Covering COVID: Journalists’ Stress and Perceived Organizational Support While Reporting on the Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic forced unprecedented changes upon journalists in the United States as they attempted to cover the story while adhering to the same stay-at-home orders as the rest of the public. This study used organizational support theory to investigate the stress associated with the logistics of coverage early in the pandemic and how perceived organizational support played a role in either alleviating or adding to that stress. In total, 222 journalists responded to a survey sent out during the first few weeks of the stay-at-home orders issued across the United States. Results revealed varying degrees of logistical support provided by news organizations with nearly one quarter receiving no supplies, technology, or extra training at all. Greater perceived organizational support was associated with lower levels of stress and higher levels of work commitment. Female journalists and those who were younger and less experienced felt significantly more stress associated with pandemic coverage.

Perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work of science journalists: global perspectives

“…On the other hand, many comments make clear the stress caused by the increased workload, especially with the need to reconcile work and social isolation measures. In addition, studies reveal a scenario of little technical infrastructure for work performance away from newsrooms, insecurity with the risk of exposure to the virus, wage losses and precarious employment relationships [Figaro, 2020;Hoak, 2021;IFJ, 2020].…”

“…This has been done since the beginning of the pandemic in several countries and regions, addressing different issues. For example, in the United States, Hoak [2021] surveyed 222 journalists to assess the role of organizational support during the pandemic in journalist stress. He noted that greater perceived organizational support was associated with lower levels of stress and higher levels of work commitment.…”

“…With news taken over by a single subject, many journalists who generally do not cover science topics have had to focus on a complex and specialized issue [IFJ, 2020]. This occurred amid an increasing workload and consequent worsening in pressure and stress [Figaro, 2020;Hoak, 2021], an environment of disinformation [Makri, 2021;Miranda, Fidalgo and Martins, 2021;Perreault and Perreault, 2021;Wardle and Derakhshan, 2017], and the dynamics of science itself, which needed to accelerate its pace to tackle a new disease. Scientific data needed to be published quickly and there was a significant increase in preprint manuscripts, without peer review, which have been widely used since the crisis took global proportions [Fleerackers et al, 2021;Fraser et al, 2020].…”

“…Journalism plays a crucial role in providing reliable information about a disease [Chen and Stoecker, 2020;Goldstein, MacDonald and Guirguis, 2015;Vai et al, 2020], its forms of transmission and prevention, and thus contributes to the public adoption of measures that, in the case of the current pandemic, were the only way to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 for nearly a year [Guttman and Lev, 2020;Mello et al, 2021]. These measures obviously also needed to be followed by journalists themselves, who live with the risk of contracting COVID-19 if they cannot work from home [Hoak, 2021].…”

“…Studies have been carried out to investigate the situation of journalists in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic [Fernandes, 2021;Figaro, 2020;Hoak, 2021;IFJ, 2020;Miranda, Fidalgo and Martins, 2021;Wollnik, 2021]. This article adds a global perspective to these initiatives by presenting the results of a survey of science journalists from countries in six world regions.…”