News media is with you, we expect you to be with us: Editors’ Council to readers

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the worst public health crisis in living memory in the world, including Bangladesh. The sheer scale and speed of the outbreak has left the citizens aghast and grasping for answers. To them we want to say: we in the news media remain vigilant and active on your behalf. We are with you.

Despite the pandemic’s manifold challenges, we remain steadfast in our commitment to bring to you reliable, important and up-to-date information. This is a sensitive time and our objective is to deliver the news with utmost caution and determination and in keeping with your needs.

The coronavirus is changing how we live. Our healthcare system, our trade and businesses, our education sector, our family life are all at a crossroads. Every day appears to be an exercise in confronting new challenges. The journalists, therefore, are working tirelessly to bring to you stories that illustrate how the coronavirus is affecting various aspects of your life. We are careful to report in a manner that gives you a comprehensive understanding of this ever-evolving situation and helps you make better decisions for yourself.

In these uncertain times, the need for objective reporting, proper verification and careful judgment has never been so vital. The most effective way to address this crisis is through clear communication, exchange of experiences, and fruitful research. We are performing our duty sincerely, and at considerable personal risk, to get the information you need delivered at your doorstep.

We are relentlessly publishing reports, analytical stories, and opinion pieces with a focus on the preventive measures. We are bringing you the latest news as it happens. All this is geared to your need for a healthy life for yourself as well as your family, to ensure the continuity of life for you while you remain housebound, to make it meaningful and relatively pleasant, and overall to ensure that you don’t get disconnected from the rest of the country and the world.

In these frightening times, one silver lining has been the enormous vitality and solidarity on display in many parts of the world. We are sharing these hopeful stories with you—stories of how scientists in laboratories in various countries are working day and night to create an effective vaccine, how some nations have managed to contain the transmission of the virus, how people are coming forward to help each other. Our objective is not to spread panic. Our objective is to inform you of the situation as it is and help you prepare with the correct and up-to-date information.

The responsibility of the news media now is greater than ever before. At the same time, the industry is under tremendous strain because of the adverse effects of the coronavirus, with a major shortfall in revenue. The distribution and marketing channels of the newspapers countrywide are being disrupted. Despite that, we have continued to publish newspapers considering the greater public interest. We have brought our workstations and printing houses under the emergency health protocol, provided our journalists with protective equipment, and distributed masks, gloves and hand sanitisers among our agents and hawkers across the country including the capital Dhaka.

We acknowledge the profound need for unity, friendship and cooperation in this period of crisis. Only through this do we stand a chance to overcome this crisis.

Dear reader, we in the news media are with you, we expect you to be with us.