Covering COVID-19
Two Examples of Exemplary Localized News During a Global Pandemic
The current season of life has created an interesting dilemma for journalists. How do you report and cover the news when you can’t physically meet with sources and so many events are cancelled?
Personally, as a sports journalist, I have had to be increasingly creative in my approach to telling the stories of athletes and coaches during this pandemic. I have scheduled nearly all of my interviews either over the phone or through video calls and I have asked questions like, ‘How are you dealing with the loss of your season?’ more times than I can count.
As an aspiring journalist, one of the most impressive aspects of the COVID-19 situation has been to see how certain members of the professional media have adapted their news coverage, utilizing innovative methods to tell stories and connect with their audiences. Keeping readers informed about the statistics of the virus and what Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying about how America is combatting COVID-19 is an essential need that the media has covered, but what has impressed me has been the reporters that are telling the stories of how individuals in their communities are truly being affected.
The first example that has stood out to me has been the daily Facebook Live broadcasts of WSET’s Danner Evans. Evans is a television anchor for the Lynchburg media organization, yet some of the best content I have seen from her has not been produced in the studio but rather in her home office with a grainy computer camera.
Nothing about her broadcasts have been high in production quality, but the way Evans has been able to connect with her audience has seemed to earn her a lot of trust and respect among viewers. Often, she reviews the updated COVID-19 statistics for the area, talks about how her personal experiences and gives an update about some news headlines that viewers might be concerned about.
Her ability to deliver news content in a truly personal manner is impressive and leads me to wonder whether more media members might not use this method of communication more in the days after COVID-19.
The second example of quality journalism that I have witnessed during COVID-19 has been from a new, independently run media outlet in my home county of Lebanon, PA. While doing some research for a recent story I wroteabout how Lebanon residents have been affected by COVID-19, I came across a new online organization called LebTown.
LebTown covers primarily local stories, with some articles reporting more statewide news. Most of the writers are local residents who have a passion for telling the stories of fellow county denizens. In a time when Lebanon’s longtime local paper, The Lebanon Daily News, has been in a progressive decline, LebTown has stepped up as the primary provider of local news coverage.
While LebTown also provides daily updates about the COVID-19 statistics in Lebanon County, one of the articles that was helpful for me and exemplified the type of local focus of the media organization was about funeral director Steve Lum. Lum is one of the morticians and medical professionals that was called to serve in New York City as part of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORT), working with the city’s medical examiner’s office to assist with the removal of bodies due to COVID-19.
I also wrote about Lum’s experience for my story, but I found it fascinating to see the thousands of people in Lebanon County that shared LebTown’s story on social media and responded positively to the localized coverage.
Danner Evans and LebTown are only two examples of the many journalists that have stepped up to the task of covering the news during a global pandemic. Preparing to enter the media during a time such as this is a very daunting task in a number of ways, but I am thankful for reporters like Evans and those for LebTown that are paving the way for the type of coverage I want to provide when I am in their shoes.
