COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 1

Running head: COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING

Covid-19, Free Speech, Hate Speech: Implications for Journalism Teaching

Jerry Crawford1, Anastasia Kononova2, Mia Moody-Ramirez3 and Carolyn Bronstein4

Abstract

The essay stems from conversations and research from AEJMC’s “Recommended Ethical

Professional Freedom & Responsibility Guidelines.” It is from this perspective that we address the handling of free speech during the Covid-19 and how threats to free speech, particularly during racially charged periods, may affect teaching in journalism and mass communication programs. Further, we discuss instances in which free speech is used during a crisis to contribute to racial and ethnic stereotypes and exacerbate sociopolitical divisions. We include background and context on the pandemic and how the media covered it; implications of and free speech; sourcing and citizen journalism; and various types of hate speech.

1 Associate Professor at William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communication, The University of Kansas 2 Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising + Public Relations, Michigan State University 3 Professor in the Department of Journalism, Public Relations & New Media, Baylor University 4 Professor of Media Studies in the College of Communication, DePaul University COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 2

The year into the current Covid-19 pandemic has brought irreversible changes to the global community. This pandemic presents an important opportunity for journalism and communication educators to consider the interplay among misinformation, free speech, hate speech and classroom teaching – whether in-person or virtual. The pandemic is not only a health concern, but it is also a politically divisive topic that has been debated from various perspectives.

Misinformation has been rampant – ranging from the seriousness of the pandemic in the beginning; to its various at-risk populations; to controversial untested, and ultimately ineffective, treatments for the disease caused by the novel . Racism and xenophobia emerged in media coverage because the use of certain frames had the potential to lessen the importance of treating the disease among some populations. The use of coded language – not labeled hate speech – to denigrate ethnic groups, especially Asians, increased. The pandemic has altered how individuals are living and working and is likely to permanently change our collective views of health and safety. It is less clear whether the pandemic has affected or limited free speech and, specifically, how journalists are able to exercise this critical right during times of social unrest.

This essay analyzes how the Covid-19 pandemic unfolding may have affected free speech rights and the use of hate speech in 2020, with particular focus on the implications for academia.

Specifically, it looks at the spread of misinformation, use of secondary messaging, and how journalism educators can best students to discern credible information and carry out responsible reporting in an increasingly fractured society. We consider conversations surrounding free speech and hate speech that arose in tandem with Covid-19, as the pandemic coincided with an energized wave of social activism around the #BlackLivesMatter and

#StopAAPIhate movements, and Americans’ demands over the removal of culturally insensitive symbols in American culture, such as statues of Christopher Columbus and Confederate COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 3 memorabilia. This intersection of public expression around the pandemic and movements for social justice lead us to ask: Where do we draw the line between free speech and hate speech?

The Covid-19 pandemic sparked debates about free speech among people representing various positions on the political spectrum. This paper is written from the perspective of the

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication “Recommended Ethical

Professional Freedom & Responsibility Guidelines.” AEJMC takes this stance on free speech:

Free expression should be nurtured and protected at all levels. AEJMC members should promote and protect free expression, particularly and freedom of the press. AEJMC members should work to improve the understanding of free expression intellectually, historically and legally. They should also work to implement this freedom in the broadest sense: within the organization, on their campuses, in their communities, and nationally. Free expression is a fundamental right and responsibility; AEJMC members should serve as the voice and support of free expression on their campuses and in their communities whenever that right is threatened. AEJMC as an organization should establish and maintain a position as an advocate of free expression with regional and national authorities that seek to limit this right.

We offer a robust discussion on journalism education and teaching about Covid-19, including insights gleaned from two AEJMC PF&R-sponsored chats held in April and May 2020.

We provide suggestions for teaching students how to gather and verify information in the age of and pandemic and discuss how the pandemic might affect the reporting and news gathering process going forward. The essay concludes with a proposed teaching exercise on Covid-19 and free speech.

Misinformation, Censorship and Free Speech During a Crisis

Similar to how the Covid-19 epidemic became a pandemic, the discussion of free speech and media gained international, if not global, significance. Media users worldwide increased their consumption of news during the 2020 pandemic (Mandler, March 23, 2020), seeking accurate information to monitor the health crisis, protect themselves and their families and COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 4 communities, and provide help to others. Along with verified information, however, they were bombarded with hundreds of stories that misinformed and uninformed them. afforded users to amplify the sharing of these stories.

