Survey report from International Center for Journalists.
October 2020.
The project is mapping the impacts of COVID-19 on journalism worldwide, informing responses to the crisis, and helping to reimagine its future. At a time when the public needs to rely on credible independent journalism to stay safe and informed, journalists and news organizations are grappling with a mental health crisis, financial peril, physical safety threats, and press freedom attacks, while simultaneously battling pandemic levels of disinformation. Among the top findings:
- Politicians and elected officials were identified by 46% of respondents as a top source of disinformation.
- 81% said they encounter disinformation at least weekly, with more than one-quarter identifying false information many times a day.
- Facebook was identified as the most prolific spreader of disinformation.
- Nearly half said their sources had expressed fear of retaliation for speaking to journalists during the pandemic.
- 30% said that their news organizations had not supplied field reporters with a single piece of protective equipment during the first wave of the pandemic.
- 70% identified the mental health impacts of covering COVID-19 as the most difficult challenge.