For many media companies, some of the earliest and most significant Covid-19 disruptions related to the events that had become an editorial mainstay — and a reliable revenue stream. Early in the pandemic, some events were postponed; in other cases, event planners tried to come up with “hybrid” meetings that were part live and part virtual. But it didn’t take long for many events to be made wholly virtual.
As we enter 2021, the era of virtual events — even in a post-pandemic world — is here to stay, at least as one way for news organizations to hold these gatherings.
That’s not altogether a bad thing. While we all suffer from Zoom fatigue, consider the virtues of virtual events:
There are downsides to virtual events, beyond the lost revenue of in-person events. The appeal of a conference is often not the programming itself but the chance to mingle over drinks or dinner — or just to get away from the office. Even the most sophisticated Zoom conference can’t replicate the feel or the mood of an in-person event. When a sponsor underwrites a “coffee break,” it just doesn’t seem right when that means leaving your computer for 10 minutes to make your own Nespresso.
I’m not trying to paint an overly rosy picture. Many media companies won’t easily recover from the revenue hit of losing live events. And many of us miss the spontaneity of gathering in person. But it would be a mistake not to acknowledge that virtual events bring some advantages.
Rick Berke is co-founder and executive editor of Stat.
For many media companies, some of the earliest and most significant Covid-19 disruptions related to the events that had become an editorial mainstay — and a reliable revenue stream. Early in the pandemic, some events were postponed; in other cases, event planners tried to come up with “hybrid” meetings that were part live and part virtual. But it didn’t take long for many events to be made wholly virtual.
As we enter 2021, the era of virtual events — even in a post-pandemic world — is here to stay, at least as one way for news organizations to hold these gatherings.
That’s not altogether a bad thing. While we all suffer from Zoom fatigue, consider the virtues of virtual events:
There are downsides to virtual events, beyond the lost revenue of in-person events. The appeal of a conference is often not the programming itself but the chance to mingle over drinks or dinner — or just to get away from the office. Even the most sophisticated Zoom conference can’t replicate the feel or the mood of an in-person event. When a sponsor underwrites a “coffee break,” it just doesn’t seem right when that means leaving your computer for 10 minutes to make your own Nespresso.
I’m not trying to paint an overly rosy picture. Many media companies won’t easily recover from the revenue hit of losing live events. And many of us miss the spontaneity of gathering in person. But it would be a mistake not to acknowledge that virtual events bring some advantages.
Rick Berke is co-founder and executive editor of Stat.
Jennifer Brandel A sneak peak at power mapping, 2073’s top innovation
Brian Moritz The year sports journalism changes for good
Eric Nuzum Podcasting dodged a bullet in 2020, but 2021 will be harder
M. Scott Havens Traditional pay TV will embrace the disruption
Anthony Nadler Journalism struggles to find a new model of legitimacy
Rachel Glickhouse Journalists will be kinder to each other — and to themselves
Parker Molloy The press will risk elevating a Shadow President Trump
Candis Callison Calling it a crisis isn’t enough (if it ever was)
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen Stop pretending publishers are a united front
Janet Haven and Sam Hinds Is this an AI newsroom?
Samantha Ragland The year of journalists taking initiative
Chicas Poderosas More voices mean better information
Laura E. Davis The focus turns to newsroom leaders for lasting change
Ariel Zirulnick Local newsrooms question their paywalls
Anna Nirmala Local news orgs grasp the urgency of community roots
AX Mina 2020 isn’t a black swan — it’s a yellow canary
Zizi Papacharissi The year we rebuild the infrastructure of truth
José Zamora Walking the talk on diversity
Kevin D. Grant Parachute journalism goes away for good
Francesca Tripodi Don’t expect breaking up Google and Facebook to solve our information woes
Ashton Lattimore Remote work helps level the playing field in an insular industry
Errin Haines Let’s normalize women’s leadership
Matt Skibinski Misinformation won’t stop unless we stop it
Delia Cai Subscriptions start working for the middle
Mariano Blejman It’s time to challenge autocompleted journalism
Cory Bergman The year after a thousand earthquakes
Sara M. Watson Return of the RSS reader
Matt DeRienzo Citizen truth brigades steer us back toward reality
Heidi Tworek A year of news mocktails
Juleyka Lantigua The download, podcasting’s metric king, gets dethroned
Pia Frey Building growth through tastemakers and their communities
Alyssa Zeisler Holistic medicine for journalism
Cherian George Enter the lamb warriors
J. Siguru Wahutu Journalists still wrongly think the U.S. is different
Tauhid Chappell and Mike Rispoli Defund the crime beat
Don Day Business first, journalism second
Amara Aguilar Journalism schools emphasize listening
Andrew Donohue The rise of the democracy beat
Marie Shanahan Journalism schools stop perpetuating the status quo
C.W. Anderson Journalism changed under Trump — will it keep changing under Biden?
