20 Simple Rules of the Journalist during the Pandemic

(or from the Confinement Life)

These two months spent in self-isolation, we did not feel alone. Journalists, photographers, filmmakers and bloggers from all over the world, united by a common misfortune, have become closer than ever. They shared their tips, observations, findings, thoughts and experiences on the pages of our portal. In this longread we've gathered the highlights learned from the pandemic, after which we will never be the same as before.
Thanks God, nothing is permanent, not even a virus. Quarantine is a time when we were busy only with ourselves and unwittingly experience a kind of resentment, tried to hide from the pandemic at home and protect our relatives and friends, first of all by limiting our live communication with them.

In this situation, we all witness how the technologies have been rapidly developing since they became an urgent need for all of us and, in turn, have brought communication to a new level. In these impersonal days, not divided into the usual working days and weekends, filled with loneliness and uncertainty, we discovered many advantages and skills of our colleagues, unknown before.

It should be noted the majority of journalists, forced to stay at home, felt the imperfection of the world, this attack, and tried to change their daily life and what is happening around them, using new opportunities for life and creation online.

Coronavirus also gave us a chance to think, to transform, and taught us not to stay away from the problem, becoming a passive observer, but to feel empathy. The pandemic has left us vulnerable, but the quarantine has given us an opportunity to look at ourselves and our profession in a new way.

In their self-expression, journalists from different countries have made significant progress in the synergy of profession and metier: they have learned to work alone, without a team and instructions from the editor-in-chief, to make creative decisions independently and practically apply multitasking in journalism.

Thanks to the unique stories created by them, this symbolic handshake became possible online between different cities and even countries, through closed borders.

And over these months, it seems to me that each of us has accumulated a lot of things that we can share with each other without leaving our room. As they say: apart, but together. Or what we were like during the quarantine and what we advised each other.

Ashot Jazoyan
Chairman Of The Media Congress
«The Commonwealth of Journalists»
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