Safety protocols with regard to COVID-19 for all journalists and media workers issued by Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND)

The guidelines apply specially to all staff working outdoor including Reporters/ Correspondents, Cameramen, Technicians, Satellite Engineers, staff related to assignment and DSNG Operations Outdoor Assistants, Sales Personnel, any other staff specifically designated to perform official assignment outside office premises.

Goal of this guideline is to prevent our outdoor staff from getting infected from the external environment and also prevent external infection to contaminate our office and equipment.

Primarily it is the responsibility of the management of a television channel to provide all possible facilities and safety equipment/gear for the protection of the staff that is assigned outdoor jobs. The Director News should ensure that all such precautions are in place before a team is sent out on assignment. In case, adequate equipment/gear, as mentioned in the guidelines below, is not available, the assignment should be cancelled as safety of the team members, and rest of the staff working in the office, takes priority on everything.

Leaving office for outdoor assignment;

1. Wear mask before leaving office.
2. Wash or sanitize hands before leaving office.
3. All DSNG’s and assignment vehicles are sanitized after each assignment (by disinfectant spray on seats, steering, dashboard, door handle from both side etc.)

4. If you are traveling using your own vehicle you should sanitize after every use by using a spray of Dettol and water mixture. Using small spray bottle makes it more cost effective.

5. Before start of journey, ensure that you have sanitizers and gloves available in vehicle or withyou.

6. Try to travel to your destination with no or minimum physical contact with any other person or colleague.

Reaching assignment location;

7. Wear gloves before disembarking the vehicle.
8. Ensure you are wearing gloves and face mask properly before you touch any equipment or enter the assignment premises.

9. Enter assignment premises with outmost care and keep a safe distance from others and furniture and fixture of the premises.

Working at assignment location;

10. Use face masks and gloves all the time when you are working outdoor on any assignment.
11. Come in contact of persons, equipment and fixture at assignment location only if this is very important and unavoidable i.e., fixing collar mic, lifting purchased good etc.

12. Try to stay as minimum as possible at assignment, do not stay after completing assignment specially to socialize i.e., leave as soon as a video beeper ends and you pack up equipment.
13. Try not to eat anything on assignment location, specially served by others.

Leaving assignment location;

14. Dispose off gloves in Dustbin, don’t throw carelessly, before heading back.
15. Check all equipment is placed on appropriate locations. If you are given disinfectant please apply on equipment before storing in DSNG or assignment vehicle.

16. Try to maintain distance if possible with your colleague traveling with you. Arriving and entering office after assignment;

17. Before entering office dispose off your mask in nearest dustbin. Please avoid throwing it carelessly.
18. Immediately after entering office premises, wash your hands with soap for 20 Second if you are wearing a short sleeve wash hands up till elbow.
19. If washing is not possible please use sanitizers placed at different locations.
20. Store equipment and other items at respective locations and wash your hands again or sanitize.

Other important points;

1. Try to use your own vehicle for outdoor use and keep disinfecting the same by mixture of Dettol and water.
2. Keep giving feedback to administration and your departmental heads/supervisors in case of shortage of supplies like mask, soap, sanitizers etc.
3. Report if any of your colleague do not follow the above despite your reminders.
4. Washing hands and keeping safe distance are the key measures to avoid coronavirus.
5. All paper and plastic material should be handled while wearing gloves and masks as per the protocol of disinfection of Corona virus.

Safety protocol/measures for all journalists and media workers working within Office Premises:

Arriving at office;

1. Try to travel in your own personal conveyance with no or minimum physical contact with any other person.
2. Use face masks and gloves when you are travelling from your home to office.
3. Properly dispose off these before entering office premises in dustbin don’t throw them carelessly.

4. While entering into office premises you shall cooperate with the security and health scanning staff with respect to your health screening, which is utmost important for a SAFE work environment.

5. After entering office premises wash your hands with soap, if it’s not possible use sanitizer placed by Administration Department at different locations.

Working in office;

1. Try to wear masks within office premises as well; you can also contact Administration Department if you are facing difficulty in acquiring masks from open market.
2. If you are using a common/shared desktop system used by other team members as well, make sure that you are using disposable gloves to protect yourself and your colleagues.
3. Frequently wash your hands with water and soap for 20 second, in locations where water and soap is not available, you can use sanitizer.
4. Try to avoid face to face meetings as much as possible, conferencing through video link, using voice call or extension are more advisable these days.
5. Also do not forget to wash your hands with soap or sanitizer, after attending meetings or visiting the work station/office of your colleagues.
6. Try to use your own cup and glass for tea and water during office hours.
7. Please restrict yourself to your work station; and avoid making unnecessary visit to irrelevant floors and buildings.

Other important points;

1. In case if you identify or suspect any of your colleague or their family members suffering from COVID 19 symptoms, make sure that you bring the same into the notice of the HR Medical Facilitation Help Desk (MFD). Do not discuss the same with any other employee this promote gossip and misinformation which can result in chaos and confusion.
2. Employees assigned to work from office are responsible to avoid unnecessary mobility and follow following;
3. Avoid inviting guests at office and home.
4. Avoid visiting public places like parks, restaurants, shopping malls etc.
5. Avoid visiting relatives, family and friends who are suspected of Corona infection.
6. Observe health of your loved ones closely.
7. Regularly observe health condition of your domestic servants like maids, drivers etc. at home. In case of self-illness of staff or anyone from his / her immediate family and collogue, staff shall immediately inform the MFD.

