Covering the news in the age of social distancing hasn’t been a huge learning curve.
For the most part, our reporters do what generations of newspaper people did before them — work the phones.
So from that perspective, nothing much has changed.
However, reporters don’t always stay in the office. They often visit producers on their farms, although that can also be replaced with phone interviews.
Meetings, whether they be conferences, conventions, workshops or seminars, are another story. They have always been a staple of news coverage at The Western Producer, but all that is off the table for the moment.
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However, there is a replacement. Enter the webinar — lots and lots of webinars.
For those who don’t know, webinars are like conferences, but all the participants sit at home or in their office in front of their computers. Speakers make presentations, and participants are often able to ask questions. It’s not as good as an on-site conference, mainly because there’s little ability to talk with other participants during coffee breaks, but it’s the next best thing.
The major change for the Producer’s news coverage has been photography. Making a point of staying at home is not conducive to taking photos. Thankfully, readers and a few intrepid freelancers are still roaming the countryside to photograph the business of farming for us.
Our weekly On the Farm feature in the Farm Living section has also been challenged. These stories are written primarily by our staff reporters, who visit farms to conduct interviews and take photographs.
We’re still publishing these stories by conducting interviews over the phone, and so far the subjects of our stories have also agreed to supply photographs of themselves and their operations. It’s not a perfect solution, but it has allowed us to continue publishing this important feature.
One freelancer recently went above and beyond to get a photo for us.
Mary MacArthur, who used to be one of our reporters, photographed Darlene Brasch of Camrose, Alta., as she watered plants in her home greenhouse. Squishing into the greenhouse with Darlene would have violated all sorts of social distancing rules, so Mary had the ingenious idea of taking the photos outside through the glass walls of the greenhouse.
It worked out pretty well, and you can see the finished product on page 39 of the April 30 issue.