Nikki Usher Don’t expect an antitrust dividend for the media
Raney Aronson-Rath To get past information divides, we need to understand them first
Jacqué Palmer The rise of the plain-text email newsletter
Kerri Hoffman Protecting podcasting’s open ecosystem
Sam Ford We’ll find better ways to archive our work
Jer Thorp Fewer pixels, more cardboard
Talmon Joseph Smith The media rejects deficit hawkery
Francesco Zaffarano The year we ask the audience what it needs
Marissa Evans Putting community trauma into context
Kawandeep Virdee Goodbye, doomscroll
Joshua P. Darr Legislatures will tackle the local news crisis
Rick Berke Virtual events are here to stay
Rachel Schallom The rise of nonprofit journalism continues
Gabe Schneider Another year of empty promises on diversity
Doris Truong Indigenous issues get long-overdue mainstream coverage
David Skok A pandemic-prompted wave of consolidation
Sue Cross A global consensus around the kind of news we need to save
Jesse Holcomb Genre erosion in nonprofit journalism
Imaeyen Ibanga Journalism gets unmasked
A.J. Bauer The year of MAGAcal thinking
Bill Adair The future of fact-checking is all about structured data
Bo Hee Kim Newsrooms create an intentional and collaborative culture
Danielle C. Belton A decimated media rededicates itself to truth
Christoph Mergerson Black Americans will demand more from journalism
Kristen Muller Engaged journalism scales
Ben Collins We need to learn how to talk to (and about) accidental conspiracists
Charo Henríquez A new path to leadership
Ray Soto The news gets spatial
Julia B. Chan and Kim Bui Millennials are ready to run things
Nisha Chittal The year we stop pivoting
Annie Rudd Newsrooms grow less comfortable with the “view from above”
Nico Gendron Ask your readers to help build your products
Rishad Patel From direct-to-consumer to direct-to-believers
Sarah Stonbely Videoconferencing brings more geographic diversity
Hadjar Benmiloud Get representative, or die trying
Nicholas Jackson Blogging is back, but better
Jeremy Gilbert Human-centered journalism
Garance Franke-Ruta Rebundling content, rebuilding connections
Jessica Clark News becomes plural
Colleen Shalby The definition of good journalism shifts
Rodney Gibbs Zooming beyond talking heads
Chase Davis The year we look beyond The Story
Julia Angwin Show your (computational) work
Brandy Zadrozny Misinformation fatigue sets in
Mark S. Luckie Newsrooms and streaming services get cozy
Celeste Headlee The rise of radical newsroom transparency
Tamar Charney Public radio has a midlife crisis
Jonas Kaiser Toward a wehrhafte journalism
Loretta Chao Open up the profession
Mike Caulfield 2021’s misinformation will look a lot like 2020’s (and 2019’s, and…)
María Sánchez Díez Traffic will plummet — and it’ll be ok
Zainab Khan From understanding to feeling
Cindy Royal J-school grads maintain their optimism and adaptability
Hossein Derakhshan Mass personalization of truth
Gordon Crovitz Common law will finally apply to the Internet
Robert Hernandez Data and shame
David Chavern Local video finally gets momentum
Alicia Bell and Simon Galperin Media reparations now
Stefanie Murray and Anthony Advincula Expect to see more translations and non-English content
Joanne McNeil Newsrooms push back against Ivy League cronyism
Mike Ananny Toward better tech journalism
Patrick Butler Covid-19 reporting has prepared us for cross-border collaboration
John Saroff Covid sparks the growth of independent local news sites
Ryan Kellett The bundle gets bundled
Jean Friedman-Rudovsky and Cassie Haynes A shift from conversation to action
John Garrett A surprisingly good year
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, a push for pluralism
Whitney Phillips Facts are an insufficient response to falsehoods
Astead W. Herndon The Trump-sized window of the media caring about race closes again
Jennifer Choi What have we done for you lately?
John Davidow Reflect and repent
Kate Myers My son will join every Zoom call in our industry
Mark Stenberg The rise of the journalist-influencer
Masuma Ahuja We’ll remember how interconnected our world is
Joni Deutsch Local arts and music make journalism more joyous
Megan McCarthy Readers embrace a low-information diet
Mandy Jenkins You build trust by helping your readers
Andrew Ramsammy Stop being polite and start getting real
Gonzalo del Peon Collaborations expand from newsrooms to the business side
Alfred Hermida and Oscar Westlund The virus ups data journalism’s game
Taylor Lorenz Journalists will learn influencing isn’t easy
Marcus Mabry News orgs adapt to a post-Trump world (with Trump still in it)
Beena Raghavendran Journalism gets fused with art
Aaron Foley Diversity gains haven’t shown up in local news
Victor Pickard The commercial era for local journalism is over
Catalina Albeanu Publish less, listen more
Burt Herman Journalists build post-Facebook digital communities
Shaydanay Urbani and Nancy Watzman Local collaboration is key to slowing misinformation
Ståle Grut Network analysis enters the journalism toolbox
Meredith D. Clark The year journalism starts paying reparations
Ben Werdmuller The web blooms again
Pablo Boczkowski Audiences have revolted. Will newsrooms adapt?
Michael W. Wagner Fractured democracy, fractured journalism
Ernie Smith Entrepreneurship on rails
Ariane Bernard Going solo is still only a path for the few
Logan Jaffe History as a reporting tool
Nabiha Syed Newsrooms quit their toxic relationships
Linda Solomon Wood Canada steps up for journalism
Jim Friedlich A newspaper renaissance reached by stopping the presses
Sumi Aggarwal News literacy programs aren’t child’s play
Richard Tofel Less on politics, more on how government works (or doesn’t)
Tonya Mosley True equity means ownership
Tim Carmody Spotify will make big waves in video
Jody Brannon People won’t renew
Edward Roussel Tech companies get aggressive in local
Sonali Prasad Making disaster journalism that cuts through the noise
Tanya Cordrey Declining trust forces publishers to claim (or disclaim) values
Natalie Meade Journalism enters rehab
John Ketchum More journalists of color become newsroom founders
Steve Henn Has independent podcasting peaked?
Sarah Marshall The year audiences need extra cheer
Nonny de la Pena News reaches the third dimension
Benjamin Toff Beltway reporting gets normal again, for better and for worse