During the early stages of the pandemic, there was a rapid take down of social media posts containing misinformation regarding Covid-19. Authoritarian practices in information censoring that were perceived as unacceptable for a democratic regime a decade ago became the reality in the today. This facilitated a comparison of the U.S. with less democratic countries, such as and (Goldsmith & Woods, April 25, 2020). As Goldsmith and

Woods (April 25, 2020) point out, because of “constitutional and cultural differences,” censorship of digital information in the U.S. is performed mostly by private companies rather than the government. Yet, in essence, these practices are similar to government censorship in some other countries.

Journalism and communication students often learn about the marketplace of ideas in introductory communication classes. According to this metaphor introduced by John Stuart Mill in 1859, truth is discovered through an intense competition of ideas. Every idea has a chance to be considered against others and, through such completion, to thrive and be accepted or to wither away. In theory, free speech allows any idea to enter the marketplace and, thus, facilitates transparency and search for truth (Gordon, 1997). “Cyber-optimists” applauded the development of the Internet as they saw it play an important role in expanding the positive influences of free speech on democratic progress. Pessimists viewed this medium as a tool to hinder the free exchange of ideas by locking Internet users within their ideological “bubbles,” perpetuating stereotypes and division among different social and political groups, and manipulating information for anti-democratic purposes (e.g., Morozov, 2012). The Covid-19 crisis and the COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 5 rapid spread of information and misinformation about the virus on the Internet, especially on social media, further deepened the debate between cyber-optimists and pessimists about the balance between free speech and protecting citizens of the Web from harmful effects of inaccurate fact reporting and sharing. Interestingly, while the majority of Americans (65%) continue to value the Internet as the platform of free exchange of ideas, four out of five support removing “false and misleading health information” as well as political from social media. However, their trust in private Internet companies and the government to do it is low (Sands, June 16, 2020).

Several main agents can be identified in the chain of false information dissemination: source; channel; sharing audience, or media users who contribute to content amplification by sharing non-original stories; and receiving audience. Information spreading can be facilitated by any of these agents. For example, health care officials advised against using medical masks in the beginning of the pandemic. As the medical research on the disease advanced, it was later suggested that mask wearing was important to protect against spreading the virus (Ibrahim, June

18, 2020). Thus, the unique character of the pandemic created the situation in which media users received and shared conflicting, yet verified information from credible sources, such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization, and had to monitor it constantly and thoroughly to resolve inconsistencies and protect themselves.

The main difference between misinformation and disinformation is in the presence of the person’ or the organization’ intention to spread false facts. The discussion of the intention became particularly important during the Covid-19 crisis. While the audiences that share misinformation on the Internet may simply not realize that it is partially or fully false, original sources or sources that misinterpret original information may be more likely to have a motive to COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 6 share misinformation on coronavirus matters. Information about Covid-19 has been used for political and commercial gains (Fleming, June 17, 2020). A viral meme rewording CDC’s guidelines for school reopening in fall 2020 circulated on social media in the end of May 2020 to make it appear that CDC limits individual freedom by setting strict rules (rather than suggestions) for students, teachers and parents (Sadeghi, May 22, 2020). Around the same time, a conspiracy-based online video “” went viral and continued to earn millions of views despite being removed from popular platforms such as YouTube and Facebook. The premise of the film is to question the true motives of health, academic, and political establishment in managing the pandemic and bluntly attributing Covid-19 emergence and spread to their malicious intention to sell vaccines (Benkelman & Mantas, May 14, 2020; Cook, van der Linden,

Lewandowsky, & Ullrich, May 15, 2020). Commercial reasons to disseminate dis- and misinformation are related to selling unapproved remedies and increasing the number of clicks on websites attractive to advertisers (Fleming, June 17, 2020).

Covid-19 became a prolific topic to generate and distribute accurate and inaccurate reports and, as a result, created an additional pressure on media content users in sorting what is true, partially true, or not true at all. We expect that media users are guided by reason and knowledge of credible information sources to make decisions about content consumption and sharing. At least, we would expect that social media content sharers embrace the role of citizen journalists by evaluating original sources of information, comparing them with other credible sources, such as scientific publications, and checking facts before sharing. However, in the environment of health, economic, and social turmoil that the years of 2020 and 2021 have brought, it becomes difficult to demand audiences to be fully responsible for the content that they engage with. Multiple organizations, including national and international government and health COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 7 agencies (e.g., CDC, WHO), news agencies and newsrooms (e.g., Reuters, USA Today), and information sharing platforms (e.g., Facebook) claimed part of such responsibility to protect citizens from false information and ideas that could potentially harm them. Many of these organizations have been offering education to their audiences on how to recognize false information about Covid-19 (Benkelman & Mantas, May 14, 2020). Moving part of the responsibility in assessing information and ideas from the audience to information sources and channels of news distribution leads to the concern about the right balance between protecting free speech and protecting media users from the harms of mis- and disinformation.

