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Impact of Covid 19 on Media Sustainability
journalists would agree, be balanced by the public interest nature of journalism and journalists’
practical knowledge of the field, their “gut instinct”. It is clear that at least some of the problems of
“news fatigue” come from a mismatch of what the audience want and the journalists provide. This is
a tricky area that the metamorphosis of news organisations changing their model to focus on reader
revenue face as they move to the web, especially since most journalism has a mission inform as well as
entertain. A good example from the U.S. is the Christian Science Monitor, the subject of a detailed case
study that looks into the challenging changes in perspective that changing business models brings.126
Aside from the business side, the evidence is that the problems of journalism in much of the world
stem from the way journalism is seen by the public. The observations of civil society activist Mark
Heywood point us to the need to engage as journalists and journalism institutions:
As in the US, Covid-19 has merely accelerated a crisis in the media that was already there.Stemming
this crisis will require journalists and organisations like SANEF to reach out to communities, and
civil society to show the
possibilities and the importance of their craft.But to do this successfully, the media will also need to
rethink itself and engage in its own process of introspection.
The media is a web. For the colony to survive, it needs internal solidarity between its parts. The
overall project cannot progress if all the parts are not functioning, or if certain parts are rotten.
One of the lessons we should learn from the US is that it is not sufficient for democracy that parts of
the media are strong (the papers that occupy what Nelson calls the “Boston- Washington corridor”)
while community newspapers and radio stations are collapsing.
Ultimately therefore, the protection and promotion of the profession of journalism is a political project.
Yes, it must be objective and fair, accountable and transparent. It must abide by its ethics. But it is
not neutral. If we look back through history, we will find that the media was always connected to
advancing democracy. This is what is at stake.
It has taken a global pandemic with local repercussions for the question of who pays for journalism
and how to be given serious attention. It would be a pity to waste this opportunity now to solve some
of the existential crises that have been decades in the making.
126. {Citation}
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