fig leaf behind people you know the President can issue a statement from the president’s four lines, and then all the heat falls to the press secretary. I mean one of things I do like about the current situation you're right is reporters they can stand their ground they can be snarky or tough or whatever they want. And the President actually has to answer it and people can decide for themselves, whether that's a credible response or not.
But again, finding that balance between the political leader who's out there with a political agenda, and somebody who's out there who's not going to be quoted, who is not famous who is able to just sort of give you the reporter, the nuts and bolts information you need to be able to report the story, at least from that perspective is really really important when you're actually trying to put it together.
Do the Five – Help stop coronavirus:
1. Hands - wash them often.
2. Elbow – cough into it.
3. Face – don’t touch it.
4. Feet – Stay more than 3 feet (1 meter) apart.
5. Feel Sick? Stay at home.
Do the five – help stop coronavirus.
((Greta))
Sometimes the nuts and bolts of a story come down to family and how our loved ones are faring during difficult times.
That’s what Heather Murdock, our Middle East correspondent and her partner found out while checking on the welfare of relatives and friends
around the world.
((Heather Murdock, Istanbul))
Last Saturday, my partner and I hunched over my laptop to talk to my family in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New York over Zoom. They were all healthy.
My cousins’ children were going to school online, but it was a little hard for them because there were no other kids their own ages to play with.
Then on Sunday, his family called from Libya. Shrapnel from a bomb had ripped through a nearby residential neighborhood and friend’s child had died. The boy’s name was Yamen and he was nine.
My partner wasn’t angry at my family for having problems that are far less tragic than his. But he was angry. He told me that people should be thinking about their children’s mental health, not about if their children will survive the next attack.
And for some families, isolation is becoming traumatic. There is nothing to do but watch online in horror as battles continue and the county’s financial crisis spins out of control. Prices of some basic food items have doubled and Libya is now fully locked down, under 24-hour curfew.
He told me people are facing horrible choices. They can risk staying home and their children possibly starving or they can risk going out and bringing home COVID-19.
Reporting from my apartment in Istanbul, I’m Heather Murdock, VOA News.
((Greta))
Corona virus lockdowns have forced many people to be more resourceful and step into new roles.
Among them - Dr. Taheera Hassim. She is a gynecologist in Johannesburg, South Africa - home to the most coronavirus cases in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Now, she is a volunteer for disaster response. She told VOA what it is like on medicine’s front lines.
((Dr Taheera Hassim, Johannesburg))
My patients look at me petrified. When they sit in front of me, they ask me, ‘Doctor, are you not afraid?’ I look at them. In my heart of hearts, I am so afraid, but I have to give them a reassuring face.”
After my day in the rooms, I then rush off to the Gift of Givers testing station at the Wits University, where I am frontline once again. I’m involved in testing patients who arrive in their cars. And these are patients that are most likely positive or have been exposed.
I was once asked, ‘Why do you do this?’ This is completely different to other mission work. And my answer would usually be – to save lives. But with this, I don’t know… I really don’t know. All I can say is that I have to put my anxieties one side. I have to put my family aside. And we all have to do what we can.
In my hospital we only have 20 ICU beds. And from what I’ve read is that 80% of ventilated patients die. So, my question is – should we get more ICU beds, or should we get more ventilators? But then at the end of the day, are we keeping those patients alive for 10 to 20 days while ultimately, they’re gonna die and exposing our staff and using our limited resources? That’s where the ethics comes in.
One of my patients came to my rooms and she wanted to bring me flowers. And she said to me that it would be better to give me this crinkle paper flowers because they don’t die. Fresh flowers die. And she believes that the coronavirus won’t kill me because those flowers that she gives me won’t die. And these flowers are my beacon of hope.
Video vignette:
Thank you to everyone working on the frontlines, keeping all of us safe!
((Greta))
Among the many philanthropies and charities trying to help is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
It recently added 150-million dollars to the 100-million dollars it pledged in February to help at-risk communities in Africa and South Asia fight this pandemic.
Co-founder Melinda Gates recently spoke to VOA’s Linord Moudou about the challenges they face tracking the virus:
((Melinda Gates interview))
MG: I think one of the things we need to recognize as a global community is that COVID 19, anywhere is COVID-19 everywhere. And we're just starting to see the effects on the most vulnerable parts of the population. So one of the things our foundation has been doing, actually, for the last couple of years, is working to make sure that the African CDC is very strong, so that there can be an African response. So we continue to work with the African CDC, we are doing disease modeling very proactively to show as we get more and more data about how this disease spreads and who it affects the most in terms of vulnerable populations.