One of the primary issues that surfaced during the pandemic was the approach to handling misinformation. Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management, said that the basic approach to identifying and redressing speech judged to be misinformation or to present an imminent risk of physical harm “hasn’t changed.” As in other contexts, Facebook relies on fact-checking organizations and “authorities” (e.g., WHO, U.S. states’ governments) to ascertain which content to downgrade or remove (Madrigal, January 28, 2020).

Surveillance and speech-control responses to Covid-19 by companies such as and

Facebook and the private sector’s collaboration with the government in these efforts have been unique and historic. Our constitutional rights have adjusted to digital platforms. So, the question remains: Will internet speech go back to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic ends? (Goldsmith

& Woods, April 25, 2020). Officials at Apple and Google have told critics that their partnership will end once the pandemic subsides. Facebook has said that its aggressive censorship practices will cease when the crisis ends. But when Covid-19 is behind us, we will still live in a world where private firms vacuum up huge amounts of personal data and to collaborate with COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 8 government officials who want access to that data. As Goldsmith and Woods (April 25, 2020) put it:

We will continue to opt into private digital surveillance because of the benefits and conveniences that result. Firms and governments will continue to use the masses of collected data for various private and social ends.

Another concern is that government involvement will grow. At the moment, the private sector is making most of the important decisions, though often under government pressure.

Finally, it is important to acknowledge that specific types of information related to lived experiences, opinions, attitudes and beliefs are more difficult to verify or agree upon. They are less likely to be labeled as true or false as they are more about inviting citizens with opposing views and experiences to a free and open conversation. The existing and emerging journalism practices should equip news practitioners and citizen journalists with tools, such as speaking with and citing multiple sources, consulting experts, and gathering people’s stories, to distinguish between and synthesize basic fact-based information and the contexts in which it circulates and is interpreted. This journalistic method does not (and should not) reject subjectivity per se because reporters’ and their sources’ lived experiences contribute immensely to the multidimensional coverage of news events and allow the audience to not only know about but empathize with news story characters. However, in the divisive sociopolitical climate exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis, the product of journalists’ work that integrates factual information and its subjective assessment by various parties can be perceived as biased. This further complicates the matter because the existing educated journalism practices co-exist with the spreading of mis- and disinformation. Unverified statements from vague or unidentified sources can be widely spread and taken for facts, especially among media users with strong partisan views (Barnidge, Gunther, Kim, et al. 2020). This phenomenon contributes to the rise of COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 9 new fact-checking organizations, a new employment venue for journalism students, that can offer non-partisan information verification services to people with different political ideologies and affiliations (Bell, 2019).

Media Coverage of “Persistent” Covid-19 Events

“The Media.” This simple phrase has become synonymous with “journalism,” which can create more problems than solutions in the ways people gather their information and expectations they hold of journalists. The First Amendment’s promise of free expression and the advent of digital technology have allowed people to have a wider variety of venues for speech than ever before. How journalists and the media, in general, cover the instances of these expressions is important in how Americans form their ideas of both the actual instance and how the media create any agendas. It is imperative to recognize that “media” means more than traditional news organizations. To many, media includes popular platforms like Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets. For example, other non-journalistic online sites, such as prattlibrary.org, claim to help find credible news sources.

A May 8, 2020, Pew Research Center article provided a look at how “news media” are consumed. “When asked to evaluate the news media’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak,

Americans, divided by political party affiliation, are more likely than not to think that the news media are fulfilling four key roles.” These roles include getting the audience the information they need; being greatly accurate; working for the benefit of the public; and helping the country

(Gottfried, Walker, & Mitchell, 2020). What are not reflected in this list of expectations include that media often serve as a source of entertainment rather than information; that they often offer COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 10 opinions and commentary that can be misconstrued as basic facts; and that serving the corporate media interests goes along with serving the public.

The question is whether journalists, current and future, themselves are able to differentiate their coverage from those of opinionists, citizen journalists and commentators – none of which have to follow the codes and responsibilities required by journalists. Another question is whether reporters recognize political and corporate agendas they are involuntary serving while trying to deliver quality information to the public. It is important that journalists – both in the classroom teaching students and in the field informing the public – incorporate media literacy in the presentation of the information. When there is blatant or even simply erroneous information, it must be addressed early and with the same vigor and effort as the inaccurate initial reporting.

