A Journalist Is The One Who Falls And Gets Up Every Time

“A journalist is not someone who doesn’t fear. A journalist is someone who overcomes his fear for the greater good.”

But come on… The journalists aren’t really ‘heroes.’  Are they? No!!! So what if they always tend to put their life in danger, to serve the news to the world? So what if in case of any calamity, man-made or natural, they rush to the place, without even thinking about their families? So what?

Remember the times of earthquake, when there were no means to communicate with your loved ones, the journalists did the job of giving you the detailed information on various cities, standing on debris of broken buildings, just so that the news about your family can reach you? But who cares?! They are probably paid a ‘lot of money’ for that, right?

Yes.  Journalists aren’t supposed to have feelings.

Not only during earthquakes, the journalists are on their toes also during gunfire, terrorist attacks, cyclones, tsunamis or the recent ongoing coronavirus pandemic, just like a doctor has to be in recent times.

So what if everyone who are currently serving the nation, like doctors, nurses, grocers etc., are quite taken care of, except the journalists?!

We don’t care about the fact that when we applaud for all the people who work for the pandemic right now, we don’t even think of journalists, who are out there working day and night and most of them without basic safety equipment, which the employers don’t care enough to provide for them. 

So what?

So what if they burn their blood to serve the news?

So what if sacrifice their emotions to serve the nation?

So what if they don’t care about their families and work even during this horrifying global pandemic to keep the people, like us, informed?

So what if they don’t have time to even wipe their little children’s tears, just to serve the news?

So what if they let go of their sleep, so that we can sleep peacefully in our AC bedrooms all day?

So what if they don’t fulfill their wives’ dreams or get to pay attention to their husbands to serve the public?

So what if they forget which day of the week it is, so that we remember which day of the lockdown this is?

So what…so what…so what?!

But just like a phoenix rises from the ashes, reporters will also rise from the clutches of this deadly coronavirus. To all my journalist friends: photographers, cameramen, reporters who have been tested positive for Coronavirus in Mumbai while doing their duty of reporting:

‘A journalist is not someone who never falls. A journalist is the one who falls and gets up every time.’ Please take care of yourselves.

To serve our country, we couldn’t keep the suggested distance, we couldn’t evade the Coronavirus. But the virus cannot affect our relentless spirits, our sharp minds. We will rise back up and keep fighting – don’t forget, we journalists all are in this together!!

We will win, we will win and we will never let the Coronavirus win!

Sanjay Trivedi

Writer is a leading journalist, Ex Head of Sandesh Gujarati Newspaper, Mumbai edition