Our job is not to please a government in power but to check its conduct and performance in the times of a pandemic. Millions of lives are more important than the whims of government officials and their hired spokespersons. Such propaganda amounts to discrediting hard-working journalists and public interest only to paint a rosy picture for public consumption.
While we appreciate all the steps taken by the provincial government, gaps in public health data cannot be ignored even if it riles up the spokespersons.
For the record, we made repeated attempts to reach the health minister and her spokesperson. We also informed them via text messages why we were trying to contact them but neither of the two responded. Now Punjab CM's focal person quotes a random statement by a doctor and claims to have debunked the story. Instead of properly investigating the claims made by the doctors, government servants are trying to discredit the story with such tweets.
Naya Daur did the story in good faith and stands by the findings of our reporter. Even now if the health authorities want to deny what the doctors are saying, we are willing to publish that version. But cyberbullying is condemnable and only reflects the approach of the government towards citizen journalists. We request the state and judicial authorities to take notice of the report and take action against those found guilty of playing with human lives.