MoJo in the ‘new normal’: Navigating the disrupted journalistic field amid the Covid-19 pandemic

• Main Author: Parungao, Glenn Ace P.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: Journalist; Multimedia communications; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-; Film and Media Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_comm/8; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdm_comm/article/1007/viewcontent/2023_Parungao_MoJo_in_the_new_normal__Full_text.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This ethnographic research explored the lived experiences of eight Filipino mobile journalists (MoJos) to explore how they altered their newsgathering and production practices within the disrupted journalistic field during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research delved into how they utilized their mobile devices to compensate for the restrictions limiting their work routines during the health crisis. Drawing from the concepts of Bourdieu's journalistic field theory, this study found that the MoJos resorted to the use of their habitus (agent's disposition) and capitals while altering their illusio (collective practices and routines) to be able to cope with the unforeseen changes in the field's doxa (governing rules) brought by the pandemic. Concurrently, this research learned through Reese & Shoemaker's hierarchy of influence framework that several forces have impacted how the MoJos framed and shaped the news content. Aside from their journalistic and editorial liberties, those who influenced their decisions were their news managers who decide on their daily tasks, their colleagues in the field, the sources they cover, and other government institutions that implement the laws and different rules reporters need to follow. The study's findings expanded the discourse about the COVID-19 pandemic's lasting effects and being a "critical moment" for journalism (Quandt and Wahl-Jorgensen, 2021, p. 1201) as seen by how the MoJos became dependent on digital and social media as they navigated the disruptions. The best journalistic practices and developments that permeated the field during the crisis were seen to be carried over to the present when the effects of the pandemic have already dwindled. Finally, as an applied media studies research, this paper is accompanied by a production component—a mini-documentary that depicts the lived experiences of a mobile journalist during the health crisis demonstrating the study's results.