Journalists are on the front lines of the pandemic, sometimes risking their health to provide up-to-date information to the public. When reporters themselves contract the novel coronavirus, it takes a toll, physically and emotionally, three reporters who have lived through it said Wednesday in an ICFJ webinar.
At a time when citizens need fact-based, trustworthy information to survive the global pandemic, reporters face mounting threats as they report on the crisis, three distinguished journalists said during a panel discussion Monday.
In Rick Dunham’s 35 years as a reporter, including 15 years at Business Week, no previous economic story has compared to the current global economic crisis. Fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is the “biggest economic story of our careers,” he said in a webinar Friday.
The people of Hardauli village in Madhya Pradesh, India, were frightened. On March 30, one week after the Indian government announced a three-week nationwide lockdown, six families returned from the city of Pune, a COVID-19 hotspot. Some migrants were coughing, and despite government orders that returning migrants exhibiting symptoms should be tested, the returnees refused to go to health authorities.
We are living in a reality seemingly pulled from a dystopian science fiction novel. Now, people are scared and looking for answers. With much still unknown about COVID-19, these answers often aren’t readily available. Meanwhile, data and expert advisories change frequently.
I spoke to journalists from Vox, Mother Jones and The New York Times about how they report the ever-changing facts of the pandemic.
Dr. Lynda Stuart, a leading vaccine expert at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said she is optimistic that a COVID-19 vaccine could be available as soon as 14 months from now. At that time, the vaccine would likely go to healthcare workers, the elderly and people who are considered most vulnerable.
Finding dependable primary sources of information can help journalists better report on complicated and technical subjects such as COVID-19, said science communicator Shruti Muralidhar at a PROTOCall webinar last Thursday.
Reporters and news organizations should engage the public in debunking information in their own networks, said Andy Carvin, senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), during an ICFJ webinar Thursday.
Finding accurate and reliable data on the spread of COVID-19 has been at the center of every journalist’s effort in covering the pandemic and its resulting societal impacts. But what can reporters do when faced with scarce or incomplete data sources?
