How to Cover COVID-19 (And Care for Your Community)

This week, we directed our reporters to write three stories that I think are useful—in fact essential—to Loudouners.

Operating on the theory that articles about this fund or that loan program are taking bites at what people can do who are affected by the economic slowdown, I sent reporters out this week to put together a package of three stories that are very explicitly answers to the questions:

1. I am a local small business owner whose business is affected by the pandemic. What can I do/what resources are available to me?

2. I am a worker, especially in the hospitality and service industries, who is on reduced hours or out of a job. What can I do/what resources are available to me?

3. I still have a job. How can I help out local businesses and local workers who are affected by the pandemic?

I would encourage other local news sources to do similar work. This is essential public service journalism, and we should all be in high gear on that right now.

I have seen many good ideas offered on other angles and stories to cover the current pandemic, which is affecting every walk of life. But I think all of that, while important, right now comes second to making sure we are offering people this kind of information.

I would offer two more thoughts on coverage:

First, you may notice these articles largely focus on economic issues—business and jobs, effects of the pandemic response and not healthcare per se. This is because reporters are not doctors or health officials, and should report carefully and accurately what those people are saying. We should also be thinking carefully about where we’re getting our information. Medical advice is not the place for us to innovate, quite frankly.  (We have hammered social distancing and so on in other articles, also an important responsibility at this time, but that is a different kind of article.)

I have seen public health officials offer elected officials, who also have a public platform, similar advice about avoiding fragmented or inconsistent messaging. This is to prevent even well-meaning officials, who are absolutely prolific in their communications right now, from inadvertently confusing the issue with those e-blasts.

It’s also because in fact we pretty much know what needs to be done from a health perspective—where creativity and public debate are needed right now is in how to get health practitioners the supplies they need. Also, while the health advice is the same all over—wash your  hands, try to leave space between yourself and others—the ways available to support local businesses and workers can be different in each community.

Second, walk and chew gum. Some local news organizations have shut down all other coverage to focus on COVID-19. Due largely to time constraints, a lot of our own coverage on other topics is a lot smaller right now, but I'm still covering the county budget, too. All these other systems—local governments and so on—still have to function in a crisis (especially in a crisis!), and the mechanism of accountability has to function too.

A couple other thoughts: Yes, we are seeing very high web traffic right now. However, responsible reporters and editors will remember that this job, especially in a pandemic, is not about self-promotion—it is about service. And we are not just average folks looking to support our community. We have a special platform and, if we’re any good at our jobs, a network of contacts and information that  most people don’t have.

This is an opportunity to promote organizations like the Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties, not ourselves. And let’s be smart about it. We don’t have to guess how to help our community. If we’ve been asleep our whole careers and don’t already know, we should at least know who to call. This is our whole job.

I’ve said it before: This job is a responsibility.

And finally, despite my advice on self-promotion, hopefully we have demonstrated over the past few weeks that local news is also an essential service, including during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. Local newspapers rely mostly on local businesses for their advertising revenues, and we are already seeing local papers close shop all over the country because high web traffic does not automatically translate to high revenues. For people outside the news business, please keep us in mind, and remember we’re also a small business. We’re a handful of people, underpaid and overworked, working long days trying to serve our community and be part of the solution.