How COVID-19 has changed news reporting

Mia Malan

For journalist Mia Malan, reporting on health is like holding a mirror to society. Through the work that she and others like her do, we get to see exactly what society looks like, warts and all. With South Africa and Africa having experienced so many epidemics in the recent past, what, fundamentally, is different about reporting on COVID-19? Mia chooses to focus her answer on HIV, and lists two big differences with COVID-19.

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Mia is the founding editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has 25 years of broad industry experience in legacy media and digital native publications, working in newsrooms and at media development organisations in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC. She has grown Bhekisisa from a specialist desk at M&G to an independent non-profit over the past seven years.