Publishing from Hotspots

Many of the nation’s largest cities have tragically taken the brunt of COVID-19. E&P spoke with three big-city newspapers to find out how the pandemic has transformed the way they gather and distribute news. The following is excerpted from conversations with Rick Hirsch, managing editor, the Miami Herald; Peter Bhatia, editor and vice president, the Detroit Free Press; and Jeff Light, publisher and editor-in-chief, San Diego Union-Tribune.

E&P: How has the pandemic influenced the newspaper’s content?
Hirsch: It is extremely difficult for me to think of anything we’re covering that isn’t…Even the weather, in some cases. We’re in Miami, and (we’re in) hurricane season. A big part of our hurricane season coverage will be how will shelters function if we’re still in a social-distancing environment, which clearly we’re going to be in for most, if not all of the season.

E&P: How have you measured the effectiveness and reach of COVID-19 coverage?
Bhatia: The entire staff, including sportswriters, has been drafted into covering COVID. There’s some talk around the country and in the media press about audiences tiring of it. Not here. Our audience continues to devour it.
Light: Visitation since the pandemic was way up, running at 250 percent of what it was for the year up until that point. Digital subscription sales have run about double the pre-COVID months this year.

E&P: How have operations been impacted?
Hirsch: The CEO of McClatchy sent an email out to everyone last week that said he doesn’t anticipate any of us being back in our newsrooms before Labor Day. That’s how far out the expectation is, and part of that is figuring out what that will look like. What do we have to do? We have cubicles that are 8-by-8 feet, but can people sit in those next to each other in an environment of social distancing? Should we have them rearranged?...Having said all that, I think if you told me before any of this happened that we would function without being together, I’d have been surprised about how efficient we’ve been in communicating and entirely going to video conferencing for meetings.

Light: Until this week, we had a dozen writers assigned to COVID topics, which is a lot for a newsroom of 100 people or so…We have a team-based newsroom, without the usual hierarchy. There’s no city editor or central organizing role, so everything depends on the ability of the reporting teams and their editors to work collaboratively. We have seen some exceptional leadership from our medical reporter, Paul Sisson, and his editor, Tracy Connors, who have spearheaded coverage that extends across all of our reporting groups. People across the newsroom quickly stepped into new roles and moved to different groups to support what we are trying to do.

E&P: How did you prepare your reporters and visual journalists to work safely in a potentially dangerous environment?
Hirsch: We started this conversation really early on. There’s always been a hero culture in our newsroom. We fly into hurricanes, and we have a great tradition of challenging stories that are not just challenging from the standpoint of general newsgathering and reporting, but in challenging environments. But this isn’t a hurricane. This is invisible. The impacts are life threatening…Nobody is going to earn admiration of the staff by doing something stupid. In fact, they might put everybody else at risk, and I think that’s the real difference in covering this.

Bhatia: Our marching orders for everybody is: Don’t take any risks. Don’t go into a home where you know there are people who have been infected. Don’t go into a hospital unless you’re fully protected in PPE. We’re providing masks, gloves, and have Tyvek suits for people who need them in given situations…As journalists, we are very much “run toward the fire” kind of people, but we’re urging caution. Don’t take any unnecessary risks. Obviously, we’re still journalists to our core and want to do what it takes to get the story, but it’s not going to be very often that risking catching this virus is worthy of getting the story. This is serious stuff.

Light: Until this spring, our biggest concerns were about protecting our employees from hate speech and harassment. We’ve worked with PEN America to provide training and have invested in digital safety tools for our employees. But we were unprepared for the pandemic, and we were caught scrambling just to find gloves and masks and hand sanitizer, let alone the sort of personal protective equipment needed to go into medical facilities. We’re only just getting caught up on some of that. Now, we have journalists being exposed to tear gas—eight, by my count, in the last few days—and are working to equip them with helmets, goggles, and vests.

E&P: What are the positives to come out of this incredibly challenging experience?
Hirsch: People are commenting about how important the work we do is for the community and how much they value us. It’s certainly reinforcing the hard work that everybody here is doing. I’m incredibly proud of my staff every day. They are out there doing really hard work and under the most difficult circumstances.
Bhatia: The demand for journalists and the appreciation of journalism has never been higher. My email traffic, like with most editors, tends to be negative, but now people are saying, “We’re so grateful that you are out there documenting this story for us,” and I think that’s a nationwide phenomenon…The public sees what the press is doing to make this story understandable, real and in perspective for people. Will it endure? Well, there’s no end in sight to the story for now, but that’s kind of up to us to ensure that we’re giving people information they need.