Mamata Banerjee showered praise on the media for their work covering the Covid-19 crisis, and said journalists should not be fired.

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday asked journalists in the state to highlight positive news amid the Covid-19 pandemic, saying negative reports were leaving people “depressed”.

“This is not my opinion, I have heard this. People are getting very depressed seeing negative news all the time,” she said in a video address to the media from Nabanna, the state secretariat.

“They do not even have serials to watch as shooting has stopped. They are only seeing Covid-19 all the time. There is nothing beyond it and this affects mental health. I would request everyone to highlight positive things and present Bengal as a model,” the CM said.

“The reporters, who are working round the clock (amid the pandemic), have no cover, neither do they have good salaries,” she said. “They are working very hard. We are extending our Rs 10 lakh insurance cover to all accredited journalists. They (journalists) should be involved with the government. They have a lot of information that will help us during this hour of crisis,” said Mamata. “I would request you to share information of people starving or malpractices, if any.”

When ThePrint approached government officials to ask what the scheme would entail, they said it would be a combination of medical and life cover that will extend until 31 May.

The chief minister also weighed in on retrenchment in the media industry, which has been blamed on the economic impact of the lockdown, saying journalists should not be fired.

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‘Don’t misreport deaths’

Mamata’s praise for journalists came two days after she took exception to media reports that purportedly presented an inflated Covid-19 toll for West Bengal, and threatened to book scribes who report “unconfirmed” fatality figures.

Over the past few days, she has warned journalists against citing figures obtained from random hospitals or health officials, saying data should be verified by the government.

“Some of you (reporters) wrote that 30 people were killed. From where are you getting this data? Who confirmed such numbers?” she said Wednesday.

Mamata has set up an expert committee that analyses all Covid-19 deaths. The panel goes through the medical history and other reports of each patient and gives its views on the ‘cause of death’.

As recommended by the committee, the government updates the death figure once in four days. The current toll for Bengal stands at 10.

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