The Editors Guild of India on Friday demanded that the Central Government vaccinate journalists on priority, even as ordinary citizens are patiently waiting to get vaccinated themselves. It was demanded that journalists be vaccinated alongside frontline workers.
The Editors Guild said in a statement, “The Guild is extremely distressed that the central government has yet not taken any steps to hasten the vaccination of journalists over the last few months. Many of them were freelancers and hence were not insured. Others who worked for media organizations did not necessarily enjoy the assurance and comfort of being insured by their companies.”
“Few weeks ago, EGI had demanded that journalists be declared as frontline workers and be vaccinated on priority to protect them from the new variant. Despite the support from various state governments and media organisations, the central government has not responded to this request,” it added.
The statement comes across as remarkably obtuse as even in the midst of a raging pandemic, journalists appear unable to look past their self serving interests. The mainstream media constantly preaches that they are the allies of the masses, voice of the unheard, and the comrades of the common man.
And yet, when things get difficult, the first thing they do is attempt use their clout to protect their own interests, abandoning their solidarity with the common man at the first opportunity. It is selfishness of unparalleled proportions.
The media claims to fight for the common man but the manner in which the Editors Guild is attempting to use its influence to get ahead in the line for vaccines only shows that the only thing they for fight is their own interests. For all their moral sermons, they would not stand in solidarity with the common man and wait for their turn to receive the vaccine. Instead, they will do all they can to get ahead.
The Editors Guild says that more than a hundred journalists have died since the 1st of April 2020. Every death is terrible because every individual represents a world within himself and every death deserves to be mourned. But it is also true that India has lost over 200,000 individuals to the Covid-19 pandemic. And more lives are under threat every day.
Therefore, it makes no sense why journalists should receive priority treatment over others. They rant against VIP culture but quite clearly, they are perfectly fine with it when they themselves are the intended beneficiaries.
Noticeably enough, the Guild is yet to issue a statement on the death of Aaj Tak news anchor Rohit Sardana and condemn those celebrating his demise. Quite evidently, everyone is equal, according to the Guild, but some are evidently more equal than others.