Three Top Editors on Coronavirus Coverage.
STELTER: We're back on RELIABLE SOURCES, at a special time. Every corner of this economy is being upended by the pandemic, including every corner of the media industry. Let me show you a few examples you might not have thought of so far. You know, in the entertainment business, drive-in movie theaters are seeing a sudden comeback. In the area where people are still being given the encouragement to go out of their homes, drive-ins are doing well, at the same time while most movie theater chains have closed. And most movie new releases have been postponed. In the sports arena, networks like ESPN have had to come up with new plans. They're showing pretty obscure sports and old games, while newspapers are cutting their sports sections for now. Local newspapers are going to be especially hard hit by all of this turmoil, because many papers are already struggling to get by, as "Axios" says, this is a crisis, because advertisers are now slipping away. If the local car dealership is closed, it's probably not going to advertise in the town paper. You can read this full story on CNN.com, about the virus speeding up the death of local papers. And we're already seeing that with weekly newspapers, because they rely heavily on a vent listing. Some of those have already shut down and laid off staff in just the past week. I wish I could turn to some positive news here and tell you why it's all going to be OK, but we are, you know, we're living through a tumultuous, frightening period. There are positive signs, though. Local TV stations are producing fantastic coverage of the crisis, but they are also feeling the pinch from advertisers. Subscription business models are sort of the solution, but when people lose their jobs, it is harder to pay for news websites or magazines or cable TV or Netflix. Some media brands will not survive this downturn. Major networks are adding hours of special coverage, but if families can't pay for cable, then those networks will eventually feel the pinch, too. So, that's the sober picture of this business that tries to keep people informed about the world around them and about world war V, "V" for the virus. With me now is the editor in chief of "The Wall Street Journal," Matt Murray, the executive editor of "The Associated Press", Sally Buzbee, and the editor in chief of "The Atlantic", Jeffrey Goldberg. All three outlets doing very important work in this moment in time. Thank you all for joining me from your homes or offices here. Sally, you have thousands of employees around the world. How are you keeping them as safe as can be while covering this crisis?</s>SALLY BUZBEE, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yes, that's really the trick, no question. So our journalists are obviously very in variance. This is obviously a new type of crisis, but many of them are battle hardened. So we've been talking a lot about how to go out and cover the story, but not endanger other people and not endanger themselves, as they do that. So protective gear, in some cases. We're rethinking, basically, everything we do. But I think our news report has been enormously strong, very fact-based and explanatory. And so far, we're pretty happy with the way we've been able to help news organizations across the entire world get the news and the information they need to distribute to their audiences and their readers and their viewers to stay on top of this.</s>STELTER: There have been so many cases of the virus being found at newsrooms. Staffers at CBS and CNN and pretty much every other major outlet have been affected. So, Matt Murray, you're at "The Wall Street Journal," you share a building with Fox News and Fox Business. We know four Fox News media employees who have tested positive. How are you trying to keep your staff safe at "The Journal"?</s>MATT MURRAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, I would echo what Sally said, Brian. We sent everybody home about a week ago. We did a number of work-from-home drills before that. And of course, starting in January in Asia, we had employees working at home. So we started to anticipate what was going to be needed there. We had through travels and different exposures. We've already had something like 200 employees in the newsroom who have had self- quarantine. Now, we did have our first case the other day. And we've been in close touch with the people who work with the individual, and we've got pretty careful protocols in place. But -- and I think we'll have more, but broadly similar to what Sally said. We've got people at home, we've got a pretty careful protocol, we've got pretty careful information. We're not sending anybody out to the story that they don't want to go cover, we're giving them predictive cover. We're making sure everybody is informed. And we're prioritizing the safety of the folks and their families before even the reporting if they feel uncomfortable.</s>STELTER: Yes. Jeffrey, it seems like very day, every hour, there are ten stories that could be the top, top story at that moment. What is number one to you right now?