Bangladesh, June 5 -- Social distancing measures have had a great impact on the conduct of parliaments and politicians, who now give speeches to empty rooms and without challenge by journalists. The new social construct being formed between governments and populations in the coronavirus era is testing government accountability and transparency.

The closure of The Canadian Jewish News and last-minute rescue of The Jewish Chronicle, the world's oldest Jewish newspaper, show how abruptly and severely coronavirus is affecting the media. This problem is multidimensional, and its impact goes beyond economic considerations.

Serious journalism-already struggling for years to survive in the internet era-is facing a new hurdle. Government subsidi...