Journalism

The morning shows practiced social distancing today, with hosts sitting at least six feet away from one another, taking heed of the guidelines everyone across the U.S. is following to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, today.

ABC said today it would temporarily suspend its Strahan, Sara and Keke early-afternoon talk show in favor of a news program led by anchor Amy Robach focused on the coronavirus crisis, the latest example of news programming supplanting entertainment and opinion shows as the nation grows more concerned about the contagion’s spread.

The Local Media Association is partnering with the Facebook Journalism Project and Lenfest Institute for Journalism to offer a total of $1 million in grants to support US and Canadian local news organizations covering the coronavirus.

Safety concerns in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic are quickly creating a new normal for media workers. Reporters, full-time and freelancer alike, are struggling to hit deadlines as their sources, who are navigating upheavals in their own personal and professional lives, become a lot harder to pin down.

NBC Owned Stations across the country are adding new 7 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. newscasts to keep viewers informed about the latest coronavirus pandemic developments in their communities.

For weeks, some of Fox News’s most popular hosts downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, characterizing it as a conspiracy by media organizations and Democrats to undermine President Trump. But that was then. With Trump’s declaration on Friday that the virus constitutes a national emergency, the tone on Fox News has quickly shifted.

Six people at CBS News have tested positive for coronavirus. ABC News said Monday that a journalist who worked on the network’s coverage team of the outbreak in Seattle had tested positive for coronavirus. Meanwhile, at NBC, an employee who worked on the Today show’s third hour tested positive, forcing the show’s anchors Craig Melvin and Al Roker and others who came into contact with the person to be ordered to isolate in their homes as a result.

Dave Jorgenson produces twice-daily posts geared to young audiences on nascent social video platform TikTok. In 10 months, he’s gained 400,000 subscribers there and tens of millions of views of his witty short videos, including tips on coronavirus hand washing and handshakes.

CNN and Univision drew 10.8 million total average viewers for Sunday night’s Democratic debate between Sen. Bernie Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden, handing CNN its most-watched debate of the election cycle, according to Nielsen Fast National data.

“That’s what local papers are meant to do”: The journalists at The Seattle Times have been aggressively covering the coronavirus as it affects their neighbors and friends.

Coronavirus Pandemic special to air Thursday, March 19, at 10 pm ET across NBC, MSNBC, streaming service NBC News NOW and Telemundo Digital.

A thank-you from RTDNA Executive Director: Dear Fellow Journalists: The communities where you live and work owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude. Most of us got into journalism to serve the public. Now more than ever your public service is important. Stay motivated, stay safe and continue asking questions and reporting stories that will our communities get through this time of uncertainty.”

All through February and early March, the voices of doctors and nurses on social media provided a vital antidote to those of confused and complacent political leaders embodied by President Trump. Their voices carried credibility and urgency in a way the always-on crisis of cable news can’t. They fed and were fed by credible journalism. And they helped force the United States to reckon with the crisis.

Today’s Al Roker and Craig Melvin are taking time off after a colleague on the third hour of the show contracted coronavirus. Anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb announced the news on Monday morning — while practicing social distancing themselves and sitting apart. The stars said Roker and Melvin will be off the air for just a day as a precaution.

A Today show employee who works at the 30 Rockefeller Plaza building in New York City has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to a memo sent out to staff. Noah Oppenheim, the president of NBC News, emailed employees late Sunday to tell them that the unnamed staff member, who works on the weekday third-hour show, was receiving medical care for “mild symptoms” and wished them a speedy recovery. The show would go on, but everyone who’s had close contact will have to isolate themselves.

CBC adviser and news technologist Bruce MacCormack warns that deep fake videos have gotten more sophisticated and difficult to detect. Their creators are also proliferating, he says, and news organizations need to begin arming themselves against what could be “an existential threat” to their legitimacy.

Six months after the merger of two Top Four non-failing stations under Gray ownership, increased news offerings and wider signal coverage are among the results.

He joins from WCNC Charlotte, N.C., to lead newsgathering at WGCL and WPCH.

Reruns of Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pushed back a half-hour in the coming week as ABC seeks to give a bigger platform to Nightline episodes focused on the coronavirus pandemic. ABC said Sunday that Kimmel repeats will shift to the 12:05 a.m. slot starting Tuesday through Friday as Nightline goes all-in on coverage of the latest in the coronavirus pandemic.

The media’s job is to tell the story of a rapidly changing world in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, but it must do so under rapidly changing new rules. “This is the biggest story since 9/11,” said New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet, but it needs to be told with an abundance of caution by the scores of journalists now working from home, interviewing sources via Skype and doing all they can to stay personally out of harm’s way.