Media and journalists during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the example of Olsztyn

Abstract

The outbreak of the pandemic in the first months of 2020 significantly affected the social, political and economic life of Poles. It also substantially impacted the media and journalists themselves who, following the “infodemy” – the initial confusion caused by the excess of information – gradually shifted their focus towards informing about the statistics of illnesses, the situation in hospitals, the restrictions imposed by the government or on the unfreezing of subsequent segments of the economy. The purpose of this article is to show how the changes related to the pandemic and the resulting significant restrictions in communication have affected the content of news programs, the functioning of the media and the journalistic environment in Olsztyn. The analysis covered activities of the regional public television, TVP3 Olsztyn. Selected results of own and published research were presented.