Remote working will change how global media positions its bureaus 

Eoin McSweeney, Journalist at CNN

For six months of lockdown, I wrote about civil wars, protests and elections happening in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Lekki tollgate shooting in Lagos, Nigeria for example, which resulted in the deaths of innocent protestors. I was one of the first to get live testimony of the event, interviewing panic-stricken witnesses who saw friends struck down. 

Yet I did this from the safety of my desk in an apartment in east London. I sourced my witnesses through Instagram and Twitter and spoke to them over WhatsApp, getting audio and text which was soon read by millions. It was one of many stories across the African continent that I was able to get original testimony on while still being able to go for evening runs by the Thames.

Global media has undergone fundamental shifts in the past 30 years as first the 24-news cycle and then the advent of the smartphone changed how we consume news. The way the pandemic has altered our work habits could have a similar impact on the industry now that journalists can acceptably cover a region of interest from the other side of the world. 

Interviews can be done using video conferencing technology, removing the need for large and expensive studios and bureaus. It opens opportunities to speak with political leaders and activists in different countries and continents, without the need to pay for flights or visas. You don’t need to send a whole crew with lights and cameras, when the world is now used to seeing world leaders on a Zoom call. 

This will alter the space the journalists work in. Smaller satellite bureaus should become more common, allowing workers to travel more freely if they wish, but still offering a space to work while facilitating office collaboration. Broadcast journalists found innovative ways to operate by turning cupboards into sound booths and rigging makeshift studios in their kitchens and living rooms, as they proved reporting could be done from anywhere.

There will, of course, still be a place for on-the-ground reporting, and certainly the pandemic has brought us physically further from our sources. It can be harder to grill a business leader or politician over Skype and the emotion in the voice of a witness is distorted. The preference of a journalist is still to witness the event in question first-hand and to live the story, like we saw from the reporting in Afghanistan.

However there won’t be a need to have hundreds of journalists from one company based in London and instead they can freely disperse across Europe or further afield. Not having to attend every press conference or speech will reduce costs and offer greater flexibility. Producers and news gatherers can work in suburbia or city centre apartments, whichever suits their needs best.

I was personally able to end my dreary London lease about nine months into the pandemic and work from Lisbon, Portugal. My job performance didn’t dip, and I took inspiration from my new surroundings. All I needed was my laptop and a desk, not the enormous and oftentimes daunting bureau back in the United Kingdom. 

The pandemic will have changed how everyone operates in the office space, but it opens up unique opportunities for journalism. Whether you want to construct a story from your home or parachute into a live situation with just your laptop and a camera, the change in lifestyle has shown what can be possible and how it can be achieved.