Will the crisis change the media? The worldwide coronavirus epidemic is also a new test for this sector, which was already going through an unprecedented crisis of confidence. Confined citizens are everywhere stuck with information. From the beginning of March, more than 90% of Italians, Japanese and Koreans were informed once a day about the news related to the virus, and more than half several times a day, according to an Edelman survey carried out from 6 to March 10.
If social networks have broken the virtual media monopoly on information, the press remains central: to learn about the virus, half of Americans continue to trust traditional media, and much less to social networks, according to another survey carried out by the Ipsos institute in mid-March, for the Axios media. This crisis could well be an opportunity for the media to regain the confidence of readers. And for confined readers to choose the titles, small or large, which they trust.
Rebuilding trust in the media
"It is not too late to rebuild people's confidence in science, public authorities and the media," Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari argued in the Financial Times . "This is an important moment for the media," confirms historian Patrick Eveno, president of the French Council for Journalistic Ethics. "First to show that they are at the service of the public, with reliable information, by sorting" . No, the coronavirus detected in China was not created and then patented by the Pasteur Institute, said Factuel, AFP's fact-checking blog. No, we don't know if the spring heat literally "kills" viruses.
"In the context of a public health emergency, reliable and accurate information is vital, and the BBC has a key role to play," said Fran Unsworth, news director of the British public media, who broadcast also knows attendance records. "Readers are looking for additional analysis, info-services and testimonials," said Ricardo Kirschbaum of Clarín, the best-selling Argentinian daily , for his part. The newspaper saw exploding frequentation of its site, readers going there directly, without going through social networks. "They want to know what is happening in other countries, such as Italy, Spain and France, which we cover with our own correspondents" . The newspaper also launched a daily newsletter with essential information on the pandemic.
Be united and fulfill its role
"This is not a good time for scoops, for business as usual," said Marina Walker of the Pulitzer Center, an American NGO supporting journalism. "We are all facing the same enemy: it's time to stand together, to work in depth, to show that we write for our readers and not for political agendas or economic interests". The Pulitzer center financially supports journalistic projects which rely on the collaboration between several newsrooms, to cover forgotten aspects of the crisis.
Many media have already sinned by slowness at the start of the crisis, tempers the Italian sociologist Edoardo Novelli, of the Roma 3 university. According to his study "Infomood" on the publications of 257 European media on Facebook, carried out from January March 14, the newspapers were largely influenced by their national government, which in Germany, France or the United Kingdom, underestimated the crisis to come. "They did not fulfill their role," regrets this ex-journalist who has become a professor of communication and sociology.
Others have relayed news, such as the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom, with the idea that the virus was originally contracted by a person who ate bat soup in China. A tale taken up by other tabloids. Finally, the crisis could accelerate an ongoing transition: the death of the paper daily newspapers. As France entered quarantine, daily newspaper kiosk sales fell 24% on Monday March 16 and 31% on Tuesday March 17, according to distributor Presstalis. "Newspapers will perish or regroup, everything will depend on the length of the phenomenon," said historian Patrick Eveno. "But the media that are considered reliable will benefit by increasing their digital subscriptions."