While institutions, governments, elected officials, businesses and sports federations need to adapt to the new limitations of the coronavirus pandemic, experts say they use the fitness crisis as an excuse to limit access to journalists.
Fewer physical press conferences, questions to be sent in advance or no questions, unanswered questions: data does not circulate well in the Covid-19 era.
The examples come with foreign football matches, in which UEFA has left combined spaces where hounds regularly have access to contestants, and fashion weeks, where he has been almost to interview designers.
“We see all sorts of conditions where other people use Covid to hide information,” said David Cuillier, a professor of journalism at the University of Arizona.
Attempts to hide it involve data on the pandemic itself, which can have an unfavourable effect on control of the virus through government or local authorities.
This week, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly denied a Kansas News Reflector request about the coordinates of state-owned enterprises related to Covid-19 outbreaks.
Not to disclose the number of cases in a nursing home or university, for example, some governments hide arguments about non-public knowledge even though knowledge has no name and legislation does not apply, Cuillier said.
Government agencies, town halls or organizations make “closed-door” decisions, the former president of the Society of Professional Journalists adds.
In politics, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is accused of protecting himself from the media under the guise of the pandemic.
His crusader team uses fitness precautions to justify restricting access to Biden to a dozen journalists and photographers.
When he answers s, which is rare, his communications team refers to the 4 or five legal hounds for him.
Republicans accused Biden of knowing the questions beforehand.
In addition to limited access, news hounds have been censored in several countries, a measure touted as one of the measures to combat pandemic-related misinformation.
Some countries, such as China and Egypt, have cancelled visas or ordered the expulsion of foreign hounds after publishing articles on the reaction to the pandemic.
These difficulties arise at a time when the media landscape is already affected by declining revenues, aggravated by the pandemic, especially among local newspapers.
– ‘Dangerous’ –
Chronically under-staffed writings do not have enough time to tame resources and delve into public archives to the extent that painting requires it.
“As a result, more and more data provided to the public is fed a spoon without verification and that’s not good,” Cuillier said.
“The efforts of politicians and others to convey the message have only increased in the last two years,” said Courtney Radsch of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). This trend was reinforced through the Covid-19, he said.
Access to data is more confusing due to the development of public mistrust of the press at a time when President Donald Trump is denouncing the main media he doesn’t like.
During the protests that followed George Floyd’s death, the hounds were attacked by the police but also by others who did not need an independent policy of the protests, Radsch said.
“We’re heading for dark times unless there are changes,” Cuillier said.
“This can lead to the end of democracy as we know it in 20, 30 years. “
While acknowledging that the scenario is “dangerous,” Radsch points to “growing recognition” through some “of the importance of journalism in the pandemic. “
“One positive thing I’ve noticed is that accepting as true in local news organizations is somehow flourishing,” said Florida journalist Joe McLean, who covered the reopening of schools during the pandemic at the Poynter Institute of Journalism.
It presents “an opportunity to demonstrate our integrity, responsibility, reliability and rigour in reporting on these public institutions,” he added.
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