Lessons From Senior Journalists’ Coverage of the First Wave of COVID-19: The Significance of Professional Expertise and Hybrid Work

Abstract

Numerous articles have explored the media coverage of the COVID-19 crisis in mainstream and social media. However, research examining journalists’ experiences is still missing. This study is based on a thematic analysis of 20 interviews with prominent journalists from various media outlets—print, Internet, television, and radio—who served as field reporters, health journalists, or editors during the first wave of the pandemic in Israel, about their observations on how the pandemic influenced and transformed the journalistic profession. The study revealed two key findings. First, there was renewed appreciation for basing journalistic reporting on consultations with experts. Second, there was a growing recognition of the importance of hybrid work, acknowledging that future journalistic work would increasingly include broadcasts and other activities from reporters’ homes or locations in close proximity to them.