Critical assessment of sources is a crucial component of media literacy. For example, the

Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment has created an aggregated site focusing on Covid-

19 Media Coverage. The site finds stories, in America and from around the world, from trusted news sites, columns, bloggers and others. But even a site like this one, does not provide any context for news professionals and audiences. It simply lists online sources of information, and the reader is left to depend on their own media literacy skills to determine what is real news and what is commentary or what is credible and what is not credible.

***

Ananda Mitra, media contributor for Forbes, defined news about the Covid-19 pandemic as “ ‘persistent news’ that is a global ongoing event that involves everyone” (Mitra, June 9,

2020). According to this journalist, “persistent news” is different from “breaking news” that usually has a shorter lifespan. Mitra suggested a possibly new paradigm in how media cover COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 11 multiple events within the same topic such as Covid-19. For example, he posited that American news industry had to decide how to balance the persistent Covid-19 pandemic along with the outbreak of the historic protests regarding (BLM). A political columnist Kyle

Whitmire explored this concept – simultaneous coverage of Covid-19 and BLM –in a June 13,

2020, article on www.al.com. Whitmire showed that the two topics were not dissimilar.

If you lay both stories on top of each other to see how they overlap, you will see they are not so unrelated. Their edges line up very well. Racism kills in many ways. It kills through police brutality. It kills through the lack of health care. It kills with bullets. It kills with toxins, pathogens and disease ([email protected], June 14, 2020).

Covid-19, Race, Hate Speech and Xenophobia

A Twitter chat sponsored by the AEJMC PF&R committee indicated participants did not feel silenced in their discussions of Covid-19. A few mentioned that they had heard video conferencing meetings were being recorded and retained on a server to be reviewed. Another tweet mentioned a letter had been circulated at their university indicating that professors might be careful what they say in their video conference meetings. Professors also indicated they were worried about academic freedom and free speech limitations because their lectures included issues related to gender, race and media.

The AEJMC PF&R Twitter discussion of academic freedom surrounding the issues of gender and race came five months before the former president of the United States issued an

Executive Order 13950 of September 22, 2020, on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping. The

Order explicitly criticized academic knowledge related to the critical race theory and terms, such as intersectionality, that are associated with it, and prohibited any federal funds to be used in support of diversity training for federal employees (National Archives and Records

Administration, n.d.). This Order was criticized in the academic circles as infringing on COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 12 academic freedom (e.g., University of Michigan’s National Center for Institutional Diversity &

University of Southern Race and Equity Center, October 20, 2020). Despite the controversial document was dismissed and archived in January 2021 by the new presidential administration, the attempts to limit diversity education continue. For example, 52 diversity courses were canceled at Boise State University…

… as lawmakers advanced a budget cutting funding, threatened further cuts, and added provisions barring Idaho universities from using state funding to support “social justice” activities, clubs, events, or organizations (Steinbaugh, March 23, 2021).

This trend is concerning for journalism educators as the discussions of race, gender, colonialism and related fault lines are crucial to the quality of contemporary journalism training in North

America (Callison & Young, 2019; Len-Ríos & Perry, 2019).

The Twitter chat participants indicated misinformation surrounding race and Covid-19 was common. Studies back this assertion. Early on, African Americans were told they were unaffected by the virus because of their melanin. However, studies would later refute this argument. Using what they labeled as the Covid-19 Racial Tracker, a joint project of the

Antiracist Research & Policy Center and the COVID Tracking Project, revealed significant racial disparities in Covid-19 health outcomes. Findings indicated nationally that African-American deaths from Covid-19 were nearly two times greater than would be expected. In fact, in four states, the rate was three or more times greater. Latinos and Hispanics tested positive for the coronavirus at rates higher than would be expected, with rates two times higher in 30 states, and over four times higher in eight states (Godoy & Wood, May 30, 2020). Furthermore, infection cases and death rates were two times higher than expected and the hospitalizations rate was four times higher than expected in Native Americans and Indigenous communities (Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, March 12, 2021). COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 13

Race and ethnicity continue to be an essential factor in not only contracting the virus but also vaccinating against it. As of April 5, 2021, 32% of American Indian/Alaska Native, 28% of

White, 27% of Asian, and 26% of Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander populations in the

U.S. have gotten the vaccine, while these rates are only at 16% and 17% for Hispanic and

African American/Black communities, respectively (Hill & Artiga, April 9, 2021; Ndugga et al.

April 7, 2021).

