Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on journalism

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The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted the journalism industry and affected journalists' work. Many local newspapers have been severely affected by losses in advertising revenues from COVID-19; journalists have been laid off, and some publications have folded.^[1][2] Many newspapers with paywalls lowered them for some or all of their COVID-19 coverage.^[3][4] The pandemic was characterized as a potential "extinction event" for journalism as hundreds of news outlets closed and journalists were laid off around the world, advertising budgets were slashed, and many were forced to rethink how to do their jobs amid restrictions on movement and limited access to information or public officials.^[5][6] Journalists and media organizations have had to address new challenges, including figuring out how to do their jobs safely^[7] and how to navigate increased repression and censorship brought on by the response to the pandemic, with freelancers facing additional difficulties in countries where press cards or official designations limit who can be considered a journalist.^[8][9]

Journalists have worked to produce coverage of the pandemic combating misinformation, providing public health updates, and supplying entertainment to help people cope with the virus's impact.^[10] The COVID-19 pandemic has also enabled citizen journalism to a small extent, for example, through the CoronaReport digital journalism project, "a citizen science project which democratizes the reporting on the Coronavirus, and makes these reports accessible to other citizens."^{[11][12][non-primary source needed]} The long duration of the pandemic may have resulted in a COVID-19 information fatigue^[13] that could pose a challenge for journalists.