The best journalism of 2020: Covering the pandemic

A year has passed since the novel coronavirus first emerged. Even with mass inoculation efforts underway, it continues to rage on, with little sign of abating.  Throughout this year, we’ve relied on journalism to make sense of it all—especially as the virus’s spread frequently outpaced our abilities to comprehend and respond to it. Below, CJR has compiled some of the year’s most illuminating, hard-hitting, and enduring coverage of the pandemic.   Looking ahead The Coronavirus in America: The Year Ahead  By Donald G. McNeil, Jr. From the early days of the outbreak, McNeil Jr.’s prescient stories for The New York Times demystified and narrativized a virus that, to this day, continues to evade grasp. In a time of frenetic news cycles, such clear and careful writing served as a much-needed antidote to protracted uncertainty. (McNeil, Jr.’s recent story, about the toll covid-19 may yet take even as vaccinations and an administration change draw near, is another sobering account of what lies ahead of us.)   How the Pandemic Defeated America  By Ed Yong Another marquee reporter on the science beat, Yong, of The Atlantic, wrote prodigiously about the pandemic. Among his anthology of indispensable works, this unsparing account of America’s abject failure to meet the coronavirus when it arrived at its shores stands out. One sentence—comprising 212 words, punctuated by 7 semicolons, and beginning with “No one should be shocked…”—must be the most incisive of the year.    Putting... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-12-15 13:02:41 UTC ]
News tagged with: #climate change #jesmyn ward #vanity fair #anthology

Other news stories related to: "The best journalism of 2020: Covering the pandemic"


I covered Hong Kong for decades. Now I am forced to flee China’s ‘white terror’ | Steve Vines

After 35 years, the Observer’s former correspondent is leaving as what was once a haven of liberty and peace is transformed into a police stateWhen I arrived in Hong Kong in 1987 as the Observer’s south-east Asia correspondent, the foreign editor said he saw it as being a base, not the kind of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-08-08 07:00:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #children’s book #great sadness #safe place #hong kong


Cover Reveal and Excerpt: BLACK LOVE MATTERS edited by Jessica P. Pryde

Check out the cover of BLACK LOVE MATTERS edited by Jessica P. Pryde, an upcoming essay anthology that celebrates and examines Black romance. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-08-06 10:40:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #anthology #cover reveal


How L.A.'s most innovative pop-up bookstore (barely) survived the pandemic

Before Covid, A Good Used Book was a pop-up bookshop thriving across L.A. It's back to physical business this month — at the end of a long, hard road. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-08-05 13:00:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #bookstore #bookshop #hard road


Pandemic Missed Connections: August 5, 2021

In this third installment of our series, we asked editors to tell us about a book of theirs, published during the pandemic, that they wish had gotten more love. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #asked editors


Pandemic Missed Connections

In our ongoing series, we asked editors to tell us about a book of theirs, published during the pandemic, that they wish had gotten more love. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #asked editors


The Novelry reveals expansion plans after 'massive growth' in pandemic

Online writing school The Novelry has announced a series of expansions, including newly recruited PRH editors, plans to set up a US branch, outreach programmes and its latest partnership with Madeline Milburn Literary, TV and Film agency.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-04 17:20:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Pandemic Missed Connections: July 29, 2021

In this second installment of our new series, we asked editors to tell us about a book of theirs, published during the pandemic, that they wish had gotten more love. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #asked editors


Reading Time Rose 21% in Second Half of 2020

The U.S. Department of Labor's American Time Use survey found that the time Americans spent reading daily increased 21% in the May-December period in 2020 over the comparable period in 2019, rising to 34 minutes per day. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #survey found


Print Manufacturers in Hong Kong and China Face Pandemic Chaos Head-On

Pragmatic optimism, continuous business process re-engineering, and a steadfast innovative spirit are steering Hong Kong and China print players through chaotic pandemic-induced challenges Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #hong kong


Pandemic Missed Connections

We asked children's and YA editors to tell us about a book of theirs, published during the pandemic, that they wish had gotten more love. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #ya editors #asked children


Facebook, Fox, and what ‘killing people’ means in a pandemic

Last Thursday, with confirmed cases of COVID-19 again rising across the US, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, issued his first advisory since the Biden administration took office: health mis- and disinformation, he said, has prolonged the pandemic, not least by exposing Americans to... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-07-21 12:37:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #book based #pushed back #nieman lab #secrecy laws #belarusian association


Cuba’s internet and journalism blackouts

On Tuesday, Dina Fernandez, a Cuban YouTuber who goes by the name Dina Stars, was doing an interview on Todo Es Mentira, a Spanish TV show, at her home in Havana. She heard a knock on the door. Stars told Marta Flich, the show’s host, that state security officials were outside. As she went to... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-07-16 12:30:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #hearst #tv shows #tv chef


OUP turnover falls as pandemic hits

Oxford University Press recorded turnover of £754.5m in the 12 months to the end of March 2021, a 10.7% decrease on the previous year (£844.9m) and a decline of 8.6% at constant exchange rates.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-15 12:22:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #oxford university press #pandemic hits


NPD BookScan: US June Print Book Sales Up 2.8 Million Over 2020

'NPD Books' Brenna Connor says there's a possibility that the American market will go into the autumn with double-digit year-to-date gains. The post NPD BookScan: US June Print Book Sales Up 2.8 Million Over 2020 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-07-12 17:32:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #print book #american market #npd books


Almost three-quarters of schools cut library provision through pandemic

A new survey from charity Read for Good, which has donated bundles of books to 50 schools nationwide, has found school library funding has been hit by the pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-03 13:06:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Meet the BookTokers giving backlist titles a shot in the arm through the pandemic

The video-sharing social media platform TikTok is not just a place where teens share the latest dance crazes—it’s also proving a driver of book sales, and beyond teen reads too. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-03 06:18:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #backlist titles #book sales


Brand-new doctors, enlisted to battle the pandemic

What six med school graduates saw as the coronavirus tore through New York hospitals. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Judging in a pandemic

Over the last 15 months during the pandemic my reading has been all over the shop. Sometimes I have almost been unable to put a book down, so desperate am I to escape the reality and the news, sometimes I have been unable to pick up a book, as reality and the news has been too much. Do you know... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-01 20:22:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #book prize


Springer Nature staff get day off after 'extraordinary' pandemic effort

Staff at the academic publisher Springer Nature are being given an extra day of holiday on 2nd July to thank them for their "extraordinary efforts" during the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-01 17:57:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #academic publisher #covid-19 pandemic #extra day


Trade should not assume pandemic success will continue, LBF hears

Booksellers and publishers should not assume that the growth in the book industry seen throughout the pandemic will continue, the London Book Fair has heard.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-01 14:45:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #book industry #london book fair