The time of medical uncertainty across the country, with the virus disproportionally affecting communities of color, coincided with multiple instances of violence against these communities. The virus was labeled as “foreign” and, more precisely, “Chinese” by the leaders of the former U.S. administration, referring to the first outbreak in , China. This use of language created a wave of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia (Viala-Gaudefroy & Lindaman,

April 21, 2020). Viala-Gaudefroy and Lindaman (April 21, 2020) explained political rhetoric that “others” Asians using the “disgust metaphor”:

... The expression "foreign virus" implies that the nation is a body facing an external threat identified as foreign. [...] Such language implies that borders will protect an uncontaminated, homogeneous and somewhat “pure” population from the filthy, malignant foreigner. [...] Associating the virus with foreigners also plays to [a] cognitive bias against outsiders and immigrants and [a] fear of contagion – racial, social, cultural or otherwise.

Throughout 2020 and the beginning of 2021, people of Asian heritage in the U.S. continued suffering from online and offline verbal assaults as well as physical violence (e.g., Haynes,

March 6, 2020; Hussain, February 3, 2020; Tavernise & Oppel, March 23, 2020). On March 16,

2021, six Asians were shot and killed in a shooting massacre in Atlanta. The incident that gained national attention uncovered a problem of a much larger scale related to the hate of and violence against the Asian and Pacific Islander communities that intensified during the pandemic (Stop

Asian American and Pacific Islander Reporting Center, n.d.). Thus, the Covid-19 pandemic COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 14 ignited the spread of not only health and political dis- and misinformation but also expressions of intolerance, exclusion, and hate, already stoked by an intolerant former White House.

In the first eight months of 2020, 164 Black persons were killed by police, including

Breonna Taylor and George Floyd whose deaths received extensive media coverage and resonated with the public (Cohen, September 10, 2020). Social unrest erupted on May 25, 2020, after George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Floyd, accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill, had his neck compressed by an officer’s knee while in handcuffs for roughly nine minutes before later dying. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, this created additional challenges for journalists who covered demonstrations – often in a war zone atmosphere in which the fear of Covid-19 was coupled with the fear of being shot by rubber bullets, tear gassed or even killed. Journalism and communication educators scrambled to prepare students for the complex challenges created by a novel pandemic and a new social movement that challenged systemic racism and often encouraged the removal of oppressive symbols – which many saw as an infringement on free speech. The great span of these topics made this essay challenging and, at times, almost impossible to write, but it is one that is needed to help educators sort out the many difficulties we are navigating at this pivotal point in history.

Economic concerns during the coronavirus outbreak also deepened the bias against first- generation immigrants and foreigners that often intersected with race and ethnicity. The pandemic provided an opportunity to impose additional restrictions on permanent residency

(“green card”) and work visa (e.g., H1B) applications to “save” hundreds of thousand jobs for

American citizens. These restrictions were framed as a measure to reduce unemployment rates in the U.S. that reached 14 million during the pandemic, despite some U.S. businesses considered this measure ineffective (Kanno-Youngs & Haberman, June 12, 2020; Kochhar, June 11, 2020; COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 15

McCarty Carino, June 23, 2020; Shear & Jordan, June 22, 2020). Attempts were made to put travel restrictions on international students taking online courses at American universities during the pandemic (The , July 6, 2020). While such attempts were unsuccessful, it is yet to discover how these developments affected the conversations in the media sphere and contributed to the stereotyping and “othering” of foreigners and immigrants.

The processes described above are not a new occurrence. Litam (2020) found the emergence of new infectious diseases historically has led to discrimination against groups of non-European descent and the scapegoating of Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders

(AAPIs), be them citizens, immigrants who are yet to gain citizenship, or foreigners. Litam

(2020) states, “The problematic, biased and misleading media coverage of Covid-19 has led to increased rates of racial discrimination and Sinophobia attitudes.” This point is important for journalists to consider in order to fairly represent people from minoritized racial and ethnic communities and tell their stories – i.e., convey their lived experiences – to audiences.

***

Free speech and expression are closely monitored for obscenity, child abuse, incitement to violence, bullying, disinformation and fake e-sources (e.g., bots), among others, and U.S. government agencies actively work with private companies to identify and remove instances of harmful information. This becomes problematic when the extent of “content harmfulness” is not easy to identify (Goldsmith & Woods, April 25, 2020). Although the First Amendment prohibits governments from regulating the content of speech except for cases of defamation and incitement to riot, some philosophers argue for blanket protection of First Amendment rights, while others are not as supportive in cases of sexist or hate-based language (Frankel, 2004; Mill,

1869). Mill (1869) maintained that the First Amendment should not protect their ideas, images or COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 16 words if they are harmful to another individual. Educators must consider training students in how to be on alert for certain words that are dog-whistle terms for hate speech.

