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08/04/2020

European Media and the Crisis

Europe

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Anaïs Ginori

Journalist for La Repubblica

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Victor Mallet

Head of the Paris Office of the Financial Times

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Martina Meister

Correspondent in Paris for Die Welt

The Covid 19 crisis affects everyone, including the media. Disinformation, decreasing incomes, a necessity to continue producing articles… "How do the media in your country organize themselves to ensure the dissemination of reliable information about the epidemic?" : this is the question we asked Anais Ginori, journalist for the Italian newspaper La Republicca, Victor Mallet, head of the Paris office of the British newspaper the Financial Times and Martina Meister, correspondent in Paris for the German newspaper Die Welt.

Anais Ginori, La Repubblica

We need to understand that the crisis took us by surprise, perhaps more than other European media that were able to prepare themselves by witnessing what had happened in Italy. We were the first European country to be placed under lockdown and, at first, we were unprepared practically and logistically. We encountered several challenges in terms of work organization and health regulations. These required a quick response in order to ensure we could work correctly and deliver the news.

Even before having reliable information, the main threat was to avoid "news disruption" or, in other words, the seemingly impossible goal of providing daily information to our readers. In a few days, even hours, we emptied our offices and set up a teleworking plan to keep publishing the newspaper remotely.In fact, continuing to publish newspapers with no interruption was a big concern for most Italian media, as Italian newspapers appear seven days a week. Furthermore, when the confinement measures were announced, newsstands were also shut down, not being considered as part of the "essential" services that could remain in operation. Therefore, Italian media put great pressure on the government to keep newsstands open during lockdown.

Moreover, reporters and investigators were dispatched to report on the first cases of coronavirus in Lombardy and Veneto, without taking the necessary and suitable precautions. Of course, they were then placed in quarantine and, fortunately, we did not get any cases of Covid-19. Since then, authorities have established strict regulations. We continue to send very few reporters directly to the field, such as now in the Bergamo hospital, one of the hospitals with the most cases in the Western World, but we are extremely careful and take all necessary preventive measures.

In a few days, even hours, we emptied our offices and set up a teleworking plan to keep publishing the newspaper remotely.

Regarding the quality and the accuracy of the information,La Repubblica and other major newspapers have scientific teams within their press, with specialized journalists, who deal with health-related topics and continue to draw substantial support from experienced consultants and experts. They were the first to be mobilized for the crisis. In addition, our "health supplement", which is normally issued once a week, has become a central component of our newspaper and is currently published almost everyday during this period.

Despite these challenges, we are consistently setting new audience records on our website. Journalism retrieves trust amongst readers. In Italy, there has been intense skepticism and questioning of the media, which is why we try to put in place a "journalism of proximity," by listening to our readers and adapting our tools to the current situation. For example, we host online forums to share details and give advice on the crisis, we have launched a Q&A section, etc.

Victor Mallet, Financial Times

For an international media group such as the Financial Times, the coronavirus pandemic is like any other major story that we cover - except that it is much, much bigger. Bigger than Brexit. Bigger than the financial crisis of 2008. Bigger than 9/11.

The FT’s headquarters are in London, but we were as ready as anybody when the coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, not least because we have eight correspondents in mainland China and have established our Asian headquarters in Hong Kong. One of our reporters, sent to Wuhan to cover the unfolding disaster on the ground, was evacuated to the UK and quarantined there before the pandemic had extended its reach to Europe. More than two months ago, the FT introduced optional homeworking in greater China, and rolled out a more comprehensive teleworking plan for the UK and the rest of the world by mid-march, before the UK government introduced its lockdown. That has left a small number of people rotating through our London head office each day to edit our website and produce the print newspaper.

Technology and high-speed broadband connections have made possible something that would have been unthinkable, say, in the Gulf war of 1990-91. Since journalism and news publishing is essentially about the gathering, editing and transmission of information and data to readers, it is a sector ideally suited to distance working.

