Oekusipost.com - Only one foreign person has tested positive for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (CorVid-19) and has been recovered in Timor-Leste, but it has had many impacts so that everyone in the country feels panicked and looks busy because of the effects of the government through the ministry health "failed" to provide accurate and credible information to the public.
Thus, the Journalist Associations in the country such as the Timor-Leste Press Union (TLPU) and the Timor-Leste Journalist Association (TLJA) strongly condemned the CorVid-19 commission led directly by the ministry of health, because for the past few days it had not provided accurate information to the reporters, which in turn triggered a misunderstanding.
In this regard, TLPU and AJTL provided a solution for the ministry of health to establish an information center (Media Center) to make it easier for journalists to access in-depth and correct information to reduce the spread of false information about Corvid-19 in the country.
"We want to ask the government, especially the health ministry which heads the COVID-19 commission to establish a COVID-19 information center, so that it can provide correct and detailed information to the media crews," suggested the Chair of the TLPU, the actual Deputy Chair of the TATOLI news agency, Manuel Pinto at a press conference in Farol-Dili, Thursday 26 March 2020.
Manuel Pinto, known as Manelito from Uatucarbau-Viqueque, also requested equal and fair service for private and public journalists when holding a press release on the CorVid-19 issue in Timor-Leste.
“The public demands that the media carry out the task of being an information agate to answer the people's right to access information about Corvid-19, but journalists always face various obstacles in order to obtain true and credible information, especially from the Corvid-19 commission led by the health ministry and WHO ", said the former STL daily reporter, also known as Caileq.
The fact shows that, the press conference that has been held by the health minister and WHO about CorVId-19 never provide an opportunity for journalists to ask about the CorVid-19 issue in the country.
Former Coordinator of Coverage for the Timor Post daily said, AJTL with TLPU also asked all media institutions to seriously carry out their duties and prepare health protection equipment so as not to endanger journalists in the field.
The two journalists' associations have also succeeded in identifying false information that has been spread on social media platforms Facebook (Messenger) and WhatsApp about the development of CorVid-19 disease in Timor-Leste, for all journalists to be encouraged to verify before being published to the public.