It is the duty of all Director News to implement these protocols in their organizations.

Best regards and stay safe

Azhar Abbas President AEMEND

Last date for receiving applications:   Sunday January 5, 2020

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) invites applications for the 7th batch of PPF Investigative Reporting Fellowships.

The fellowships facilitate Pakistani journalists to produce investigative report that meet the professional, ethical and legal standards. PPF will provide support to journalists, to professionally investigate and report on issues relating to human rights, transparency, environment, inequity, governance and corruption.

The fellowships will include capacity building workshops as well as editorial and technical support.   Selected participants will work under the supervision of a senior journalist who will act as fellowship editor. Each fellow will be expected to produce up to six stories during this fellowship program.

Journalists with a minimum experience of three years working for print, television, radio and online media can apply for the fellowships.

The criteria for journalists from Baluchistan, FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir may be relaxed for otherwise qualified applicants. Female journalists are encouraged to apply.

The duration of the fellowship is three months and the amount for the fellowship is sixty thousand rupees.

Completed application forms, in either English or Urdu, containing the following must be received by Sunday January 5, 2020 to be considered for the award of the fellowships.

• Fellowship application form
• Professional resume/CV
• Stories proposal form
• Links or clippings of at least three articles that were published or aired in the last three years.

Applications should be sent to fellowships@pakistanpressfoundation.org

For forms, click the link below;

Application form:

https://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PPF-Investigative-Reporting-Fellowship-Application-Form.docx

Story proposal form;

https://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PPF-Investigative-Reporting-Fellowship-Story-Proposal-Form.docx

Though mass media was flourishing in Pakistan the country was still among most unsafe states for journalists to work in.

Denmark’s Ambassador to Pakistan Jesper Mollar Sorensen made these remarks while presiding over the inaugural session of the 2nd ‘Transforming Youth Media Summit’ on Saturday.

The envoy said that some 110 journalists had lost their lives in the line of duty in Pakistan in the last 10 years, meaning that almost one journalist was losing his life every month while 11 journalists were being killed every year.

He said the sorry state of affairs for media personnel was persisting despite the situation that mass media scene of the country had witnessed a phenomenal growth in over the last 10 years.

Sorensen said that during the decade the number of TV channels had grown to 100 from merely one, the number of FM radio stations had increased to 150 from a single one, while almost 2,000 newspapers were being printed in the country in 11 languages.

The diplomat added that given the risks and problems being faced by journalists in the country, the government of Denmark had recently launched a media support programme in Pakistan in collaboration with the non-government sector at a cost of $2.8 million while the total assistance of Denmark to the country stood at $50 million.

Sorensen said the Denmark’s media support programme would be utilised for strengthening the role of Pakistani media in support of a democratic and pluralistic society and a publicly accountable and representative system of governance in the country. “The two-year assistance programme would also be helpful for proposing and adopting a consensus code of ethics for the entire Pakistani media while it would be used for improving skills and safety of journalists working at district and local levels especially for regional languages’ media.”

The ambassador noted that in the past decade, the emergence of a vibrant media scene in Pakistan had played a crucial role in evolving socioeconomic and political discourse for the larger benefit of society and public. But, he maintained, media workers, especially those employed in the provinces, were often untrained and underpaid. “In addition to these challenges, threats and violent attacks against journalists continued in Pakistan.”

Sorensen noted that Pakistani youth and media combining together would become a highly influential force, which could be used for bringing improvement to society and public affairs to a great extent.

He said the Danish government would also provide support to improve working conditions, provision of due privileges, safety and security to the media personnel in Pakistan while the media of the country should also be equally supportive to strengthening the democratic order.

Also speaking on the occasion, former information minister Javed Jabbar said the media commission appointed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan some years back had given some 40 proposals for improving and upgrading the functioning of the mass media in the country.

He said one of the important proposals was that the ministries of information and information technology should be merged together, besides the proposed merging of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for proper regulation of the mainstream, conventional, modern and technologically advanced mass media.

He told the audience that the information ministry had expressed its willingness to accept the majority of the proposals given by the media commission.

Jabbar said that no doubt the media scene of Pakistan had flourished but the progress was not much public-friendly as at present there was no genuine public interest broadcaster in the country, which could be completely free of government’s interference. “While also at the same time such ideal media outlet should not be fully dependent upon advertisements for its financing needs.”

The former minister said that there was need to change the revenue model of Pakistani private TV channels as they were fully dependent upon revenue generation through advertisements while fee paid by the subscribers was pocketed by cable operators and no share of it was given to private TV channels.

Noted TV artist Durdana Butt viewed that there could be no democracy in the country without responsibility, and urged the private TV channels to show more responsibility in their conduct and content while covering public interest matters.

The News

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