Journalism has undergone a profound process of transformation in the 21st century, accelerated by the emergence and adoption of digital technologies. While such technologies have provided journalists, other media occupations, and media organisations with new opportunities and possibilities, they have also created threats and challenges (Deuze & Witschge 2020; Zion et al. 2018). The emergence of new platforms for creating, collecting, and distributing content has fundamentally disrupted the traditional news media model, which was an exclusive right to deliver the news, and to attract the associated advertising dollars attached to the news audience. Instead, social and digital media has fractured the audience and established more efficient ways of buying and selling, leaving newspapers, broadcast media, and their classified advertising revenue in their wake.

The same digital and social platforms have also meant that journalists are now required to work faster and more broadly than before, with an increased need for new and ever-expanding digital technology skills, as they distribute their content across more platforms. While this process of transformation has been challenging for journalists, journalism, and the media industry over a sustained period of time, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised the stakes even higher.