Covering COVID-19: Recent Episodes
Haley Blackburn
Welcome to Covering COVID-19! We will be exploring how the media covers the current COVID-19 pandemic through discussion of recent stories and news coverage that have caught my attention. Join me each week for a discussion not only on COVID-19 current events but for commentary on media portrayal of them!
Welcome back to Covering COVID-19! This week we're discussing COVID-19 and mental health: its effects on mental health, how journalists have been impacted by covering COVID-19, and how we as journalists can do a better job of raising awareness for the connection between COVID-19 and mental health.
Sources: https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/
This week we dive into the important role that journalists have played in covering the tourism industry during the COVID-19 pandemic!
Welcome back to Covering COVID-19! This week we’re focusing on the effects of remote work, and I got to speak with Isaac Choi, a fellow intern at The Conversationalist, about how he has managed his remote internship with the other elements of his life.
Check out @theconversationalist on Instagram and visit https://www.theconversationalist.com/ to lean more about The Conversationalist!
Sources:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/311375/reviewing-remote-work-covid.aspx
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2020/06/19/is-working-remote-a-blessing-or-burden-weighing-the-pros-and-cons/#43097b1440a9
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/backgrounders/backgrounder-covid-19-remote-work.html#:~:text=Employees%20who%20have%20had%20to,being%20overwhelmed%2C%20and%20social%20isolation.
Welcome back to another episode of Covering COVID-19! This week we're looking at the great face mask debate of the COVID-19 pandemic. What are experts saying? What are citizens saying? What can the media be doing better to clarify the facts of the mask debate? Listen to the episode to take a short dive with me into this complicated topic, where I share some of my thoughts on the mask debate and how we as media professionals can better do our jobs.
Sources:
CNN article- https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/21/europe/masks-debate-us-europe-asia-intl/index.html
Gov. Andy Beshear press conference (9/3/2020)- https://youtu.be/PJuU_t5ks8w
WYMT facebook post- https://www.facebook.com/WYMTNews/posts/10158345691594584
Interview with Dr. Fauci- https://youtu.be/GfbH3oko9SA
KY Kernel data article- http://www.kykernel.com/news/data-explainer-uk-student-cases-of-covid-19/article_68270fba-ebe7-11ea-82e2-975723d7d99b.html
This week we’re exploring how colleges have communicated with their students during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the importance of student media, the challenges of decoding cryptic emails and the overall confusion facing college students right now. Special thanks to my good friend Dylan for having this conversation with me!
Read about UNC's The Daily Tar Heel's decision to run the headline here: https://www.pressclubinstitute.org/2020/08/17/that-clusterf-k-headline-how-uncs-newspaper-responded-to-a-covid-cluster-on-campus/
Read their full editorial here (Yes, the online headline is different. The editors defend that decision in the piece above.): https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2020/08/covid-clusters-edit-0816
Cover photo: Edward Jenner via Pexel