Walking the Tightrope: Reporting During a Health Crisis

Health crises often leave the people affected by them scrambling for answers—and somewhere to place the blame. As the public looks to the government, health care providers, and statistics for understanding, the media plays a vital role in connecting them. In these times, journalists and reporters can find themselves walking a tightrope, where any slip-up could leave them subject to the ire and derision of the very people they’re trying to serve.

A good example is found in the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. media outlets strove to keep their audiences updated with the progress of the virus and the government’s attempts to “flatten the curve.” At the same time, they had to continually defend the credibility of their coverage, figure out how to work with government agencies while holding them accountable and balance the negative reality with the audience’s desire for good news.

Entering into the epidemic, the public had spent the last several years being primed to throw around accusations of “fake news” by a president that used the term often and loosely, and a media landscape that had struggled to keep up with the speed of social media while remaining credible. The news media’s struggle to distance themselves from the term only got harder with the advent of COVID-19.

One of the issues news outlets can run into during public health crises is misinformation from the Internet tainting the public’s view of their reporting. During COVID-19, social media sites offered users a wide platter of misinformation, and as people began to call out the false information media outlets got caught in the crossfire. The public grew wary of news from any source, and journalists’ work became more difficult.

Another difficulty in reporting during a health crisis is the relationship between the government and media outlets. News media exists to serve the public, and in a health crisis such as COVID-19 reporters can easily find themselves with the government as they both seek the health and wellbeing of the public. As the media’s relationship with the government changes, though, their relationship with the public changes as well.

Many news outlets in the U.S. published articles about “staying safe” during the pandemic, pushing the guidelines handed down from the government. While their intentions seemed to be in the public’s best interest, a portion of the public accused the news media of becoming mouthpieces for the government when they should have been holding it accountable. It highlighted the tricky issue of holding the government accountable and seeking to serve the public that many news outlets struggle with during health crises.

News media is often accused of being too negative by its consumers. During health crises, that issue becomes even more heightened as reporters try to accurately portray the situation for the public’s safety. When the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height, many news organizations struggled to get out of the rut of continuing to report the same negative information as the numbers continued to rise.

Yet this hindrance for media outlets is not insurmountable. Several news outlets addressed the negativity of their reporting by specifically seeking out stories surrounding the pandemic that had positive connotations, such as this article by National Geographic. The article focuses on a positive aspect of a negative issue, highlighting the vaccine success even as numbers of infected people were still high.

Reporting is a difficult job at any time, but the issues faced by news outlets are raised to a higher degree during times of a public health crisis. Though the media can face more obstacles during these times, those obstacles are not insurmountable. Ultimately, news organizations must address these issues head-on during such times in order to continue to serve the public.