Face-to Face with COVID-19: Experiences of Ghanaian Frontline Journalists Infected with the Virus

Abstract

Journalists around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, media houses have had to make drastic adjustments to the impact of challenges wrought by the pandemic on their operations. Ghanaian media houses also faced similar challenges and disruptions. News reporters and journalists felt the impact of these disruptions with many Ghanaian journalists losing their jobs. This study used affective-emotive theoretical perspective to examine how the possibility of contracting COVID-19 could affect or trigger emotions of fear and anxiety among Ghanaian journalists. The study set two main objectives (1) what workplace safety policies and protocol guidelines were established in newsrooms to mitigate the spread of the virus and (2) to what extent did journalists fear for the safety and well-being of close family members because of their journalism work. The study conducted in-depth unstructured interviews with five journalists who had recovered from the COVID-19 infections. The study found that despite high degrees of fear and anxiety among respondents about on-assignments and workplace infections, respondents still maintained ‘emotional detachment’ to attain objectivity in news reporting. Respondents also expressed high degrees of fear of exposing family members to the virus.