“I was surprised by people’s appetite for complex subjects. Many readers bought in-depth articles individually,” explains Tristan Vey of Le Figaro. Beyond decryption, the French want useful information . “We created an online questionnaire to ask readers what they expected from us. Their response: Be clear. We want to know what measures are being taken in our territories and the consequences for our daily lives ,” explains Damien Allemand of Nice Matin. “We’ll answer you” sections are multiplying in all media.
Use experts
For the first time, journalists are getting closer to scientific discourse.
“As a science journalist, I was already used to looking for signatories to studies, but what this pandemic has shown is that there is an urgent need to train general journalists in scientific news as we already viber data do for sports and politics in journalism schools.” explains Nicolas Martin, editor-in-chief of La Méthode Scientifique on France Culture and at the origin of the column “ radiographie du coronavirus ”, a daily column around the research and evolution of the virus.
Journalists build networks of experts that they can consult at any time and vice versa if there are important things to report. " We have positioned ourselves as resource people for writing general information," adds Nicolas Martin.
Entertain & educate
The goal of media professionals during this period? Maintain social ties, educate and entertain. Le Monde thus creates a " slow live " in addition to the live covid news where many subjects are discussed via guests: cooks, psychologists, authors. The producer Jamy Gourmaud, in high demand by teachers during the lockdown - launched his YouTube channel in mid-March with the aim of telling one piece of knowledge per day in one minute . In total: 55 capsules will be produced during the 55 days of lockdown. The channel now has 620,000 subscribers.