Editor’s Guild of India urges govt to declare journalists as frontline workers

The Editors Guild of India today urged the Indian government to declare journalists as frontline workers and ensure priority vaccination for them amid a rise in coronavirus cases.

The Guild said in a statement that news organisations have been relentlessly covering the pandemic, elections and other current affairs in an effort to ensure that the flow of news and information to readers continues unabated, our New Delhi correspondent reports.

"News media is included in essential services. Therefore, it will only be fair that journalists be given this cover of protection, especially in the face of the number of infected rising to astronomical levels," the statement said.

Without the protection of vaccination, media persons are finding it very difficult to discharge their professional responsibilities, the Guild pointed out.

The EGI said it calls upon the Union government to immediately get all journalists, regardless of age, vaccinated so that there is no disruption in their work during this critical time.

India saw its highest single-day rise of 2,00,739 Covid-19 infections, pushing the country's tally of cases to 1,40,74,564, according to official data.