Journalists covering the coronavirus pandemic face the classic dilemma of crisis reporting: contributing to mitigation while maintaining their watchdog function.

How do media outlets cover the current pandemic? What are the normative requirements journalists should consider? And how serious is the “infodemic” threat posed by mis- and disinfo on the coronavirus? These are just some of the questions that are being raised in the context of crisis communication surrounding the current pandemic. This short article (German) published in the European Journalism Observatory contributes some observations and thoughts on the matter and discusses the normative concept of a “mitigation watchdog” in the light of the current crisis reporting. A more detailed version of the article in German language is available here.