Given the global nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is proving to be one of the most challenging stories that many journalists will have experienced.

The following round up of key resources and tools provides tips and advice for media professionals reporting on the novel Coronavirus, some of which can be used for other crisis and emergency reporting. It includes safety information for journalists who are in direct contact with individuals with confirmed cases, and it emphasises the media’s vital role in providing the public with credible, fact-checked and timely information, while reminding them to avoid sensationalised and fear-provoking reporting.

Tips, advice and guides on covering Covid-19

3 tips for better media freedom advocacy

Deutsche Welle shares 3 tips to “advocate more effectively for free speech” at a time when, around the world, governments are introducing measures to curtail media freedom during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read our latest Global Call Out for more details. DW’s tips include framing your message, updating reporting tactics and collaboration.

6 Tips for Using Open Source Tools When Reporting from Home

As open source tools have proved to be very effective for journalists in terms of breaking major stories on the pandemic, the Global Investigative Journalism Network has shared particular insights into how open source tools and techniques can elevate traditional reporting. 

Article 19: Policy Brief 

A briefing about how states, the media and social media companies can help to combat COVID-19 (coronavirus) by committing to transparency, tackling misinformation and promoting authoritative health advice. 

BBC Media Action guide (Manual)

“This manual provides tips for media practitioners on how to help audiences during health emergencies. It can be read in conjunction with BBC Media Action’s Lifeline Production Manual (available online), which provides more general guidance on how to communicate with people affected by humanitarian crises in order to help save lives and reduce suffering.”

CDAC (Communication with Disaster Affected Communities) (List of resources)

The list summarises information resources related to health, messaging and communications, and community engagement.

The Center for Health Journalism (Tips)

Thinking of the public’s need for accurate information, the Center for Health Journalism has offered these crucial tips for journalists to keep up with the fast-paced nature of reporting the pandemic. The page includes techniques on information gathering, localizing story ideas as well as managing sources. 

Coronavirus Radio Ideas Facebook Group 

A new Facebook group page has been created by P1 Media Group and Benztown for radio stations around the world to share ideas on how they are dealing with Covid-19 and how they can still produce quality broadcasts during the pandemic.  

Coronavirus | Other pandemics

The Journalist’s Toolbox compiled by the Society of Professional Journalists provides a comprehensive list of tools for journalists to cover the Covid-19 pandemic. 

COVERING COVID-19: HANDBOOK FOR JOURNALISTS

USAID, IREX and Data Leads have collaborated to produce a handbook for journalists focusing on covering the coronavirus outbreak. The text features strategies and resources inclusive of fact-checking methods as well as how to execute techniques for handling sources and making the most of data. 

Covering the coronavirus pandemic 

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is providing support for journalists covering Covid-19 by offering tools, resources and advice on how to present stories with accuracy and also, how to deal with the fallouts within the staff and wider community. 

Dart Center

The Dart Center has compiled a list of “English and Chinese-language resources for journalists covering the coronavirus epidemic, including tips on covering disease, interviewing victims and survivors, and working with colleagues exposed to traumatic events.”

Deutsche Welle Akademie – “Stay informed: Resources and initiatives”

DW Akademie has compiled its own list of useful resources and initiatives for journalists and media professionals reporting on the Covid-19 crisis. These have been broken down into the following themes: safety, media freedom violations, media viability, misinformation and disinformation and coverage.

Ethical Journalism Network (Advice)

Essential advice reminding journalists of key ethical principles when reporting on Coronavirus, such as truth, accuracy, impartiality and accountability.

Epidemiological models: 10 things journalists covering coronavirus research should know

Media personnel covering Covid-19 need to be able to understand and interpret epidemiological models. Journalist’s Resource has provided a guiding list of 10 things every journalist should know when reporting and using these models.

First Draft – Tips for reporting on Covid-19 and slowing the spread of misinformation (Tips – available in Arabic, French, Spanish and German)

“Here are First Draft’s tips for responsible reporting on Covid-19. They are informed by our interviews with health and science reporters, health professionals and journalism professors, our existing training materials, and several excellent coronavirus reporting guides listed at the end of this article.”

