Access & Press Freedom
Connect with an Expert
The following organizations have made their experts available or are connecting journalists with health care & science experts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background & Sources
We’ve compiled the following resources to help journalists access an adequate and accurate background of COVID-19 from credible sources.
Tips for Reporters
From what questions you should ask to advice from experts, there is no absence of tips for reporters covering COVID-19.
- How to Report on the Digital Divide & COVID-19, Free Press
- 5 tips from a Harvard epidemiology professor, Journalist’s Resource
- 10 tips for journalists covering COVID-19, International Journalists Network
- 9 Ways to Strengthen Your Local COVID-19 Coverage, SciLine
- How to cover a fast-moving pandemic, Columbia Journalism Review
- How to Report on the COVID-19 Outbreak Responsibly, Scientific American
- What Investigative Reporters Around the World Need to Be Asking About COVID-19, Global Investigative Journalism Network
- List of questions reporters should be asking about coronavirus, compiled Propublica’s Caroline Chen, who lived through SARS and reported on Ebola
- Tips for Covering COVID-19, Global Investigative Journalism Network
- 5 Questions Reporters Need to Ask Hospitals and Local Officials About Coronavirus, ProPublica
Photography Resources
AP Style
Audiences & Engagement
Misinformation
Personal Wellbeing
The safety and wellbeing of the WNA community is our No. 1 priority. We hope you consider the following guidance on staying safe while covering the pandemic.
- UNESCO stresses importance of safety of journalists amid COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO
- Social Isolation, Mental Health, and COVID-19 Media Briefing, SciLine
- Editor Perspective: Self-Care Practices and Peer Support for the Newsroom, Dart Center for Trauma & Journalism
- Reporters Exposed to Traumatic Events: Tips for Managers and Editors, Dart Center for Trauma & Journalism
- Self-Care Amid Disaster, Dart Center for Trauma & Journalism
- How journalists can fight stress from covering the coronavirus, Poynter
- Media ethics, safety and mental health: reporting in the time of COVID-19, Ethical Journalism Network
- Tips for managing coronavirus reporting risks, Institute for Nonprofit News
- A guide to taking care of yourself and your newsroom in times of coronavirus, Nieman Lab
- Safety Advisory: Covering the coronavirus outbreak, Committee to Protect Journalists
- Stress & Coping Tips, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Digital Safety
Tips for Working Remotely
How newsrooms & journalism have been affected
- Wisconsin media considered essential under ‘Safer at Home’ order, Wisconsin Newspaper Association
- Coronavirus has left a lot of podcast pros recording in their closets, Nieman Lab
- What’s Working: The coronavirus crisis has lessons for us about service journalism, Reynolds Journalism Institute
- Local newspapers are facing their own coronavirus crisis, Associated Press
- The Newsroom at the Center of a Pandemic, New York Times
- Associated Press closes D.C. office after journalist shows coronavirus symptoms, Reuters
- One NICAR attendee’s positive test has sent a disruptive ripple through news orgs’ response to coronavirus, Nieman Lab
- CBS News discloses that a third staffer has tested positive for coronavirus, CNN
- Major US newspapers call on China to reverse expulsions, The Hill
- Journalism Needs a Stimulus. Here’s What it Should Look Like, Columbia Journalism Review
- 10 charts about America’s newsrooms, Pew Research Center
How journalists & others are responding
A look at how newsrooms are coping in light of the public health crisis, including inspiring success stories.
- Why are journalists skipping Trump’s daily coronavirus briefing? Not enough news to risk their health, Washington Post
- The nation’s top newspaper editors on the key to covering the coronavirus story, Poynter
- The 3 Best Things Local Newsrooms are Doing to Serve Their Communities, Knight-Cronkite News Lab
- How journalists around the world are covering the coronavirus, Columbia Journalism Review
- U.S. video journalist shares tips for covering COVID-19: ‘We have to get creative,’ Committee to Protect Journalists
- Google News Initiative pledges $6.5 million to help fight coronavirus misinformation
- This reporter took a buyout, but he’s still helping his former paper with coronavirus coverage ideas, Poynter
- How journalists are working together to cover the COVID-19 pandemic, Nieman Lab
- The journalism on display throughout the coronavirus story has been nothing short of spectacular, Poynter
- How Wisconsin newspapers are handling the coronavirus outbreak, Wisconsin Newspaper Association
- How the coronavirus could limit shoe-leather reporting, Columbia Journalism Review
- How newsrooms are operating amid novel Coronavirus outbreak, World News Publishing Focus
- Coronavirus Hospitalization Numbers Are Spotty. Journalists, Help Us Fill in the Gaps., ProPublica
- NNA letter requests congressional help for newspapers amid pandemic, Wisconsin Newspaper Association
- US reporters use SMS to reach local audiences with coronavirus coverage, journalism.co.uk
- People First: Wikimedia’s Response to COVID-19, Wikimedia
- Newspaper publishers launch websites to help small businesses, Wisconsin Newspaper Association
- Facebook will notify users who engaged with coronavirus misinformation, Axios
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The coronavirus pandemic has facilitated collaboration in the interest of public health across the industry. Here are some portals & news outlets where COVID-19 content has been made available for republication.
Shared Content
Maps & Data
- Coronavirus cases infographic (can be localized), SciLine
- COVID-19 Cases: State by state infographic, SciLine
- Free icons for coronavirus awareness, Icon Finder
- COVID-19 Community Mobility Report, Google
- Hospital capacity data, ProPublica
- Coronavirus Search Trends, Google
- Twitter Social Mobility Index, John Hopkins University
- US Health Weather Map, Kinsa
- Data for Good, Facebook
- County-level data for coronavirus cases, New York Times
- Hidden transmission estimate, New York Times & University of Texas
- Wisconsin Department of Health Services COVID-19 maps, Wisconsin DHS
- COVID-19 case mapper, Big Local News
- Changing traffic patterns during COVID-19, Wisconsin Policy Forum
Other Resource Hubs
Several other journalism organizations & associations continue to compile their own resource hubs, guides and handbooks for covering the novel coronavirus. Here are some of the best.
- Covering COVID-19: Resources for Journalists, International Center for Journalists
- Coronavirus Resource Center, John Hopkins University & Medicine
- The most reliable coronavirus dashboards, Digital Trends
- Resources & Training for Reporting in a Crisis, Google News Initiative
- Resources for Reporters, First Draft
- The Newsroom Guide to COVID-19, New York Times Library
- Coronavirus Tech Handbook, Newspeak House
- COVID-19 Briefing, World Federation of Science Journalists
- Journalist’s Toolbox Coronavirus, SARS and Flu Resources, Society of Professional Journalists
Surveys
Newspaper Front Pages
