Our Virtual Classroom: Journalism Ethics During A Global Pandemic.
Voices of University of Arkansas Students Spread Across the Nation
April 2, 2020
Question of the Day: Pick one answer that best describes the state of local news coverage in your immediate community. Also: If you are able to send me a comment by e-mail, I would also appreciate knowing what you think of your local news coverage concerning the pandemic. I would also value anything you would like to share in the way of an update about what you are noticing now in your community during this time.
_______________________________________________________________________
Everything is pretty uncertain for how long all of this will last, but there is a lot of family stress at the moment that I hope will get better soon.
Emily Edwards
_______________________________________________________________________
Truthfully, I have not been paying much attention to the local news in my area. I have only really been paying attention to the news updates I get on my phone which update me on the United States as a whole as well as worldwide news. The only local news I get is from talking to my coworkers.
Chloe Brammell
_______________________________________________________________________
I would say that the local news coverage regarding the pandemic is adequate. Local news stations are doing a good job of disseminating the correct information. During this time, I am noticing that many communities (not just my own) are more united than ever before. I would say that might be the one true positive regarding this crisis.
Mary Green
_______________________________________________________________________
I myself have stayed here in Fayetteville, and we have so many local papers and TV outlets, the main ones I follow are 4029 and the Democrat-Gazette. In Atlanta, my hometown, we have many more channels and papers just because of the size of the city, but I would say it is much easier for me to actually follow and keep up with news here because of less clutter.
Olivia Ellis
_______________________________________________________________________
My city has at least one newspaper but no television outlets. I’m from a small town outside of Hot Springs, so we get the majority of our news from the Little Rock stations. I don’t really read the local newspaper, though my father does, so I don’t know enough about their coverage concerning the pandemic. However, I am watching a lot of news broadcasts about Central Arkansas, and I think their coverage is pretty good. It mainly focuses on Pulaski County (which I can’t blame them for because it’s where they are located and the county with the most cases), but they do a good job as reporting the full story. These news outlets show us the good and bad side of the pandemic, they show us that graphs projecting what will happen if we stay on this trajectory, and they tell people that things can change if they stay at home. They also cover the pandemic on a larger scale with stories from New York or other countries. I think it’s a pretty solid coverage, but it’s up to the people to listen to what they say.
Victoria Radke
_______________________________________________________________________
There is coverage on all local stations in Dallas and in the newspaper.
My parents tend to watch CNN and every night they’ve been having a guy … who appears to be in his 40’s and is “fit” who has the virus on TV. To me, this guy sounds and is acting fine on TV. When he was on last night, he claimed to have such a high fever the night before that he chipped his tooth and hallucinated. If you were so sick the night before, how are you sounding and looking completely normal on national TV? This guy didn’t seem sick at all! When I’ve had the flu in the past…I could barely talk and I looked and sounded awful. I didn’t believe this guy was sick at all. CBS also aired footage of an Italian hospital while reporting on NYC. How does that happen by accident?
In my opinion, the media needs to get their act together.
Nicole Trubisky
_______________________________________________________________________
As far as news coverage of the virus in Memphis, that is really the only thing that the various news outlets are discussing. There are two major news stations in Memphis, and their staff is very active on both the broadcast and social media, sharing information from others and keeping people informed. We used to have a major newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, which, as far as I know, has moved to digital only. However, most of the writers from that newspaper have moved to The Daily Memphian, which, while still a newspaper, is focused on more lifestyle stories and how the virus is impacting people, rather than statistics about the virus. Because Memphis is such a large city, there is a large amount of opportunities for people to receive information via news outlets.
Mary Fracchia
_______________________________________________________________________
I am pleased with the coverage that my local news is doing on the pandemic. Each day, they release the newest numbers of confirmed cases and deaths in both our area and the surrounding states. They also give helpful tips and address the truths about the situation.
They also share stories of locals and the different things going on regarding the virus and people’s conditions to help remind everyone that we’re not going through this alone, but as a community, country, and planet all together. The news has been very helpful in keeping me accurately informed.
Tate Nicholson
_______________________________________________________________________
I am lucky enough to live in a relatively large metropolitan area. By way of local news, we have the Kansas City Star, several independent newspapers such as The Pitch, and several local TV news stations. While The Pitch is more focused on cultural/food/arts news, the Star has been doing a pretty solid job of reporting on the local impacts of coronavirus, and has published a decent number of op-eds on the subject too. I don’t know how the reporting has been on the TV news stations, because I don’t really watch the news, but I would assume they are doing an average job.
Sarah Komar
_______________________________________________________________________
I’m from an area that a lot of our class is unfamiliar with. As I’ve mentioned in class before, I’m from a Baltimore suburb. As such, all of our papers and TV stations are affiliated with either the Baltimore Sun, or for TV are one of the major stations. Living about an hour away from the city, the pandemic coverage in my hometown is really lacking. It exists, but not on a level that feels local or personal enough in my opinion. I imagine how it might feel for a Lincoln resident (where my grandparents live) to only really have access to Fayetteville news outlets. It is more or less the same coverage and you’ll get accurate and relevant news, but especially in this pandemic it is important to know things immediately, which Baltimore outlets simply don’t have the ability to do.
My home county, Harford County, actually had the first Maryland resident to be diagnosed with coronavirus. The issue is that they were from a town close to the Pennsylvania border, even farther from Baltimore. That diagnosis was immediately relevant and extremely important to my family back home as well as every other resident of the county, but news of the outbreak’s severity traveled far too slowly. The most effective form of communication in the first few days following the news of the diagnosis came from county officials making mass house calls, and the school system quickly followed suit. I was happy to see that from the government as a citizen, but there needed to be more coverage from the media and it needed to be thrown in people’s faces so they would take it seriously.
To relate it to today’s class material, maybe the issue was that local outlets aren’t profiting enough, and therefore their circulation is down and I simply missed the news. Regardless, the coverage in my hometown is not local enough in my opinion.
Brian Bohannon
_______________________________________________________________________
I don’t generally watch any news via television, but I keep up with local news stations via social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter (especially Facebook, considering its live function that many outlets now utilize). I think KNWA does a great job relaying daily coronavirus updates for the entire state of Arkansas as well as the Fayetteville area. I think they have been achieving a good balance of the important facts and figures of the present, predictions of the future (however dreadful they may be), and lighthearted “human” stories that highlight acts of kindness in the community during this unstable time, which I appreciate.
Kelsey Wexler
_______________________________________________________________________