We are living through momentous times, so there are some truths about journalism worth examining this week.
COVID-19 is a major news event, and anyone working in the delivery of news looks upon bombings, massacres, disasters, and wars as the times when they must give of their best. Indeed, how a journalist performs in a crisis is keenly observed by editors.
These are the days when a journalist has a responsibility to the job. They are writing the first draft of history. In 100 years historians will look at their work to gauge the temperature of the times.
Their best is expected. Not only of reporters who gather stories, but office-based staff who might have to throw out whatever was prepared for the day’s paper and devote all pages to breaking events.
This is when reputations are forged. You might find an older member of the newsroom’s staff disappears to help with the next day’s crossword puzzle, while the youngest strides to the fore with a standout headline and an award-winning front page layout.
COVID-19 is this year’s, possibly this decade’s, big story, although unravelling over a longer period than an earthquake or terror attack. I have been fascinated by how it is reported. Some news outlets adopt a level of gravitas, others shriek in panicked tones. The questions put to politicians and health experts reveal the calibre and personalities of those doing the asking.
Remember, 20 years ago, the millennium bug? That fizzled out. Perhaps we’ll look back on the spring months of 2020 and say, “Och Coronavirus, what a daft furore that was”. On the other hand, this might be a turning point in human history.
Some news organisations use highly emotive phrases like “doomsday disease” for an attention-snaring headline. But is that responsible? If we use “apocalypse” to describe a handful of deaths, what word describes 10,000 deaths?
All news outlets find it difficult to choose between telling us not to worry and telling us to worry very, very much. No one wants accusations, a few months down the line, of having misjudged the situation.
But what of us? It is ingrained in the Scottish psyche to be stoic. But we’re also a canny folk. Until we know the full extent of what we’re facing we’ll tread a middle path, neither indifferent to nor hysterical over headlines in newspapers.
You can trust my colleagues, The Courier journalists, to get the reporting of it right.
Word of the week
Foulder (verb)
To flash or thunder forth. EG: “Newspaper headlines foulder with emotive COVID-19 headlines.”
Read the latest Oh my word! every Saturday in The Courier. Contact me at sfinan@dctmedia.co.uk
