DATA SETS ARE LIFESAVERS

Journalism is facing an existential threat. It is a hacked phrase used, reused oft out of context. The journalism industry has been facing tough decisions since the days the internet became a repository for information. The tubes of information flow, for so long in the control of gatekeepers were chunked away. In their place, the virtual connections that allowed anyone to be a creator of content without the gatekeepers took hold.

- Amantha Perera

Journalism has had to figure out how to stay relevant and make a living amidst the never-ending destruction.

The last year and half have made that task even more ardours. I have spoken with 100’s of journalists spread all over the world from those in quarantine in China, to others reporting in New York to Nepal to Mexico City. Talking to them is part of my work.

They have told me tales of anxiety filled with fear for a deadly pandemic. Remote working regimes where some of them, including the writer, were stuck inside their homes for months with loved ones. We did not know how to face up to the challenges. We all learnt as we went. We all made mistakes.

On top of all this, there was the financial uncertainty. Some were laid off, others, freelancers struggled to find work and then get paid for the work they did. Those who were able to work were under multiple stresses.

This was a fast-moving story unlike anything anyone has even heard of in breadth and reach. A story whose details could mean life and death of the very own communities the journalists were cocooned within.

There was no escaping the reach of the virus, there were no fly-in, fly-out parachute journalism. That was passé.