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We’ve already touched on a few, but it’s worth exploring in more detail to better understand the current mindset of journalists. Declining circulation and advertising revenue has long wreaked havoc on staffing and resources for traditional news organizations, and the events of 2020 didn’t help matters. Downsized news crews scrambled to cover world-changing, emotionally-charged and, at times, head-scratching events while making sense of conflicting data and opinions.
Journalists faced increased public pressure to cover opposing sides of polarizing issues equally, and there was no shortage of them. COVID-19 beckoned headlines 24/7/365 on everything from lockdowns, overrun hospitals and vaccine trials to spectator-less sports and toilet paper shortages – creating the perfect recipe for fatigue for 37% of journalists.
At the same time, racial injustice protests erupted across the U.S. and in markets around the world in a poignant show of solidarity. Amid time and space constraints, around 1 in 7 journalists said they struggled with thoroughly addressing racial inequality issues in news stories as they strove to give a voice to communities that needed to be heard.
And then there was the political arena and, along with it, the ongoing battle of distinguishing fact from fiction and keeping bias at bay. A tall order in a precarious time made even more difficult with many sources working remotely.