</s>JEFFREY GOLDBERG, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE ATLANTIC: Number one to us, at "The Atlantic," is I think the testing story. We were very, very early on the test historic, the lack of kits, lack of organization. Our reporters have been great on the CDC angle. And we just posted a brilliant reconstruction of, I guess you could call it, sort of the two lost months of this or the month and a half, where things could have happened that didn't. So that's an enormous story for us. We're approaching it from all angles. We have a very, very strong science team, and a very strong health team. And so, we're trying to give readers as much information, as much context as possible, because I think that's incredibly important right now. That just information without context, without science, background without really close adherence to facts, I think that could be dangerous. So we're really trying hard.</s>STELTER: Yes, it's like, don't believe the random people you see on social media. If they're telling you it's going to be the end of the world, or if they're telling you it's all going to be OK. Try to find established scientific voices and trust them instead. Jeffrey, do you think we're fully conveying the scope of this story? Meaning, is this a once-in-a-generation event like a Vietnam or a 9/11? Is that coming through enough?</s>GOLDBERG: Yes, I don't know if it's coming through quite enough. It feels that way. Obviously, people have that inchoate feeling that this is something that's truly different. 9/11 is a touch point, but there's really nothing to compare this to, in our lifetimes, our collective lifetimes. And I think it's one of the things that we're focusing on here at "The Atlantic." obviously, as a daily, hourly, updated website and also a venerable print magazine with long deadlines, we have to figure out ways and we're trying that right now, just to figure out what we need to tell people in two, three, four, five, six months about what this all means. And we've been -- we've been trying to go at two speeds at once, the hyper speed of getting information out as fast as possible. But also trying to contextualize this and finding the writers and ways to say this, because this is something that I don't think we have any -- we don't have any -- any reference points for.</s>STELTER: No, we really don't. That's partly why it's so anxiety- producing. And, Sally, I've seen news say that the "A.P." is viewing this as the Olympics of explanatory journalism. Why is that? Tell me more.</s>BUZBEE: I think it's exactly what Jeffrey just said. There is facts alone, which are incredibly important and obviously the key part of this. We also need the context around them. We need our health and science specialists, and thankfully we have a very strong team, to be really engaged in every aspect of the coverage. I mean, the usage is off the charts. As you know, we provide news to news organizations all across the globe. And I think it's fair to say that every news organization across the globe is focusing on this story, almost to the seclusion right now of all others. So we are trying to make sure that we are providing both facts, very quickly, but also wrapping that into looking at the effect of the economy, looking at just how people are living their lives. There are so many ripples to this story. And I think it's just critically important to stay on top of those and to provide that context. It's really -- I mean, what if we get a second wave that then goes back into other parts of the world again? We need to stay on top of this. And we are sort of viewing it as a marathon. We're also very much viewing it as, this is the moment for explanatory journalism. People are actually turning to the media for information, which is a wonderful thing for our industry, and all of our journalists are rising to the occasion in a way that is just really extraordinary and inspiring in many ways.</s>STELTER: Yes, it is, it is.</s>STELTER: Matt, I wonder, you know, you're more of our business journalist here. You have "The Wall Street Journal" there. What are the business impacts for the media business, for local newspapers? Am I right that we're going to see a very, very difficult situation for some of these local papers?</s>MURRAY: Yes, look, I think that you are going to see some of the trends that were already affecting the media industry just accelerate, Brian.</s>STELTER: It is, yes.</s>MURRAY: At "The Journal", where everybody has risen to an extraordinary degree, it's literally touching every beat, every job, and people are responding in really incredible ways. Even features coverage, and how do you write about entertainment and features for a different world, and that's a galvanizing effect. And there's a lot of adrenaline going right now in journalism. And there is a silver lining to that. And it would be nice if people really felt a turn here in the need for quality journalism and trusted facts. One of the things that I would add that is funny at this point in time, there's a lot of information, but part of the anxiety is that we're at that peak moment where there's a lot we don't know. We don't know how bad it will get, how long it will last, whether the economy will come back, we don't even quite know yet what all the stimulus measures are going to be. Part of what journalism can be doing right now is getting the best information on all of those facts and staying on them to help people get the information through the situation. And that's really important right now. And I think people are respond to that.</s>STELTER: I think so, too. I hope so. Matt, Jeffrey, Sally, thank you very much. Thank you for all you're doing. After the break here on RELIABLE SOURCES, we've seen some Fox News hosts do U-turns in the way they are recovering this crisis. I'll be joined by an ex-Fox host who says it's been worse than malpractice. Hear her comments, next.