Covid is accelerating Southeast Asian media’s emphasis on online journalism skills
Many traditional newsrooms rushed to adapt, despite inadequate tools and training, according to Reporting ASEAN’s Johanna Son.
Takeaways
Johanna Son wrote Online Journalism and Storytelling — A Training and Learning Kit, available in Lao, Khmer, Burmese and Vietnamese editions.
With this book, veteran journalist Son hopes newsrooms in the Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam region can adapt to digital reporting tools amid the coronavirus pandemic.
As the pandemic paralyses newsrooms, doubling down on fact checking has become crucial.
Almost 40 percent of Myanmar-based journalists lost their jobs due to the pandemic and freelancing nearly doesn’t pay as much. Majority of journalists in Myanmar don’t know English, limiting their ability to freelance with international publications.
Context
As the pandemic struck, many traditional newsrooms across the ASEAN region rushed to adapt swiftly to digital modes of communicating and reporting despite inadequate availability of tools and resources.
Editor-in-chief of Reporting ASEAN Johanna Son worked with Fojo Media Institute to chronicle how newsrooms and journalists in the CMLV region — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam — were tackling a lack of digital skills, adapting to newer technologies while also reporting on the pandemic and politics.
Some insights from Johanna’s survey
59 percent of journalists and newsrooms in the CLMV region say Covid may change some newsroom functions through 2020.
Another 30 percent say the pandemic has changed journalism for good, albeit in ways that are not measurable yet.
In the entire CMLV region, 38 percent of journalists struggled in adapting to online work while another 38 percent found it easy, highlighting the demography difference and their adoption of technology.
Another 56 percent of newsrooms felt their storytelling through digital tools was average while 32 percent felt it was outstanding.
Newsrooms were aware of the skills they needed to tackle storytelling amid the pandemic. 43 percent felt infographics and visuals were crucial, and 31 percent felt the urgent need to know about Covid to fully support their stories. Another 52 percent of respondents felt the urgent need to learn data visualization and 36 percent wanted to learn digital interviewing skills.
Uyen Diep, Vietnam
Follows World Health Organization / John Hopkins University statistics and reports on how Covid has developed since February in Vietnam.
Provides morning and evening updates on contact tracing after new clusters are identified.
Emphasis on fact-checking Covid-related information across newsrooms in Vietnam as public health messaging.
Diep is optimistic about media survival in Vietnam and says adoption to new technologies, reporting in real-time on social media have made newsrooms stronger during the pandemic.
Mratt Kyaw Thu, Myanmar
Ahead of Myanmar’s elections, partisan politics curtailed freedom of journalists as newsrooms either self-censored or had their own ideology.
To focus on pursuing important stories, Thu quit his job in June and went freelance for international publications and focused on developing additional skill-sets including podcasting, blogging and digital interviews.
He says learning new skills, tools has become crucial as Myanmar’s media is fragmented, making the job of a journalist much harder.
Outlining media prospects in Myanmar, Thu predicts half of the publications will cease to exist in 2021, while 10-15 publications will survive the pandemic.
Bounheng Southichak, Laos
Editor of Laos Youth Radio, Bounheng Southichak says the pandemic helped his team grow as demand for swift and credible news increased in Laos.
His team comprising journalists and DJs, curated news and simplified them using infographics to cater to a younger demographic.
While traditional media suffered due to the pandemic, Laos Youth Radio saw their Facebook likes double.
With a 20+ strong team, LYR has become stronger and focused on using smartphones and infographics to deliver news.
Southichak further adds the media landscape in Laos will change post vaccine and journalists and newsrooms will have to be resilient and adapt to newer news cycles.