The COVID-19 pandemic in Portuguese journalism

Abstract

[Excerpt] The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many areas of society and journalism is no exception. While it is too soon to understand the pandemic’s impact on journalism worldwide, some trends have been identified. On the one hand, the pandemic has promoted the disruption of journalistic processes and practices (Eisenegger and Vogler 2021; Libert et al. 2021), not only changing the relationship with news sources or information-gathering procedures but also revealing ‘the tensions between professional identity and working conditions more clearly than in average news cycles’ (Libert et al. 2021). Since 2020, journalists worldwide have faced considerable stress and vulnerability. Such an environment is usually associated with reporting on war zones or natural disasters, but ‘is now a broadly shared reality for many journalists’ (Lewis 2020, p. 685). At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of journalism and its social role (Eisenegger and Vogler 2021), with journalists assuming their public service mission during a critical time. [...]