{"id":65220,"date":"2020-03-30T15:59:33","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T19:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=65220"},"modified":"2025-10-17T11:11:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:11:04","slug":"journalism-covering-pandemic-issue","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/journalism-covering-pandemic-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton Journalism Students Finish Term by Covering Pandemic Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton Journalism Students Finish Term by Covering Pandemic Issues\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

In mid-March, when Carleton University cancelled face-to-face classes and moved to alternative modes of instruction for the rest of the term, third-year Journalism student Sarah MacFarlane left the city to be with her family near Winchester, south of Ottawa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the classes she\u2019s completing is focused on digital journalism, with students pitching stories that frequently end up getting published on Capital Current<\/em><\/a>, the program\u2019s flagship online publication. Prof. Allan Thompson<\/a>, who works with students as their editor, suggested they look for issues related to COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sarah MacFarlane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back home, MacFarlane noted the impact of the pandemic\u2019s social distancing restrictions on churches and faith-based communities that are a huge part of the social fabric of her rural part of the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt can be a tremendous comfort to get together at a time like this,\u201d says MacFarlane, who is using the phone and Internet to work on an article about how churches and other religious organizations are using technology to adapt to the new normal.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cSome churches are very technologically savvy<\/a> and can make the switch,\u201d she says, \u201cbut it\u2019s a very complicated process for those that are more traditional, and some people really need what they\u2019re able to provide.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Because church congregations tend to be older, parishioners may not be familiar with connecting online. Yet from Facebook pages to livestreaming services, whether it\u2019s something they\u2019ve done for years or a brand-new practice, churches are finding ways to offer reassurance and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacFarlane and her classmates are not only sharpening their journalism skills by reporting these stories, they\u2019re also disseminating important information that mainstream media outlets may not be able to cover with so much happening. And they\u2019re keeping themselves engaged in the world during a time of unprecedented uncertainty, when there\u2019s a risk of drifting toward feelings of helplessness and fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is giving me a sense of purpose,\u201d says MacFarlane. \u201cThis is the first real dramatic shift in society that I\u2019ve been a journalist for, and this is the type of situation when people rely on journalism. It\u2019s a duty and a public service, and I have an opportunity to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Talking to Sources from Afar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Thompson, a veteran journalist who covered the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda<\/a>, describes JOUR 3235<\/a> as a fairly typical third-year reporting class, so he asked students to pitch stories \u201cthat relate to the thing that everybody is talking about,\u201d with clear instructions to only interact with sources online and over the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s counter to the usual emphasis on seeking face-to-face interviews, and it presents challenges for acquiring images, although students were encouraged to ask people they speak with to shoot and share selfies that can be published online with the articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to finish the term and we really need students to do these assignments,\u201d says Thompson, \u201cso they can further develop their skills and also give me something more to assess them on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of his students is working on a story about how the pandemic will impact Ramadan, which starts in late April. Another is looking at what sports media are doing with no games to cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graham Swaney, an American student who is writing a feature on how homeless shelters are coping with the COVID-19 outbreak, has already published an article detailing his surreal journey<\/a> to his diplomat parents\u2019 home in the Dominican Republic after Carleton asked students to leave their residence rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a (template) for covering a crisis like this,\u201d says Thompson. \u201cTypically, they don\u2019t last for more than a few days or a few weeks, and we didn\u2019t have a 24-hour news cycle during the Spanish Flu.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cPeople are sitting in front of their TVs and computers and media are finding ways to tell us what we need to know. There\u2019s higher viewership than normal and journalists are providing an essential service. We\u2019re not doctors or firefighters, but journalists are important.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On one hand, journalists working on stories about traumatic situations are at risk of mental and emotional strain, adds Thompson, and we don\u2019t know how to gauge the impact of this load. On the other hand, he says, \u201ceven in normal times, journalism is a job that makes people feel like they\u2019re helping others by providing information that\u2019s useful, and that can be a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n

Pandemic: How the Most Vulnerable are Faring<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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For student Mercedes Belaiche, who is reporting on how food banks in Ottawa are dealing with increased demand with no volunteers and other challenges, the crisis is providing an eye-opening look into vulnerable populations and their supporting institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re still running and their doors are still open,\u201d she says, \u201cbut they\u2019ve had to change the way they do things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some clients served by food banks weren\u2019t aware there was a pandemic, Belaiche learned, and the staff she\u2019s spoken with said they haven\u2019t turned away a single hungry person.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a real-world lesson for students in the journalism program,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to rise up and cover things that might be overlooked. And it\u2019s reaffirming to me the importance of journalism: despite how busy they are, people want to talk and share their stories and demonstrate that what they\u2019re doing matters.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cJournalism has a way of uniting all kinds of different people,\u201d adds MacFarlane, \u201cespecially when we\u2019re physically separated. Journalism can remind us that we\u2019re all human beings and are all connected to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In mid-March, when Carleton University cancelled face-to-face classes and moved to alternative modes of instruction for the rest of the term, third-year Journalism student Sarah MacFarlane left the city to be with her family near Winchester, south of Ottawa. One of the classes she\u2019s completing is focused on digital journalism, with students pitching stories that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":65222,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[54,25],"cu_story_tag":[1921],"class_list":["post-65220","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-health-wellness","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/65220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/65220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98415,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/65220\/revisions\/98415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=65220"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=65220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}