A View of COVID-19 from Around the World
For TMP board members, the worldwide COVID-19 quarantine has been a time of reconnecting with family, reporting on this unprecedented story and thoughtfully considering the long-term ramifications of the pandemic for their home countries.
The Media Project Chairwoman, Roberta Ahmanson, was in Italy when the outbreak first occurred.
“Howard and I were just getting into a rhythm in Rome where we went to cut out interruptions and work on our books when COVID hit Italy big time. Then flights were canceling and everything was closing. We got out on an Alitalia flight to New York just to get into the US before Trump stopped incoming flights from overseas.”
Markus Spieker, who has continued to cover politics for German Television and reports in to his Berlin office each day, says there have been no layoffs at the public broadcaster but wonders what the long-term economic, political and social effects will be.
“I’m a little worried about the next generation that will be burdened by huge debt, a very uneven young-old ratio and the growing challenge of China. Despite all the talk about the spiritual longings of our current generation – at the end materialism wins the day. When it comes to protecting their affluence and security, people seem to be willing to accept a lot of restrictions that were previously out of the question. Of course, this time it’s for a very good purpose, but still, it’s kind of frightening.”
Emeka Izeze, former Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Nigeria's The Guardian reports that so far, Nigeria was not as hard hit by the virus as was anticipated:
“We do not know if the worst is yet ahead, or because we are not testing enough, or there is an unknown and unseen factor keeping the pandemic low in Africa. It isn’t getting worse here at this time.
“I suspect life will be altered somewhat when this is over. Social distancing would be permanent, at least in part. Work and schooling would be done more from home, the specter of face mask will linger a little longer, afterwards.”
Dr. Paul Marshall, Wilson Professor at Baylor University and Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, splits his time between the US and Canada. He says he and his wife were separated when the shelter at home orders were first put in place.
“Lyn and I are well – though it took her ten weeks to get back from Canada and we had 14 days of quarantine.”
With India’s dauntingly high virus rate, Jennifer Arul, Editorial Advisor at NDTV Hindu, has been tracking those most at risk: “ We have thousands of laborers who travel from distant states to find construction work in cities far, far away from their home states. When the lockdown happened, all work came to a standstill and these poor daily wage workers found themselves jobless.
“A restlessness set in and these people began to walk hundreds of miles to get back to their home villages. The government has tried to provide shelter, food and transport to get people home. Its worked to some extent but for me the saddest part of this lockdown is that when many of these workers got home the villagers had erected barricades to prevent them from getting to their homes. This has disturbed me a lot. How sad to think of going home and not being welcomed back?”
Jody Hassett Sanchez, a US-based former network news producer who now directs documentary films, is working on a short film that explores how US families are coping with teaching their children at home, while contending with trying to work from home or recent unemployment:
“The news coverage has been rightly focused on the medical and economic impact of the quarantine. We’ve been filming with three families doing school remotely, creating an intimate time capsule of family dynamics and student learning during the COVID pandemic. Headlines may have declared remote learning a failure, but we have discovered it’s far more nuanced than that.”
The biggest challenge for the film has been asking the families to film themselves on their phones. She sent each of them a tripod, a microphone and a three-page guide to filming: “I was sensitive to burdening overworked parents, but they were all willing to take this project on and we now have some terrific footage.”
Reynaldo Aragon, a broadcast journalist and lay pastor in Lima, Peru, says the COVID-19 outbreak has been devastating in his country:
“Here in Lima, Peru, we have more than one hundred days in quarantine, one of the longest given by governments in the world. Unfortunately, it has not worked to fight COVID-19, and we have one of the highest rates of infection. Despite having one of the strongest economies in Latinoamérica, our precarious public health system has collapsed. It is sad to see Peruvians, especially in the native communities of the jungle, dying for lack of medical attention. Personally, we continue to report while caring for brothers and their families, sick with COVID-19, at the CMA Alliance church in Lima, where I also serve as a lay pastor.”
Vishal Arora, a New Delhi-based independent journalist, has also had to improvise to report, creating a special camera rig to keep his distance from those he films. “Seventy stories in a month - 40 text stories and 30 videos, as I spent time on the road.” He’s been looking at how the lockdown impacts those who can’t afford social distancing: “I have spent a few nights in a hospital, I have visited COVID-19 hotspots in and around Delhi, I have visited cramped spaces with thousands of homeless people.”
He takes a long view on the virus: “As the Worldometers site tells me, the global birth rate remains more than double the crude death rate, and millions die of other curable diseases every year in Africa and Asia, I’m not too concerned about the coronavirus. Take precautions and live normally and compassionately!”
TMP Executive Director Paul Glader says this is a critical time for journalists to continue to do the vital and hard work of reporting during a global pandemic.
“As our world has turned upside down with Covid-19 quarantines, we see the importance of fact-based reporting, writing and storytelling. And we are incredibly proud of the work our members are doing through this crisis.”