… Journalism in the Time of COVID-19…
Dateline newsletter COVID-19 edition 2020, Vol. 2
The name of this COVID-19 edition of Dateline, Undesired Snacks Detour, is taken from a photo of a storefront in San Antonio, where the SPJ/RTDNA/NAHJ Excellence in Journalism 2019 conference was held. Since that conference wrapped up, SPJ DC Pro Chapter has been looking ahead to EIJ20 in Washington, D.C. We are still waiting to learn if it will happen as planned Sept. 10-12 at the Washington Hilton.
An Undesired Snacks Detour. We’re cruising down an unfamiliar road. But it is becoming strangely familiar.
SPJ DC Pro laments the loss of best-laid plans, its canceled in-person events and the agony of watching and waiting for some indication of normalcy, so we can return to regular programming. We’ve stumbled onto this Undesired Snacks Detour, finding our way apace and discovering that we can carry out most of our duties and missions even so, as long as we proceed online.
COVID-19 set us on this path; in Vol. 1 of Undesired Snacks Detour, we looked at early fallout of mitigation measures undertaken by local governments, and some of the pressing matters the pandemic brought into focus on the public health/public information front.
Now we have some updates:
- A canceled in-person Google News Initiative training session planned to be held at the Arlington library in March and the canceled May 8-9 Region 2 conference planned to be held in Annapolis – now are rolled into one that is being offered via Zoom on Monday, May 18, and the focus has shifted to news searches involving COVID-19.
- A YouTube video of the national SPJ May 5 webinar on “Getting past reporting roadblocks in the time of COVID-19: Is pandemic making information access worse?,” featuring DC Pro member Kathryn Foxhall on “Censorship by PIO,” has been posted, in case you missed the opportunity to follow it live.
- With the National Press Club able to resume on-site activities only as early as June 8, the DC Pro board of directors agreed to postpone the DC Pro annual Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame dinner, set for June 9 in the NPC Ballroom, until June 8, 2021, at the same location. The Hall of Fame inductions will proceed then. However, the 2020 Dateline Awards will be presented in June. The date is expected to be June 9 in an online format, pending arrangements. If not on that date, it will be within days of it. We will make further announcements; all finalists will be notified.
The Google News Initiative training will be held via Zoom, 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, May 18. You must register in advance on Eventbrite, and from there, you will register on Zoom as well. “Searching for News During COVID-19” is offered for free; Frank Bi, who has led a Google training session in DC in June 2019 as well as one at the Region 2 conference in Ocean City in April 2019, will again be the instructor.
For more information, see the report on the DC Pro Chapter website here. Be sure you have a free Google/Gmail account set up before the workshop.
The focus will be on COVID-19, to assist you in understanding the virus that causes the disease and issues surrounding the pandemic — useful information, because even if you aren’t reporting on the public health crisis itself, some aspect of it affects your subject matter of coverage.
Additional COVID-19 resources available:
- The national SPJ website has numerous links on its Journalist’s Toolbox page here.
- The National Press Club Journalism Institute is producing a daily newsletter, Covering Coronavirus, Monday through Friday. You may subscribe here. Press Club membership is not required.
- The National Press Club Journalism Institute is sponsoring online conversations with journalists about COVID-19. The next one – “Writing Through: Power of Details in a Pandemic” — is Tuesday, May 19, 11:30 a.m. to noon. All the details and registration can be found here. Registration is also available here.
For something related to press freedom around the world, join the national SPJ International Community for a conversation on Tuesday, May 19, starting at 7 p.m.
A George Washington University student gives “Perspectives of a J Student Caught in the Hong Kong Uprisings,” about his coursework in 2019 conducted in Shanghai and Hong Kong, where he was researching political culture and public opinion on social media platforms.
Information and online registration is here.
Questions? Comments? Contact DC Pro: spjdcchapter@gmail.com
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DC Pro will have more information soon regarding the presentation of our annual Dateline Awards. Stay tuned!
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NOT YET A MEMBER OF SPJ AND THE DC PRO CHAPTER?
See the information about online signups here.
Email us at spjdcchapter@gmail.com with questions.
Until the next volume of Undesired Snacks Detour,
We hope you are staying safe and well.