Journalism, COVID-19, and the opportunity of oral history

Abstract

As COVID-19 wreaked havoc across the globe during the spring of 2020, journalists increasingly turned to oral history to document and share stories of people coping with tragedy. Journalism and oral history share many commonalities, but as the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates, oral historians often lag behind journalists in making stories relevant and immediate to the wider public. Journalists, likewise, typically lack oral historians' careful attention and archival methods. Set against the backdrop of COVID-19, this article explores recent developments between oral history and journalism, suggesting how oral historians can evolve to make oral history more accessible, beneficial, and immediate to wider audiences.