GFMD –RESOURCES FOR TACKLING COVID-19 MISINFORMATION AND DISINFORMATION

Many media organisations, including some of GFMD’s members and partners, have been working on projects to help prevent the spread of false information, which can be found using the link above. 

Global Investigative Journalism Network: Tips for Journalists Covering COVID-19 

• “To support journalists in their coverage, GIJN’s Miraj Chowdhury pulled together advice from various journalism organizations, experienced journalists, and experts.” 
• They have also provided tips for how journalists can deal with trauma while reporting on COVID-19.

Google Trends

Google has dedicated a dashboard to tracking trends within countries affected by the coronavirus pandemic. This tool will help journalists to access information around search trends around Covid-19. 

ICFJ – Covering COVID-19: Resources for Journalists 

“So many journalists in ICFJ’s network and beyond are debunking misinformation and providing lifesaving coverage on the COVID-19 pandemic. We are proud of the work that reporters worldwide are doing, and are working to help however we can. Our Global Health Crisis Reporting Forum, in partnership with ICFJ’s International Journalists’ Network (IJNet), is a new initiative that aims to do just that. ICFJ is rolling out a wide range of resources to help journalists cover this pandemic.” 

International Journalists’ Network (IJNET) resources

• 10 tips for journalists covering COVID-19

From carefully-chosen headlines to avoiding the use of stereotypes, the International Journalists’ Network pulls together 10 top tips for journalists to take into consideration when reporting on Covid-19

• From infections to mobility: Tips for finding and analyzing COVID-19 dataIt may be difficult to keep track of changes but there are data and tools available to investigate and analyse these changes. In this resource, reporters can access tips on finding and analysing COVID-19 data to track shifts in real time, including changes in behaviour.

Internews’ covid-19 resources and guides

Internews has provided Covid-19 reporting resources, including webinars, guides, and media mentors. You can also access information on Internews’ Covid-19 projects, stories on how journalists are functioning during the pandemic

IPI – Covid19 Media Freedom Monitoring

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the free flow of news and information is more essential than ever, ensuring open dialogue and the exchange of vital information. IPI is therefore closely monitoring press freedom restrictions in this exceptional situation.

Poynter (advice and resources)

• Poynter provides advice on how newsrooms can avoid sensationalised coronavirus coverage and report responsibly.
• In 2015, the Poynter Institute launched The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) in an effort to unite fact-checkers around the world and encourage a consolidation of the best methods and techniques.

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ)

RISJ have a number of Covid-19 resources and recommended readings including:

• How journalists can help stop the spread of the coronavirus outbreak: “Here are 11 tips on how to report on the outbreak from Trudie Lang and Peter Drobac, two public health experts from Oxford University”
• Types, sources, and claims of COVID-19 misinformation

Journalist safety

• 9 ways journalists can push back against the stress of an always-on story by Poynter (Tips + video)
   
• Fundación para la libertad de prensa (Advice – Spanish)

FLIP provides advice on how journalists and media workers can protect themselves while covering the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Media ethics, safety and mental health: reporting in the time of Covid-19In this article by the Ethical Journalism Network Director, Hannah Storm, the importance of ethics, physical safety, and mental health for journalists reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic is highlighted. EJN also provides additional resources journalists may use.
  
• Mental health tips and resources for journalists

Tips and resources for journalists to safeguard not only their own mental health but also the mental health of their sources, particularly with the increased stress resulting from the covid-19 pandemic. This resource also includes a webinar on journalists’ mental health, hosted by International Journalists’ Network (IJNET) and which featured panelists Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University; and Sherry Ricchiardi, Ph.D., co-author of ICFJ’s Disaster and Crisis Coverage guide and international media trainer.

• The Committee to Protect Journalists (Resources) 
  • Coronavirus Response webpage – this new resource features “regularly updated physical, digital, and psychosocial safety advice from CPJ Emergencies for journalists covering the crisis, available in more than 15 languages. An “ask an expert” section allows journalists and newsrooms to submit questions and get up-to-date advice from CPJ safety experts.” It also includes a safety advisory, which includes advice on pre and post assignment, travel planning, face masks and avoiding infection.
• Media Development Investment Fund: MDIF advises on how to minimise the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on your media business.

