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HEALTH-VIRUS-MEDIA-US
Access denied: COVID-19 pandemic complicates journalists’ work
NEW YORK, Sept 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – While institutions, governments,
elected officials, companies and sports federations are all having to adapt
to new constraints under the coronavirus pandemic, experts say they are often
using the health crisis as an excuse to restrict journalists’ access.
Fewer physical press conferences, questions that must be submitted in
advance or sometimes no questions at all, queries that go unanswered —
information does not circulate well in the age of Covid-19.
Examples include international football matches, in which UEFA ditched
mixed zone areas where journalists usually get to quiz players, and Fashion
Weeks, where it has been almost impossible to question designers.
“We’re seeing all sorts of situations where people are using Covid to hide
information,” said David Cuillier, professor of journalism at the University
of Arizona.
Cover-up attempts often involve information about the pandemic itself,
which may shed unfavorable light on the management of the virus by government
or local officials.
This week, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly turned down a request from the
Kansas Reflector news site for contact information for businesses in the
state connected to outbreaks of Covid-19.
So as not to reveal the number of cases in a retirement home or university,
for example, some authorities hide behind arguments about personal data even
if that data is anonymous and the laws don’t apply, Cuillier said.
Government agencies, city councils or local organizations are making
decisions “behind closed doors,” adds the former president of the Society of
Professional Journalists.
In politics, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is regularly
accused of shielding himself from the media under cover of the pandemic.
His campaign team uses health precautions to justify restricting access to
Biden to only a dozen reporters and photographers.
When he takes questions, which is rare, his communications team designates
the four or five journalists allowed to quiz him.
Republicans have accused Biden, without evidence, of knowing the questions
in advance.
In addition to restricted access, journalists have been subjected to
censorship in several countries, a measure presented as a means of combating
disinformation linked to the pandemic.
Some countries, such as China and Egypt, have canceled visas or ordered the
deportation of foreign reporters after publishing articles on the response to
the pandemic.
These difficulties come at a time when the media landscape is already under
pressure from fallen incomes, which have been worsened by the pandemic,
especially among local papers.
– ‘Perilous’ –
Chronically understaffed newsrooms don’t always have sufficient time to
cultivate sources and dig into public records to the extent that the job
requires.
“Therefore more and more information provided to the public is really being
spoon-fed without verification and that’s not good,” said Cuillier.
“The efforts by politicians and others to control the message have only
increased over the past two years,” said Courtney Radsch of the Committee to
Protect Journalists (CPJ). That trend has been reinforced by Covid-19, she
said.
Access to information is further complicated by the growing public distrust
of the press in an era when President Donald Trump rails against mainstream
media he dislikes.
During the demonstrations that followed the death of George Floyd,
journalists were attacked by the police but also by people who did not want
independent coverage of the protests, Radsch said.
“We’re headed for dark times unless something changes,” said Cuillier.
“This could lead to the end of democracy as we know it within 20, 30
years.”
While recognizing that the situation is “perilous,” Radsch nevertheless
noted “increasing recognition” by some “of the importance that journalism
plays in the pandemic.”
“One positive that I’ve seen is the trust in local news organizations is,
in a way, flourishing,” Florida reporter Joe McLean, who covered the
reopening of schools during the pandemic, told the Poynter Institute for
Journalism.
It presents “an opportunity to prove our integrity, our responsibility,
trustworthiness, and thoroughness in reporting of these public institutions,”
he added.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0915 hrs