REVIEW: Noted: Destructive pandemic impact on Global South media

Abstract

The Impact of COVID-19 on Journalism in Emerging Economies and the Global South, by Damian Radcliffe. London: Thomson Reuters Foundation. 2021. 142 pages. A NEW publication from the Thomson Reuters Foundation reviews the impacts of COVID-19 on journalism in Emerging Economies and the ‘Global South’. Working on the premise that media and journalism in these regions already face even greater challenges than in the ‘West’, this report describes a worsening of the situation through effects of the pandemic. It shows that factors external to media practice and media organisations are having destructive impacts, but proposes remedies which draw on internal strengths and professionalism in journalistic practice. The work is a qualitative research project obtaining analysis from 56 journalists from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, out of 15,000 journalists who have done courses offered by the foundation, as a backer of innovation and media freedom.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• Global South
• innovation
• media freedom
• pandemic
• Reuters