Hate speech is defined as any communication that disparages a person or a group based on characteristics such as race or sexual orientation (Levy & Karst, 2000). An inevitable problem in any discussion of hate speech lies in the difficulty of defining the phrase. For example, racial, ethnic or sexual epithets must be judged contextually. Some pejorative terms might be considered acceptable when used within a community as a means of reclaiming offensive language for themselves, such as women using the term “bitch,” or “queer” within the gay community (Harris, Rowbotham and Stevenson, 2009, p. 157). Another concern is that much of the hate speech that surfaced during the Covid-19 virus included dog-whistle-type language or code words that were hidden political strategies that conveyed a secondary message.

Covid-19 created a heightened potential for students to cover events that might include the need to use language that might be considered racist, classist and otherwise harmful or inappropriate. Issues of racism and xenophobia came under consideration because the use of hate speech may lessen the importance of treating the disease in some demographics. The use of coded or racist language to denigrate certain groups, microaggressions, xenophobia and racism were common during the onset of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic – often labeled the “Chinese virus,” “Kung flu” or “poor person’s disease.” The use of words must be scrutinized because they have the ability to foster support or foster hatred, as well as incite violence, toward communities of color.

COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 17

Journalism education and teaching about Covid-19

Gone, for now, is the large journalism in-person lecture course. The course most know and can relate to as students. Gone with it also, unfortunately, is the chance to really be able to have a full discussion of how to cover the major events of today. There are very few stories larger than Covid-19. Yes, you can have hybrid and even full online experiences. However, these are not the same as having the ability to share the experiences and then move into the “hands-on” portion of the course. No amount of or Blackboard Collaborate or other software- generated online course meeting applications can replace this experience. Or can they? At the heart of journalism is “seeking the truth.” Journalism courses, starting with the first 101 lecture class to the more advanced in-depth reporting and theory classes, all will need to follow the core values of journalism. Distance and online learning should not be a hindrance to these principles.

As we look at the core courses offered to journalism schools and units, the topic of

“credible sourcing” should remain paramount to reporting and all media professions. The challenge is now, “What are reliable and verifiable sources available to our students?” Never fear, educators! Journalism has always been able to adjust to the times and subsequent technology. For years, journalism instructors were stern in their expectation for students to conduct face-to-face interviews. Rarely would a phone call be accepted as a form of sourcing for stories. Later, this extended to a “no email interview” form of sourcing. However, that was when news was typically published by a newspaper or covered on the evening television news and then perhaps updated the next day. Today, news is in a constant state of flux. Updates are made continuously. When visiting a website, one of the first things a viewer checks is when the site was last updated and, if this hasn't occurred recently, he/she/they move/s on to another site

(Pavlik, 2001, p. xiv). So, how can students learn how to discern the worth and viability of the COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 18 sources available to them? Journalism should incorporate media literacy into their courses. Units should include in their syllabi, course materials and selected readings, information regarding techniques and skills to find and trust sources. Table 1 offers a carefully curated list of resources that may be useful for discussions on Covid-19 and the intersection of race and free speech. In addition, the reader can find a sample exercise in Appendix 1 for students to complete in remote journalism classes to practice fact-checking, storytelling, and inclusive reporting.

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Table 1 is about here

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While the verification of basic facts that help uncover the common reality (i.e., meticulous reconstruction of “what exactly has happened”) is one of the main goals of journalistic work, journalism instructors and students must remember that gathering such facts without providing relevant context and telling people’s stories is the job only half done. As we state earlier, subjectivity in news gathering and reporting must be as essential to the profession as fact gathering and checking. The multidimensional view of any news event should include sources’ lived experiences, especially, when people from minoritized communities share their stories and feelings, and reporters’ own accounts of events when on professional duty. This type of work is challenged substantially when direct interpersonal contact that involves hours of observations and conversations is not possible. This means that journalism educators should continue to prepare reporters for field work even in the times of digital communication prevalence and social distancing. At the end, reporters are essential frontline workers whose health, safety, and life are often at stake when delivering important news to the public. COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 19

At its core, effective teaching will still require the fundamentals of creating an inclusive classroom - defined by dynamism and flexibility, including meaningful outcomes with the ability to assess student learning. As educators begin to structure these syllabi and their overall course, they will need to take into account topics – such as the digital divide; inclusivity and access; learning styles and teacher/student interaction; technology support; and which digital tools to use. Not every student will have access to high-speed internet or computers able to handle some of the software required for your course. The challenge is not in moving from the classroom to hybrid online. The challenge is continuing to teach students how to identify responsible sources and tell representational and inclusive stories while holding reporters accountable for maintaining the professional standards established in journalism education programs. Fact checking and storytelling – be it in how Covid-19 is being covered and reported in traditional news organizations – or how thoughts and lived experiences are put on Twitter, Facebook or other online sources, will be dependent on a media literate education.

COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 20

References

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Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (n.d.). Nine Accrediting Standards. Retrieved June 23, 2020, from http://www.acejmc.org/policies- process/nine-standards/

Alcindor, Y. (2020, May 12). 'We're angry and we're hurting.' Why communities of color suffer more from COVID-19. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved June 23, 2020, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/were-angry-and-were-hurting-why-communities-of- color-suffer-more-from-covid-19.

Barnidge, M., Gunther, A. C., Kim, J., Hong, Y., Perryman, M., Tay, S. K., & Knisely, S. (2020). Politically motivated selective exposure and perceived media bias. Communication Research, 47(1), 82-103.

Bell, E. (2019). The fact-checking industry. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved June 4, 2020, from https://www.cjr.org/special_report/fact-check-industry-twitter.php.

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Table 1. Educational Resources for Covid-19 and Free Speech and Issues of Race

Title Description URL #AEJMC_PFR_Covid19 During a May 7, 2000 AEJMC Twitter chat Use this hashtag to Twitter chat on free speech, misinformation and Covid-19 find information on hosted by the Standing Committee on this topic: Professional Responsibility, a suggestion #AEJMC_PFR_Covi emerged to have students watch and then fact d19 check a government briefing, such as the COVID19 Task Force to practice the skills of identifying fact vs. Misinformation. ACEJMC’s Standard 3 There has been, and required by ACEJMC http://www.acejmc.or accredited units, a focus on diversity – in g/policies- readings, experiences and cultures. process/nine- ACEJMC’s Standard 3 reads, in part, “The standards/ unit’s curriculum fosters understanding of issues and perspectives that are inclusive in terms of domestic concerns about gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation” AEJMC Teaching AEJMC’s site has many links for teaching and Resources page learning. It includes links to best practices and https://www.aejmc.or tips. The Teaching Tools page has additional g/home/resources/tea guides and links for educators. ching-resources/ Be Credible: Information This website addresses credible sourcing and https://otn.pressbooks Literacy for Journalism, reinforces the link between evaluating sources .pub/becredible/front- Public Relations, and student’s own credibility by encouraging matter/introduction/ Advertising and students to approach every source with the Marketing Students A question, ‘If I use this source in my writing, useful open-source book will it contribute or diminish my own (free downloadable PDF) credibility? News Literacy Project’s The site’s mission statement reads in part, https://newslit.org homepage “…empowers educators to teach students the skills they need to become smart, active consumers of news and other information… Radio Television Digital RTDNA provides information for how to https://www.rtdna.org News Association handle coverage for Covid-19 and other issues / (RTNDA) in the public’s interest. SPJ, NABJ, PRSA, and Professional media sites offer resources for See individual site: BEA students and educators to use in the classroom● https://www.spj.org/ and in their reporting. These aggregated ● https://www.prsa.org/ websites in support of skills and links to aid in● https://www.nabj.org/ COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 27

teaching and learning about media literacy for● https://www.beaweb. educators, parents and teachers. org/wp/

Stanford Woods Institute This site aggregates information from multiple https://woods.stanfor for the Environment sources around the world that focus on Covid- d.edu/news/covid-19- 19 coverage. These sources include trusted media-coverage news sites, columns, blogs and others. Thus, the resource offers a wide spectrum of facts and opinions some of which might still need to be verified. Journalism students might use this resource as the first step in information gathering. Yet, they must remember to cross- check every fact they report.

Statista Statista is focused on the business sector and https://www.statista.c how this translates into how readers can find om/ information on testing and other aspects of the novel coronavirus. The American Press The American Press Institute is a professional www.americanpressi Institute organization that provides valuable nstitute.org information about principles and ethical practices of journalism as well as gives tips about how to identify misinformation online. Thought Bias Resource Written by journalism expert, Tony Rogers, https://www.thoughtc the page features eight points in how to look o.com/ for bias and expertise in finding and using online resources.

COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 28

Appendix 1

Sample Teaching Exercise

Introduction The Code of Ethics for AEJMC’s Professional Freedom & Responsibility (PF&R) contains in its Section III “Media criticism and accountability should be fostered.” Within this framework, and to help ensure the freedom of expression, you are to conduct a constructive evaluation of the professional marketplace (AEJMC, 2015).

Throughout this exercise, students explore the reliability and structure of media messaging from the government. This assignment outlines an exercise that was used in a University of Kansas Multimedia Reporting course. However, it can be modified to be included in any media course. The exercise can be taught in a variety of classroom models – in person (in person discussion and presentations); hybrid or completely online environments (Blackboard and Banner discussion boards). An examination of facts and lived experiences, and how to interpret and evaluate “the truth” in the information is important since briefings and documentation from government sources are deemed to be accurate.

