If service journalism has a time to shine, it’s during a crisis. When things are going wrong, people need good, specific information to deal with the situation, they need to know that the information is trustworthy, and they need it fast — being able to make decisions quickly is fundamental to crisis management.
As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, almost all news organizations have stepped up their output of service journalism. That was inevitable: It’s no exaggeration to say the coronavirus and the world’s response to it is affecting the lives of every person on the planet, and the essence of service journalism is to provide practical advice to make life more manageable, and in the midst of this pandemic that advice is more essential than ever.
That doesn’t mean all the service journalism produced in the wake of COVID-19 is of equal quality, or that every media outlet should necessarily create their own disease FAQ, symptom guide or hand-washing tutorial. The essential questions of service journalism in this crisis, which are being answered in real time, are whether readers are getting the specific information they need and whether the media is playing the right role.
