The news coverage of the pandemic: a portrait of professional dilemmas and practices in the Covid-19 era

Abstract

Covid-19 constitutes a full societal challenge. Media and journalism are at the centre of events as they play several roles considered vital in the management of the pandemic crisis. Among them, the facilitating role of journalism as a privileged channel of communication between political power and health authorities and the population stands out. This challenge takes place at a time when, also as a result of the pandemic itself, there are significant changes in journalistic activity itself: in the way journalists view the profession, in the configuration of the news agenda and in the criteria for choosing sources of information. The present article reports some of the results obtained from a survey to journalists and from the content analysis of 2933 news items published in Público and Jornal de Notícias. Globally, we highlight the emergence of a journalism that guides behaviours but that presents oscillations in the monitoring of the disease, a greater attention to the promotion of health literacy and an increased concern with ethical issues, and an accentuated search for specialists, chosen according to criteria that differ from mere previous notoriety.