“For this assignment, view or read the full transcript of a city council, county board of supervisor, or other government news conference/briefing regarding Covid-19. Using the skills you have learned regarding media literacy and evaluating information, analyze the contents and messages of the meetings and evaluate the information presented as “facts” by the speakers. Furthermore, identify what contexts important for fact interpretation are missing and what sources you would like to follow up with to gain a multidimensional account of events?

Pay particular attention to any references to marginalized populations and any strata of age- related information. ○ Who were the relevant speakers? ○ What were their titles? ○ What were the government agencies represented? ○ What are the primary and secondary sources? ○ How much time (in minutes/percentage) was spent on – ○ Was there any discussion or relevance to race-, gender-, immigration- and other social identity-specific topics? ○ What were the ages, genders and socioeconomic characteristics of meeting participants? ○ Did any participant share information beyond facts, such as their feelings about the situation, stories and anecdotes from their personal lives? How and why will you incorporate this information in your story? ○ Identify whose perspectives were missing in the meeting. List a number of sources you will follow up with to provide the contexts through which you will invite the reader to interpret the facts.”

COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 29

Rationale This assignment helps students learn how government presentations from various agencies sometimes include data and positions expedient to political aspirations and agendas. However, in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, are the facts provided by elected officials and government spokespeople completely accurate? Viterittie (1997) stated that public reporting, external communication and publicity to accomplish democratic accountability are inherent in the activities of government agencies and public managers. In addition, students will learn to seek perspectives missing from the event and event records, include sources that are excluded, yet, crucial to represent, and tell their stories in ethical and empathetic ways.

This assignment is four-pronged. First, students use previous skills of identifying Primary Sources. According to the Society of American Archivists, Primary sources are being produced at the time of the event while Secondary sources cite information from primary sources, or provide interpretation from primary sources. Second, students consider the reliability and trustworthiness of the sources. Which sources inform accurately, and which can be considered as misinforming? Third, students examine the amount of time and percentage of information in the Covid-19 briefings or presentations regarding marginalized populations. Fourth, students embrace the subjective nature of reporting by seeking sources whose voices are excluded and obtaining information about their perspectives and experiences.

The exercise steps are listed below:

Steps 1) Students watch an entire Covid-19 government briefing or presentation or read the full transcript from the proceeding. Examples – a) https://buffalonews.com/news/local/most-adult-age-groups-similarly-at-risk-for- contracting-covid-19/article_04d030d1-9c89-578c-9da9-af46b1263531.html b) https://news.wttw.com/2020/04/10/pritzker-expanding-covid-19-testing-address- huge-racial-disparity-cases-deaths c) https://multco.us/novel-coronavirus-covid-19/news/new-numbers-show-covid-19- damage-communities-color-leaders-call

2) In class, or using learning management system (e.g., Blackboard, Canva, D2L) discussion boards, students discuss the topic. a) Who were the relevant speakers? b) What were the top three things the speakers discussed or stated? c) What “facts” were presented via either an infographic or chart? d) Did any participants share information beyond basic facts and expert commentary, such as opinions, feelings about the situation, stories and anecdotes from their personal lives? e) Were reporters able to ask questions and were the questions answered? f) Whose perspectives were absent from the event/discussion?

3) Students will then – COVID-19, FREE SPEECH, NEWS REPORTING 30

a) Follow up with at least two sources connected to the briefing that seem to be the most relevant to the discussion; b) Find at least two sources that are relevant to the meeting but were not present in it; c) Find at least three alternative sources to check the validity of the stated facts; d) Provide a brief background check of the speakers’ credentials for their expertise; and e) Develop and write at least five questions for the speakers and additional sources absent from the meeting as follow-up and clarification of the facts and personal stories that have been presented.

Takeaway for students The primary takeaway for students is evaluating the media messages and agenda positions of the spokespeople and if there is implicit bias within the messages and information. As students develop a better understanding of political, public and media agendas as well as media bias, they will be prepared to analyze whose voices and stories are excluded from the mainstream narratives and should be provided a media platform to contribute to the conversation.

Resources: ● https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/primary-source.html ● Recommended Ethical Professional Freedom & Responsibility Guidelines. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.aejmc.org/home/?s=PF%26R ● Viteritti, Joseph P. (1997). "The Environmental Context of Communication: Public Sector Organizations," in James L. Garnett and Alexander Kousmin (eds.). Handbook of Administrative Communication. New York: Marcel Dekker.