There’s been so much written and spoken about the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard to imagine what else could be said that hasn’t been said before.
I was recently asked to facilitate the local launch of the new book Pandemedia: How COVID Changed Journalism at the UOW’s UniBar.
The pleasure was all mine, especially given one of the book’s editors, Tracey Kirkland, was a former journalist colleague of mine at WIN Television. Tracey now works at the ABC with Gavin Fang, her co-collaborator on this book.
Pandemedia is an arresting collection of essays from some of Australia’s top media minds, including veterans Michelle Grattan, Stan Grant and Alan Kohler. Other high-profile contributors include ABC Breakfast presenter, Lisa Millar, ABC Insiders host David Speers, health expert Dr Norman Swan and political commentator Prof Mark Kenny.
As you’d expect from a book capturing the views and pandemic experiences of nearly 40 of our best media writers, this is a compelling read from start to finish. It examines how the pandemic altered the news, in some ways irrevocably, and in many ways for the better.
Amid rising misinformation, mistrust and news avoidance, the media was forced to adapt quickly to cover this relentless story.
Channel Nine’s Tracy Grimshaw said, "so much of journalism is about wading into the murk of human catastrophe. But with COVID, we were living it while reporting it. We made it our business to communicate the challenges facing all sectors of society. This book communicates ours".
Pandemedia certainly captures the huge challenges that faced our working media as the pandemic took hold in the years 2020-2022. All Australian workplaces were turned upside down and newsrooms across Australia were no different.
Common themes in the book include: how do you tell a story when you can’t get into a room with the people impacted? And how do you protect your reporters and camera operators when the public’s right to know means putting their health and safety at risk? Technology partly came to the rescue, opening up whole new ways of communicating.
Other issues that were thrown up included questions of truth and trust. What was the role of journalists in shaping public opinion during a public health crisis? How should they interrogate ‘facts’ and disseminate the truth responsibly when a story risked causing widespread public panic?
Throughout the book, we hear from hard-nosed reporters trying to hold leaders to account in an environment where the truth was slippery, misinformation was everywhere and ‘facts’ changed fast.
There are also raw, personal stories of abuse and even death threats on social media from an increasingly distrustful and frustrated public.
"For most journalists, the standard workday changed instantly, forcing us to stay in our homes and finding ways to tell this story from our bedrooms, lounge rooms and studies," said Tracey Kirkland.
"Interviews could no longer be done face to face. Interview ‘talent’ was banned from TV news studios and morning show couches, forcing us to innovate and learn quickly – Zoom, Skype and FaceTime became necessary staples. To our surprise, the audience accepted the dramatic drop in broadcast quality without complaint."
Sadly, these sweeping changes to normal news gathering and the stress of living, breathing and reporting on the pandemic proved too much for many. Journalism can be a tough job even at the best of times. Pandemedia shares the stories of some who found living, working and reporting on the pandemic front-line a bridge too far.
Michelle Grattan compared the stresses of reporting on and during the pandemic as not unlike being a wartime correspondent. "The story of the pandemic has been as much about life and death as any shooting war," Grattan wrote.
"The coverage of COVID has underlined the importance and responsibility of the media in a crisis," Grattan added. "There’s been sensationalism and some poor coverage. But for the most part, we’ve seen a great deal of true ‘public interest’ journalism in bringing this complex, ever-changing story to a community facing extraordinary stresses. The challenge now is to see the story through to its end."
Pandemedia: How Covid Changed Journalism (Monash University Publishing, 2023) is available at all good bookstores, including Collins Booksellers Thirroul.
