Covid-19 and journalism conundrums: a study on dilemmas in content selection

The study examined journalism practices covering Coronavirus disease (Covid-19), particularly online journalism in Solo, one of the metropolitan cities in Central Java Province of Indonesia. Solo is the first city in Indonesia to declare an extraordinary event due to the Covid-19 pandemic after coronavirus-linked deaths were reported. The notion of a dilemmatic situation, mainly in content selection, is the central perspective in this research. This research referred to news value theory and agenda-setting that used a qualitative approach method. The data were obtained through interviews with 20 journalists of online media in Solo. We also included non-participatory observation in the Solopos.com newsroom. The study suggests that, to some extent, journalists face a dilemma in choosing content to present news that concerns the public interest during the Covid-19 pandemic. The dilemma included determining interesting issues, attracting the public interest, and becoming meaningful to the readers, but not to endanger the personal safety and maintain professional sustainability because there is no news worthy of a life.

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UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN DEVELOPMENT NYIA (New Yogyakarta International Airport): AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND LEGAL APPROACH

Yustisia Jurnal Hukum ◽

10.20961/yustisia.v8i3.38230 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 477

Author(s):

Muhammad Fikri Alan

Keyword(s):

Public Interest ◽

Development Policy ◽

Development Process ◽

The State ◽

The Public ◽

International Airport ◽

The People ◽

Approach Method ◽

The One ◽

The Right

<em>This paper seeks to use economic and law approaches in looking at the problems that occur over the construction of New Yogyakarta International Airport (NYIA). According to the legal approach that is often done, it has not given a clear meaning of what the phrase "public interest" is. In fact, the meaning of this phrase becomes very important, considering that this is used as the basis by the state in seizing the right to land owned by people, which is then used for the construction of the airport. For the economic approach method, it is expected to be able to complete the approach, by analyzing whether the current development process can benefit the country economically or not. Thus, the use of economic approaches, in this case is the NYIA's development policy, in fact, can be ambiguous. On the one hand it can be a justification for the state to continue the development process. On the other hand, it can be a justification for the people who until now continue to expect the development of the NYIA to be halted.</em>

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News Values and the Ethical Dilemmas of Covering Violent Extremism

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly ◽

10.1177/1077699019847258 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 97 (1) ◽

pp. 278-298 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar

Keyword(s):

News Media ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Value Theory ◽

Ethical Challenges ◽

Journalism Ethics ◽

Content Selection ◽

Violent Extremism ◽

News Value ◽

The Media ◽

Group Interviews

This article examines the relationship between news media and violent extremism to explore the ethical issues emanating from it. It draws on news value theory and journalism ethics literature and analyzes data from individual and group interviews with 41 journalists and newsroom observations to highlight the ethical challenges of covering the Boko Haram insurgency. Findings suggest that journalists face dilemmas in content selection, source relationship, framing stories, and dealing with victims; and that terror reporting impacts on their personal safety and professional sustainability. The elements of newsworthiness push the media toward excessive reporting of extremism but journalism ethics plays restraining roles.

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