This archive report was first published on 15 June 2020.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the world, newsrooms are in revolt. But it's not the journalists who are causing the commotion – it's their bosses.
According to a recent article, many newsroom leaders have left the city, opting for a more relaxed pace of life in their country homes. This has left their employees feeling frustrated and undervalued.
One journalist, Ms. Jamieson, expressed her feelings on the matter, saying, 'I feel bad that I feel like everybody should feel absolutely self-loathing and shame.' When asked if her feelings were rooted in a desire for justice, or for better journalism, or just free-floating, Australian-inflected rage, she replied, 'All of those things.'
Ms. Jamieson believes that newsroom leaders have a special obligation to stay with their people and see what they see. She thinks that leaving the city is a privilege that not everyone can afford, and that it's especially problematic for those who have the means to do so.
As the article notes, 'It revealed the money in journalism — who has cash and who doesn’t and how much this industry is from people with trust funds or well-connected parents and they could stay in the Hamptons or the Catskills.'
For those who have left the city, life is not so bad. The Hamptons are bustling with activity, and the private school Avenues is opening a branch for those parents who do not wish to return to the city in the fall.
Some executives are beginning to commute again, so the helicopter company Blade has started its seven-day service earlier than usual. Without day-trippers or middle-class vacationers and their crowded sublets, it has been, for the lucky few, 'the summer we had long wanted, busy, but not too much so, and quiet enough to hear the birdsong,' according to The East Hampton Star.
