Country is Latin America\u2019s second worst-hit with more than 164,000 coronavirus cases and 4,500 deaths<\/p>\n
At least 20 journalists have died from Covid-19 in Peru as reporters, photographers and camera operators raced to cover the pandemic\u2019s spread through the country, often without protective equipment.<\/p>\n
The number throws into sharp relief the risks and precarious work conditions which face journalists covering the global pandemic in the Andean country, which, after Brazil is Latin America\u2019s worst-hit with more than 170,000 Covid-19 cases and 4,600 deaths.<\/p>\n
Peru is not the only country in the region to report the death of journalists from Covid-19. At least 12 journalists have reportedly died from the virus in Ecuador\u2019s hard-hit city of Guayaquil, about eight in Brazil, and at least one in Nicaragua, among deaths in other countries.<\/p>\n
Around the world, at least 117 journalists have died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in 31 countries, according to one estimate by the Swiss NGO the Press Emblem Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis pandemic has stripped bare the labour conditions for journalists in Peru,\u201d said Zuliana Lainez, secretary general of Peru\u2019s National Journalists Association, known as the ANP.<\/p>\n
At least six journalists died in Peru\u2019s hard-hit Amazon city of Iquitos, four in the capital Lima, and others on the country\u2019s northern coast, a coronavirus hotspot, according to the ANP. Dozens more journalists are reportedly recovering from the virus.<\/p>\n
About half of the victims were working when they became infected, Lainez reported, and most were freelancers while just four worked for national media outlets.<\/p>\n
\u201cMedia companies have the legal and moral obligation to provide personal protective equipment [PPE] for their personnel, especially those who do reporting,\u201d Lainez added.<\/p>\n
In Iquitos, most journalists had to provide their own PPE, just as many finance their own airtime by drumming up advertising for local radio stations, explained Otoniel Vela, 55, a radio host recovering from Covid-19 at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of us are staff, we do this because it\u2019s a passion,\u201d he said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t any protective equipment here, we just went out and did our job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peru\u2019s public television and radio broadcaster ordered employees over 60 to stay at home when the pandemic struck. But Manuel S\u00e1nchez, the correspondent in Iquitos, was 59 and kept working. He caught Covid-19 and died in a public hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe he\u2019s gone. He was honest, helpful, noble; such a good guy,\u201d said Jorge Carrillo, his colleague and friend of 25 years.<\/p>\n
Dozens of other colleagues were recovering from the virus in Iquitos, which saw one of Peru\u2019s worst outbreaks, Carrillo said. \u201cI know many of them didn\u2019t take the right precautions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The virus also killed a veteran journalist, Victor Hemeryth del \u00c1guila, 78, who worked with Canal 23, a local television station.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose that died, like my uncle, died precisely because we have to finance ourselves and when the money runs out you don\u2019t think of buying a new mask,\u201d said his nephew Hertz Hemeryth, also a journalist.<\/p>\n
The former president of Peru\u2019s public television and radio institute, Hugo Coya, said: \u201cJournalists are expected to go to the frontline but they weren\u2019t trained how to protect themselves from points of contagion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others fell victim to a lack of medical equipment. Azucena Roman\u00ed, 59, a reporter for the state news agency Andina, died in one of Lima\u2019s main coronavirus hospitals before her colleagues could get her a ventilator, according to local reports.<\/p>\n
The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was trying to track cases of journalists who had died from Covid-19 \u2013 but it was difficult to confirm how many of them had become infected while working.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany journalists in Latin America lack the basic protective equipment necessary to keep themselves and their sources safe while reporting,\u201d said Natalie Southwick, the CPJ\u2019s South America programme coordinator.<\/p>\n
\u201cJournalists are a vital source of reliable information in this moment of crisis, but they should not have to risk their lives on a daily basis to keep their fellow citizens informed,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
As in other countries, a slump in advertising also caused by the pandemic has led to wage cuts and mass layoffs in media outlets.<\/p>\n
Coya said the dismissals would drive more journalists to freelance and take more risks to get the story. \u201cIf it was precarious for journalists before it\u2019s going to be even more so post-pandemic,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n