Media resources

• UNESCO: Audio resources to counter disinformation: “To contribute to countering misinformation on COVID-19, UNESCO has produced a series of audio messages that can be freely used by radio stations from around the world.” They are available in multiple languages.
  • UNESCO has also created the Resource Center of Responses to COVID-19, which “includes a collection of examples of actions related to communication and information made available for the purpose of sharing practices, identifying priorities, facilitating partnerships, amplifying good practices, providing advice and technical assistance to governments and relevant national stakeholders, and fostering North-South, South-South, and triangular cooperation.”
• The WHO media resources
  • This includes access to live press briefings on Covid-19 in video, audio and transcript formats.
  • Sign up to press briefings here

Online courses

• COVERING COVID-19 COURSES – A range of free online training programmes organised by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin.
• Thompson Foundation Journalism Now – Reporting on Covid-19 (Available in various languages)The Thompson Foundation has launched a series of online courses that will provide extra training for journalists and media professionals reporting on Covid-19. They include safety, verification and content.

Webinars

• COVID-19 – Role of Media in Addressing Stigma This webinar, conducted by Internews, the International Federation of Red Cross, the United Nations Population Fund, and BBC Media Action, discusses the role the media plays in combating stigma and prejudice during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• The Dart Center has posted a succession of online discussions about the challenges facing journalists working in the midst of Covid-19. The discussions, which are anchored by Dart Center executive director Bruce Shapiro, focuses on finding inventive approaches and solutions to  shared struggles: Reporting and Covid-19: A Webinar Series for Journalists

• IJNET COVID-19 webinar series

Over the past few months, the International Journalists’ Network (IJNET) has held webinars on the COVID-19 pandemic. The 43-part series is available to watch on YouTube. Some notable recent webinars from the series are:

• • Journalism and the Pandemic: The Disinfodemic

In this International Journalists’ Network (IJNET) resource, three experts discuss how journalists are experiencing the COVID-19 ‘disinfodemic’ and working to counter it through the tasks of fact-checking and debunking streams of false claims. 

• • COVID-19: Reporting on Communities of Color

Around the world communities of color have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic evident by the disparities in mortality rates and access to health care. In addition, they face dire economic consequences with national lockdowns and restrictions of movement, discrimination by law enforcement, and prejudice by their societies at large. This webinar will discuss what journalists need to know when reporting on these communities — the do’s and don’ts — how to frame stories, be sensitive to often underrepresented voices, and amplify them in a way that leads to government accountability. 

[Text sourced from IJNET]

• Journalism and COVID-19. Responsible reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) hosted this webinar in partnership with the the Caribbean Broadcasting Union to bring together media practitioners and health professionals to discuss how journalists and communicators can responsibly report on the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The Reuters Institute for Journalism (RISJ) has also been hosting regular webinars about Covid-19 and journalism, such as:
  • ‘Navigating the ‘infodemic’: key findings from our report on how people access news about Coronavirus’
  • ’A guide to statistics for journalists‘ – this webinar is led by Denise Lievesley, Principal at Green Templeton College and former Director of Statistics at UNESCO. Here, she explores how journalists should best use statistics in their daily jobs. Check their website for upcoming webinars.
• ‘The Threat to Africa’ discusses tips for Investigating COVID-19 in Africa. GIJN shares a few key takeaway points
  • Here is a list of GIJN’s completed webinars in their “Investigating the Pandemic” series.

• Visualizing COVID-19 Data: Tips and Traps Getting a grip on data is critical to reporting the pandemic – life and death decisions are being made on the basis of numbers. But working with data, especially in a specialist field like health, is challenging and data – and all those pie charts and graphs that visualise it – can lead us astray: all data needs to be questioned, checked and verified. Data also needs to be communicated and shared with audiences in ways that are clear, compelling – and accurate.In this webinar, Visualizing COVID-19 Data — Tips and Traps, we bring together three leading experts who share their advice and tips on how to verify and present data. [Text sourced from GIJN]