covering COVID-19 in the USA

Aliya Hall is a journalist based in Eugene, Oregon. She has been documenting COVID-19 for a Crewell-based paper The Chronicle and normally covers the Southern Willamette Valley, education beats, as well as features, business and city council news in the city of Springfield. In this profile for CFWIJ, she shared about covering the pandemic all along.

She refers to it as “the most stressful journalism experience” she’s ever had, for it has taken a mental toll on her. But Aliya is thankful for still being able to work during this time and be a source of information for the communities she covers.

Aliya hall.jpg

“The publisher of the weekly paper I freelance for said that ‘Journalism is the first draft of history,’ and it’s a privilege to be a part of it even though it is also a trying time for everyone,” she said.

When talking about COVID-19, Aliya describes the situation to be not as overwhelming as compared with other states in the US. She said that social distancing has been working in Oregon, as there are a little over 2,000 cases.

Aliya has been working remotely for her paper and has not left her house to report. She has been conducting interviews using her phone and the internet.

When asked what it is like for her in terms of logistics, Aliya stated that since she works for a weekly paper, “it’s a double-edged sword”.

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by The Coalition for Women in Journalism

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