Abstract

The political and media rhetoric of the pandemic is that of conflict and a call to arms in face of a hidden enemy. But this is not a distant war where journalists are parachuted in to report on the action for a few weeks and then fly home. It is on our own doorstep. Many of those covering the global crisis do not correspond to the popular image of hardened conflict reporters and may have little experience in dealing with distressing stories of death, grief and mourning. How are journalists coping with the everyday diet of trauma when the corona frontline may be affecting their families, friends and colleagues? this article explores these issues through narrative interviews with UK-based journalists covering the pandemic for broadcast, print and digital media. It seeks to capture their “emotional labour” and explore possible differences in their practice and the coping strategies they employ. The paper locates this discussion within the context of an industry that has paid relatively little heed to these issues and considers what long-term implications the coronavirus may have for the next generation of digital journalists.

摘要

这场大流行病的政治和媒体言论是冲突和面对隐藏敌人的呼吁。但这并不是一场遥远的战争，记者们被空降到几周内报道这一行动，然后飞回家。它就在我们家门口。许多报道全球危机的人与顽固的冲突记者的流行形象并不相符，并且可能在处理令人痛苦的死亡、悲伤和哀悼故事方面经验不足。当电晕前线可能影响他们的家人、朋友和同事时，记者如何应对日常的创伤饮食？本文通过对报道广播、印刷和数字媒体大流行的英国记者的叙述性采访来探讨这些问题。它试图捕捉他们的“情感劳动”，并探索他们的实践和他们采用的应对策略可能存在的差异。该论文将这一讨论置于一个对这些问题关注相对较少的行业的背景下，并考虑了冠状病毒可能对下一代数字记者产生的长期影响。