Webinar held on 11 March 2021, 11:00 - 12:30 CET during CIRCOM's Learning From A Global Pandemic week-long programme of interactive Zoom sessions, 8 - 12 March 2021

TV news output across the world looks very different now to a year ago. Production values have necessarily changed due to the fact reporters haven’t been able to move with the same freedom, and journalists and crews have had to adapt to a "new normal" involving Zoom interviews and microphones on long boom poles. So what has it been like for reporters carrying out their daily jobs? What challenges have they had to overcome and what tricks and tools have they learned during the pandemic?

This panel discussion was hosted by Irish reporter Caoimhe Ní Laighin from RTE and TG4, and featured the experiences of European colleagues Géraldine Dreyer (France TV), Jon Ariztimuño (Telemadrid) and Natalie Flajzikova (Czech TV).

The panel discussed a range of issues during the session, from the challenges of staying safe when reporting, to combining family pressures and working from home with continuing to carry out their working lives, and using the available technology to be able to work remotely. Add to these factors the importance of accurately reporting the facts of the situation, which seemed to change almost on a daily basis, and the pressure was immense.

As with many of the CIRCOM sessions across the week, the similarities of experience shared by colleagues across Europe was there to see, and the emotions and stresses of working in the outside world as the reality of the pandemic unfolded were familiar to each of the panelists.

Géraldine Dreyer (top left), Caoimhe Ní Laighin (top right), 
Jon Ariztimuño (bottom left) and Natalie Flajzikova (bottom right)