The other thing that we're doing is trying to make sure people understand that testing needs to happen for everyone. And it needs to happen in a very equitable way. Testing is fundamental. You have to know who's sick and who's not sick. And if you don't do testing and don't do contact tracing, you will get mass spread of this disease. And so what we need to make sure is that testing kits are available, that they can be easy to use. And also, one of the things the foundation has been working on with the FDA here in the United States is working to show could we have a home test kit available, then you could get them out very broadly across Africa, because as you know, one of the things that's going to be very, very difficult for somebody who lives in a township, or who lives in a refugee camp is to social distance. So the only tools we have right now are physical distancing, and washing our hands. I've been in many African settings where people don't have running water to wash their hands. So we absolutely have to help people understand who has this disease and who doesn't. And how do we help them self isolate so that it doesn't become a widespread infection throughout an entire region.
And then we need to make sure lots of protective gear gets out, this PPE that we're all talking about that healthcare workers wear, and masks so that healthcare workers can protect themselves, and can keep the health system up and running so that those who are sick can still come in and get what they need.
Listen to the medical professionals and listen to the scientists. They are the ones to go to they know what's going on.
I would go to the Africa CDC website. They have the real information. And then spread that to your neighbors. This is a time we have to come together with Unity. We're learning from the industrialized nations that a coordinated response at the national level is the way to make a difference in this disease. So you see that in South Korea, you see it in Germany as two very different examples. But they took a very strong approach early on of making sure that many, many people in their population get tested. And that that those people then isolate themselves and aren't out in society spreading the disease. And so what that means then is the healthcare system doesn't get overcrowded by very, very sick people.
We're working on therapeutics, that is a medicine with many, many, many partners testing different types of medicines. And we're working on a vaccine. And we're bringing eight vaccine candidates forward.
My message is that we are all in this together, life has changed for everybody. And we need to pull together. But I have faith. I have seen that people come together around science to change things when there's disease outbreak. I see so many scientists coming forward. I see pharmaceutical companies doing the right thing. I see CEOs doing the right thing, putting their resources forward, putting their company forward to have a platform for vaccine development. We will find some solutions. We will find medicines over time to tamp down the disease when someone gets it and we will find a vaccine.
((Video vignette))
COVID pandemic changes perception about essential workers. Courtesy Reuters.
((Greta))
Human ingenuity, pulling together, and finding ways to cope - these are things people all over the world have been doing since the pandemic began.
Before we go we would like to share some of those moments to show you how people are helping one another - even finding ways to have fun in a time of crisis.
((video vignette))
The pandemic has dramatically changed people’s lives. But it doesn’t stop some from having fun.
((Nova Knight, 5 years old))
"Stay home. I'm sorry if you can't go to your play dates. Don't go anywhere and wash your hands. I'm serious."
"Cause I want to make more videos to help people not get the virus."
"Soap. Rub it on. What’s the next spot?"
"Thank you to all the doctors working out there."
Stories are everywhere about the kindness and generosity of strangers and individuals.
((people applauding))
Retired British army captain Tom Moore, 99, raises more than $19 million by completing 100 laps of his garden.
((Tom Moore, World War II vet, who turns 100 on April 30))
"By the time I get to 100, we do 100 laps. And that's how we set out, but then it seemed to get bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Until now, I don't know where - it just seems to go on and on. I mean, from a thousand pounds we now seem to have got now into millions. But it's not for me. It's for the National Health Service."
((Harper Moore, 6 years old))
"Social distancing for me has been really hard because I miss my friends from school, and I want to see them again."
((Haven Alexander, 12 years old))
"I don't want to catch it. And I pray for everybody that has it."
((Blake Davis, 12 years old))
"I just hope everyone can remember that the situation that all of us are in is not permanent. Everything will get better eventually."
John Kline, 80, sings Amazing Grace from outside his wife’s nursing home. Ann, John’s wife, has been battling Alzheimer’s for 17 years.
((Greta))
That is all the time we have for this edition of Plugged In.
We will continue to follow this crisis.
But for the latest updates, please visit our website: VOANews.com.
And do not forget to follow me on Twitter @Greta.
Thanks for being Plugged In.
We hope to see you again next week!
