During last Fridays press conference with Gov. Walz, the prospect of a statewide “Shelter In Place” order, rumors of which have been percolating for a while, got broached. The concept of “essential workers” – people who are allowed out and about without getting hassled – got broached.
Some were obvious – first responders, healthcare workers, people who work in grocery stores, pharmacies, in the supply chain, and similar businesses.
One of the reporters asked “and journalists?”
“Of course”, Walz responded, to a smattering of clubby chuckles.
But the questions keep popping up, especially on journos social media: they see themselves as genuinely essential.
Let’s ignore whether journalism is what journalists say it is, anymore – more on that in a piece coming up tomorrow morning.
The extent to which journos seem to need to think of themselves as class above and beyond the proles strikes me as a little unseemly.
I’m asking:
When you hear journalists scrambling to get themselves counted as “essential” workers, rather than mere lumpen proles, what jumps to mind?
— Mitch “Socially Distant” Berg (@mitchpberg) March 23, 2020
The four options in the poll strike me as about even.
It’s your turn!
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