Journalism

With CBS News’ home base in New York closed due to coronavirus, CBS owned stations are helping get the national newscasts out to viewers. The weekend of March 21-22, CBS Weekend News will be produced out of Dallas, with KTVT staffers filling key roles in the production.

TVNewsCheck‘s Paul Greeley: “I follow more than 500 TV stations’ Facebook pages and what I see every day are countless examples of news coverage about the coronavirus. All necessary, all important. But what I want to share are examples of the more practical posts on how to cope with the disruptions, and the measures some are taking to help each other.”

Readers are flocking to news sites during the coronavirus pandemic. The media has a basic commodity — information — that people are craving as they try to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. And yet, financially, the crisis is delivering a punishing blow to already struggling local publishers.

Big news stories can dominate the entire news cycle for weeks, months, even years. But very few are as earth shaking as the recent coronavirus outbreak, which is dominating the news cycle and changing the way news organizations work.

President Donald Trump went off on NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander after he pressed him on what he would say to Americans who are frightened by the coronavirus. “What do you say to Americans that are scared?” Alexander asked. “I’d say you are a terrible reporter,” Trump responded. “I think that’s a very nasty question, and I think that’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people.” He then blasted NBC News and its parent company, Comcast, in general.

Life during wartime is littered with changes. One small, yet indelible sign of the coronavirus pandemic is hitting home every day on Detroit TV screens. The local TV news anchors, usually seated within elbow-rubbing distance, have moved farther apart. It’s one of many precautionary steps being taken by the big three of Detroit broadcast news — Fox 2 Detroit (WJBK), Local 4 News (WDIV) and 7 Action News (WXYZ) — and at newsrooms across the country.

NBC News said on Friday that one of its employees, longtime audio technician Larry Edgeworth, has died after testing positive for the coronavirus. Larry Edgeworth, a sound technician for NBC News’s Rockefeller Plaza headquarters for the past 25 years, suffered from other health issues, his wife said, according to a memo sent by NBC News President Andrew Lack.

Margaret Sullivan: “We live in stupid, scary times. And nothing illustrates this more vividly than one bizarre development among many others: That a Fox News host managed to get the president of the United States to take the coronavirus seriously when legions of public health experts around the world — and in his own administration — could not.”

Of all the newsroom jobs, producing newscasts would seem to be one of the toughest to do from a kitchen table, but Wednesday, for the first time, WSMV Nashville producer Jules Marcantonio did just that. “It went fine, on both ends,” Marcantonio said, “from both my perspective and the station’s.”

Media outlets big and small, from The New York Times to the Telegraph-Forum in Bucyrus, Ohio, are letting people read their coronavirus coverage without a subscription.

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-profit organization that supports independent global journalism, is seeking proposals that develop innovative approaches to reporting on the novel coronavirus crisis using collaboration among journalists and newsrooms across state lines or national borders. This opportunity is open to all newsrooms and independent journalists in the United States and abroad.

University of Missouri journalism professor Damon Kiesow advises that the legions of journalists now working from the unaccustomed environs of home follow some key guidelines to maintain their productivity. He shares practical tips for saving internet bandwidth, the importance of keeping a regular schedule and blocking weekly unstructured time with colleagues to maintain cohesion.

President Donald Trump’s press briefing today had a flurry of newsworthy statements, updates and some startling moments. Days after saying that a lot of the media “actually has been really fair” in its coverage of the coronavirus crisis, on Thursday he was back to calling a number of news outlets “dishonest.”

Fox News and Fox Television Stations will provide unlimited access to facilitate public availability of latest COVID-19 information.

Last Wednesday, CBS News president Susan Zirinsky announced the temporary closure and cleaning of two network buildings in New York City due to an outbreak of the novel coronavirus. But she said that she expected both buildings to reopen Monday of this week. In a new memo Wednesday morning, however, Zirinsky told staffers that the buildings will not be opening. Instead, starting Thursday, the network’s morning show — CBS This Morning — will broadcast from The Ed Sullivan Theater, home of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Coronavirus is a fast-moving and challenging story for every newsroom. The Knight-Cronkite News Lab has curated some of the most useful resources found across the web. We hope these will help you serve and inform your communities while keeping your teams safe and supported as well.

Noticias Telemundo anchor Julio Vaqueiro on Tuesday hosted a new half hour of news devoted to coronavirus at 11:35 p.m. ET/10:35 p.m. PT — Coronavirus: Un Pais en Alerta (Coronavirus: A Nation on Alert). The program focuses on the latest developments regarding the coronavirus and its impact on the Latino community.