COVID-19 and the Media: Empty Studios, Delayed Blockbusters, and the 2020 Race Goes Online (ft. Jessica Cook, Chloe Landau, and Alex Maceira)

Welcome to this episode of Let's Talk Media, recorded the week COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Host Vedant Akhauri and guests highlight the immediate and widespread impact of the pandemic on various media sectors in real-time.Vedant himself, as a newscaster for his college radio station, first reported on the coronavirus during its initial detection in a Chinese market in December 2019 and its first appearance in Seattle, noting his initial thought that it "could not get any worse" before it escalated to a pandemic.Vedant sits down with three peers to document exactly how this crisis is impacting the media.Our guests for this episode:1. Jessica Cook, a film student at Penn State, discusses Hollywood delays:Delay of Fast 9, No Time to Die, A Quiet Place Part Two, and live-action Mulan.Shutdown of TV show productions, including Riverdale and The Flash. Celebrities like Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson testing positive for the virus. Live audiences for late-night shows being eliminated, and the NCAA cancelling all athletic competitions, impacting ESPN's revenue. Could these delays would accelerate online streaming becoming the norm and movie theaters declining?Both Vedant and Cook discuss how their own student production projects were also put on hold due to safety concerns.2. Chloe Landau, an Integrated Marketing Communications major at Ithaca College, covers the News angle: As an audience development intern at NBC News Digital, Landau's work was largely digital, allowing her team to easily transition to remote work. Non-essential employees were encouraged to work remotely, while production crews were reduced to "skeleton crews". The impact on live shows, like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which aired without a studio audience and from a different set due to a confirmed COVID-19 case in their building, feeling "a little off". The prevalence of misinformation and fake news about the virus, including from Alex Jones, and televangelists asking for money for blessings as examples of exploitation. That news organizations have a responsibility to provide "truthful factual information" during a national crisis.Landau shared her personal experience in Bergen County, New Jersey, a COVID-19 hotspot, detailing extended "blue laws" closing non-essential businesses and pleas for medical volunteers.She speculated that "big media business" would take longer to return studio audiences due to the presence of celebrities and the diverse origins of audience members. Regarding the cancellation of E3 and delays for next-gen consoles, Landau saw it as a blow but an opportunity for creativity3. Alex Maceira, a politics major and fellow newscaster, discusses the potential impact on the 2020 US presidential election.The move to online classes, despite concerns about student access to internet and safe home environments.Maceira, who had interviewed Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins, discussed how the pandemic forced him to release the interview earlier. The shutdown of Saturday Night Live affecting political commentary.  The shift to online ralliesHe hoped the absence of live audiences in debates would lead to a greater focus on policy over "one-liners and snappy comebacks". The role of memes as a coping mechanism during the crisis.The importance of information literacy and getting news from "verified sources" like the CDC and WHO, especially amidst widespread misinformationThis episode captures a moment of global uncertainty, reflecting the immediate anxieties and adaptations across Hollywood, news media, and daily life as the world grappled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.Follow @letstalkmediava on Instagram for more exclusive content, to suggest topics, or to reach out about being a guest on the show.Recorded: The week COVID sent everyone homeRemastered: June 7, 2026Horizon by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au