It's been widely acknowledged that the media as a whole hasn't excelled itself in our current national crisis but, if we seek to look beyond headlines and soundbites, there are many more sources of serious, considered, long-form journalism on offer.
Through Zoom in the past few weeks, too, I've been able to attend a number of inspiring and informative panel discussions and talks highlighting the work of journalists at their frontline. The first female editor of the Financial Times, the war correspondent Christina Lamb talking about her new book 'Our Bodies, Their Battlefield', and this week there is a talk by the parents of Kim Wall, the journalist who was murdered when she sought to interview the eccentric owner of a submarine in Denmark.
These events have been organised by Women in Journalism, which this past week hosted a panel discussion with health correspondents. Five women from various different media outlets - BBC's Newsnight, Financial Times, Guardian, New Scientist, and a freelance reporter - all joined to share their experience and their perspective.
It was very enlightening and thought-provoking in many ways. It was both worrying (the inadequate release of accurate information) and also encouraging (that there were informed, experienced, committed and passionate communicators, desperate to do a good job and to deliver clear and accurate information to their audience).
While Women in Journalism is a membership organisation, its online events are accessible for a fee of £10. The session about Kim Wall takes place on Tuesday evening to highlight the publication of a book telling Kim's story. You can find out more about it here.
I've been reading the work of another journalist this week. Debora Mackenzie spent the first few weeks of lockdown writing about how the current pandemic did not come as a surprise to her as she has been reporting on infectious disease for many years. Her book was rushed through to publication and she spoke about it a couple of weeks ago on Radio Four. You can listen again to the programme again here.
I was impressed by how she spoke, and was interested, though dismayed, at what she had to say, and I have been immersed in the book she has written - 'Covid 19: The pandemic that never should have happened. And how to stop the next one.' It's very easy to read and, although the message is bleak, her ability to communicate difficult and sometimes complicated information in an engaging and accessible manner is energising and inspiring.
Being only too aware that we cannot meet in person for author talks, I hope you might like an extra feature I've included this week - an exclusive conversation with the novelist Meg Rosoff!
Meg spoke to me about the launch of her new book, and about her writing generally. You can scroll down for details of her novel 'The Great Godden' (available from your local independent bookshop!) and you can get a flavour of our conversation here, or listen to all that Meg had to share here. I hope you'll enjoy it and please do get in touch to let me know what you think!