Implications for Hybrid Newswork from the Work-from-Home Activities of Local US Television Journalists During COVID

Abstract

ABSTRACT In response to the COVID-19 crisis, many local television (TV) newsrooms decided to have employees work from home (WFH) or from the field rather than from the newsroom, creating a kind of hybrid work characterized by a mix of work locations. From a review of research on telework and WFH, we identified possible impacts of WFH on work and on workers, with a particular focus on news work and news workers. Data on the impacts of hybrid work are drawn from interviews with local television news directors and journalists in the United States and observations of WFH. We found that through the creative application of technology, WFH news workers could successfully create a newscast, albeit with some concerns about story quality. However, WFH did not seem to satisfy workers’ needs for socialization or learning individually or as a group and created some problems coordinating work. Lifted restrictions on gatherings have mitigated some of the experienced problems, but we expect to see continued challenges to news workers’ informal learning in hybrid work settings.