The coronavirus pandemic also plays to the strengths of serious and internationally-minded media organisations such as the FT, rather than to sensationalist or domestically-focused media. We have seen a surge in new online subscriptions from people desperate for reliable information, as well as huge spikes in online traffic that surpass those seen in the week of Brexit.

Amid the torrents of fake news and hype that arrive by email and are broadcast on social media - including conspiracy theories about the origins of the virus, news of miracle cures, and hate speech aimed at sowing division in western societies - our editors and correspondents, including experts on science, technology and financial markets, calmly discuss the issues (by phone or video conference of course) and decide how to report and comment on them.

All this does not mean the future will be easy. The advertising on which the traditional media depend for much of their income is likely to decline, and many of our customers - whether subscribers or advertisers - are facing exceptionally tough times. Big tech platforms continue to make advertising money out of redistributing the content that our journalists produce. And we face deafening competition from strident social media for readers’ attention.

We face deafening competition from strident social media for readers’ attention.

Perhaps most importantly, the lockdown of half the world makes it difficult for our reporters to work in the way they should - by going out to meet people and interview them and see what is happening. There is only so far you can go with telephones and the internet. In fact, the ease with which we use technology and do so much at a distance may explain why the media - and the whole of the liberal, metropolitan elite, if you like - were slow to catch on to some of the biggest pre-coronavirus stories of our era: Brexit, the rise of Donald Trump and other populists from Brazil to the Philippines, and the gilets jaunes protests in France. To understand the people and stories behind those phenomena, you need to get out of the office and out of your home and talk to people. I hope we can all go back to doing that soon.

Martina Meister, Die Welt

The need for information in Germany has never been greater than during this crisis. Despite their audience’s desire for the latest news, German media face a paradox: on the one hand, their content achieves record page views and subscriptions have increased five-fold yet, on the other hand, they are struck by a historical economic slowdown and advertising revenues have slumped. In addition to this, we face the challenges of reinventing ourselves everyday, of producing entire newspapers remotely, of completing pages of stories of a disrupted world or of a single issue: the coronavirus. The changes inflicted by the virus will continue to affect many victims in this already very fragile sector.

Are German media playing their role of Fourth Estate in this crisis? Do they participate in fact-checking and information verification to enlighten policy decisions? Will some of them turn out to be winners from this situation?

For now, we can see that science, and in particular the Robert Koch-Institute, plays a key role in deciphering the crisis and in political decision-making. This federal government agency and research institute, in charge of disease control and prevention, works in full transparency and publishes reliable data, therefore making its scientists the main advisers of Chancellor Angela Merkel (a physicist by training), who has a close and humble relationship with science.

We have therefore witnessed an interesting phenomenon: the famous Deutungshoheit, the authority to interpret, has shifted from political figures to scientists.

We have therefore witnessed an interesting phenomenon: the famous Deutungshoheit, the authority to interpret, has shifted from political figures to scientists. Virologists and epidemiologists are now invited as special guests on TV platforms. In fact, the virologist Christian Drosten’s scientific restraint, his now-famous legendary calm and his ability to question himself and to revise his own judgments, have made him a media icon and a scientific celebrity on social networks. Head of The Charité in Berlin, he holds a 30 min daily podcast on public radio which has become an essential source of information. However, he severely disapproves when his reflections are taken out of context or distorted by the media.

In addition, as the federal structure of Germany is divided into 16 politically autonomous Länder, the spread of targeted disinformation is rendered impossible. Monitoring and checking mechanisms are ubiquitous, and regional media journalists take great part in these processes. This complex system, which makes decisions on a national level difficult, does however contribute to greater transparency.

Major media such as the magazine Der Spiegel and its hundreds of editors and reporters, are crucial in this crisis. German newspapers now dedicate entire editions to the coronavirus, and sometimes openly criticize the decision-making of authorities. They show that, for now, politicians are moving forward relying on science, in a foggy and uncertain future.

Copyright: JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK / AFP

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