For journalists and students alike, the novel coronavirus has brought a lot of changes in the way we do our jobs and what we can expect from the future of journalism.
Since the start of the pandemic, most reporters and journalists in Canada — including j-school students — are working from home, with sofas and coffee tables replacing offices and cubicles.
Traditional reporting has been replaced by Zoom interviews being crashed by kids, dogs, and kitties. Professional attire and makeup have left space for pyjamas, all-natural looks, and very long beards.
This is how the Living Room Newsroom was born.
A class project in which 20 students from the Centennial College Contemporary Journalism program utilized remote reporting to speak to journalists, editors, students, professors, and experts about how COVID-19 is changing the face of journalism.
For years, the future of journalism has been unclear.
Traditional print has been replaced by digital articles, revenue models have been changing, and it looks like COVID-19 will further expand this trend.
Companies such as Vice and BuzzFeed laid off numerous employees, Torstar was sold in a $52-million dollar deal becoming a private company again, while CBC cancelled all its internships until further notice.
Through candid Zoom interviews, photos, videos, and podcasts, we asked experts in the field of journalism how their routine has changed, what the future of journalism looks like, and the toll the pandemic has taken on their mental health.
Some sources include Toronto Star’s Jim Rankin and Rosie DiManno, CP24’s Chief Meteorologist Bill Coulter, and Roger Gingerich, Board of Directors for Commonwealth Fashion Council. We spoke to food journalists, sports journalists, fact checkers, data journalists, photographers, fashion journalists, political journalists and more.
Explore the Living Room Newsroom to see what they had to say.