The crisis of the emergence of the "Corona virus" caused the newspapers and magazines to work from home, in an experiment that some journalists described as "unique and rich that showed potential for journalists".
The remote work was a distinguished experience as it prepares its materials, prepares its pages, and nurtures its digital platforms, with permanent monitoring of the virus's spread map to assess the conditions of the work teams distributed in more than one country.
Newspapers began encouraging its employees, who are classified as most vulnerable to HIV infection, to work from home to ensure their safety. Despite the challenges involved in such situations, the changes imposed by this crisis have strengthened the "acceleration of the digital transformation" that newspapers set as a title for their work in 2020.
While some countries decided to stop the printing of newspapers until further notice, they did the newspaper's publishing system to work completely remotely efficiently, and they prepared multiple (WhatsApp) groups according to each section, to exchange ideas to be implemented in the number and wait for the (Corona) crisis to disappear to see what can be done His investment from this experience later.
“Teleworking, a new experience, will have a great impact on the global press, which is a new opportunity to arrange an interior home and increase the space for family bonding; But at the same time it imposed on the journalist unprecedented pressure to verify the news and a strong test of his willingness to digitally deal with everything.
“The media in the face of (Corona) is a new battle, and a different experience was affected by it, and the media experience at this stage taught us a lot about the role of the media in managing crises and epidemics, paying more attention to human stories (pets), as well as access to the experience of working remotely, while newspapers preferred Others direct their energies to their websites, and adopt the service of broadcasting videos related to citizens' diaries with the virus and its news around the world ».
Satellite channels had a share of the new business plan because of Covid-19. As much as the virus confused the countries of the world, the newsrooms were fortunate in this case. ”
One of the TV announcers stated that, with regard to the details of the work, it has completely changed, and the TV work teams have shrunk, and we have to leave the house very early to prepare before appearing on the screen, explaining that «everything in the studio must be sterilized until the (tablet) device, and we have become very careful During his exchange with colleagues, and we must be very careful when returning to our homes for fear of our families ».
Meanwhile, after two months of quarantine in the Chinese capital, Mu Xiao Long spoke: “The virus outbreak had a great impact on the media work routine, and streets were prevented, and we stopped working from the studio without knowing a date to return; But we did not feel that life had stopped, the pressures of newscasts, links and videos from home increased, and interviews conducted online.
Foreign experiences ... and tips for journalists
In the past, work from home was a privilege available for some jobs, such as telecommunications services, but in the era of the Coronavirus it became an imperative that companies around the world applied by law.
There are rules for domestic work that require effort without oversight so that the worker allocates special space for work and isolates the effects that distract focus,
The Financial Times offices in London appear vacant until further notice. The decision came after the appearance of "Corona" symptoms on one of the journalists; What required the evacuation and cleaning of an entire floor. In a letter to the employees, the management of the Financial Times, which initiated the experiment, said it wanted to reduce the number of people working from the building for several weeks, in order to reduce the need to close offices or expose those who must be in the building to infection.
In the Condé Nast publications, which include Vogue, GQ, Tatler and Wired, workers were informed that work would be from home until the end of March in a phased manner,
The beginning was one of the technology companies that provided communication tools between individuals and companies via the Internet, and then I suggested to some people work from home. And it ended up with a request not to go to offices, sometimes from networks around the world such as "Amazon", "LinkedIn", "Microsoft" and "Google". These companies relied on the infrastructure and technologies that allow them to work outside the offices if necessary.
And some companies contribute to facilitating the transition to domestic work, as «Microsoft» made its program «Cloud» free for small companies during the next six months. British Internet companies confirmed that there are no fears of the network collapsing during the morning period due to pressures of intensive business use, as the evening use of watching "Netflix" movies and video games still exceeds morning use by 10 to one.
For her part, Barbara Larsen, an expert on domestic work and a professor of administration at the University of Northern Boston, sees clarification of communication with the manager of the work as beneficial to both parties. But with housework, the manager may not be used to managing people remotely. Also, companies may not be prepared with modern communication tools that include video conferencing, such as Zoom or chat programs such as Slake.
However, even with the presence of communication tools, one of the challenges for home work is loneliness.
Larsen prefers that calls to the job manager be effective and face-to-face through applications such as Skype or Zoom.
