Reporting in the age of pandemics: (the case of COVID-19), ethics, techniques, challenges and recommendations?

The history of COVID-19 has profoundly affected both, professional and personal aspect of journalists - from psychological trauma and refined investigations, to health risks for their families. When COVID-19 began to spread rapidly, journalists of all sectors didn’t find it easy to report from the field, nor they had easy access to certain areas. All this psychological terror unavoidably resulted with consequences and negative effects in daily reporting routines, particularly to online reporting. Reporting for online media seemed a bit easier at first sight, however it was not easy at all to present the findings to the public. There were many slipups, unethical reporting, violation of privacy, pretentious headlines, just as largely unconfirmed information, presentation of statements by people who had no clues about the virus and pandemics. Keeping it short, we confronted a chaotic situation on the ground. Despite this situation, the media are supposed to support a proper and professional reporting. Of course, for most of the journalists reporting about pandemic was not their strength, however as time passed they became more sensitive and more motivated to improve and catch up with the new dynamics. Referring to my experience and the expertise of media professionals, in such and similar situations there should be a planning - an agenda to keep moving by learning the necessary lessons about pandemics and by improving practices of emergency reporting, and finally, finding some time for rest and recuperation. Therefore, in order to cover the emergency situations such as the COVID 19 pandemic, the online media in Kosovo were expected to act relying on sound and ethically challenging reporting practices. The print media, television, radio and online media in particular, have made fundamental mistakes, not to mention information coming from social media accounts, which provide no evidence on who stands behind them. Sensitive circumstances require high professionalism, maturity, knowledge, and courage to face with unexpected situations and avoid the spread of fake news, which may have extremely negative impact in society. Unfortunately, there is only a small number of journalists in Kosovo capable of performing such field tasks with integrity and professionalism. Therefore, the attention we should pay towards this phenomenon obliges us to be really good and smart professionals and to calmly face the way Covid-19 is reported. The editorial teams of online media, televisions, radios and newspapers must assign mature journalists with sufficient experience and knowledge about the danger that distorted or inaccurate information pose. It is not only the journalists who should be at their best, because the statements of the institutionally responsible persons are also vital in this respect. This topic indeed addresses the reporting differences and nuances in reporting this global pandemic or other crisis situations