Editing News in China Amid the Novel Coronavirus Epidemic – Pub’d on WWAM BAM

The group blog WWAM BAM just published my post titled Editing News in China Amid the Novel Coronavirus Epidemic. Here’s an excerpt:

For the vast majority of people in China, the novel coronavirus epidemic has meant a delay in getting back to normal – whether work or school – and even more time off.

But as China grapples with its War on the Epidemic (战疫情), news organizations in China have seen an explosion of news stories, which has left people like me – editors at these organizations – very, very busy, making for a most unusual winter and especially winter holiday.

The news doesn’t take a vacation, so of course we have always had people on duty during the holidays, and this year I was among them. We usually don’t see a lot of news at this time – maybe a handful of stories on a shift, if that — but of course you never know what stories might break, so you need someone available to edit whatever comes in.

Well, by the time the Chinese New Year vacation began, of course the novel coronavirus had already emerged as major news, particularly with the lockdown of the city of Wuhan just before Chinese New Year’s Eve. On Chinese New Year’s day, when I came in for my shift, I remained busy from the moment I booted up my computer, right up until minutes before I powered it off, editing a deluge of news. This became a harbinger of things to come.

Read the full piece here — and if you like it, share it!

2 Replies to “Editing News in China Amid the Novel Coronavirus Epidemic – Pub’d on WWAM BAM”

  1. Hi Jocelyn. I am glad to learn that you and your husband are well, and that, so far, you have not been significantly impacted. Now that the coronavirus is hitting the United States, do you have any advice on how those of us here can prepare? I think that people here are confused, because there has not been one unified approach to the situation. Our president is peddling inaccurate information, and insisting that the situation is well under control when it obviously is not. Plus, there is a real shortage of masks. Any practical advice you can offer would be of great interest. Thank you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.