Tracey Kirkland, the Continuous News Editor for the ABC News Channel, and Gavin Fang, Deputy Director at ABC News, co-edited a collection of essays that cover the logistical, ethical and existential challenges faced by the news industry during the Pandemic and beyond. It’s called Pandemedia and it asks, how did the pandemic change journalism?
Certain issues already underway deepened during the pandemic, issues such as the weaponisation of disinformation and growing mistrust of the media. But other problems – including lockdowns – meant journalists had to find enterprising ways of telling stories. And at the same time, politicians were deciding what we could and couldn’t do – where we could and couldn’t go - and journalists were facing criticism for demanding that those politicians tell us the reasoning behind their decisions. This was a moment of deep polarisation in Australian society – between those who thought our governments were making the right decisions and those who thought they weren’t. Journalists were caught in the cross fire.
You can purchase your own copy of Pandemedia online, with author royalties proudly supporting the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.
You can listen to the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.