Global Journalist

At first, it just seemed like an odd story to pursue during a quiet post-Christmas week in the newsroom in 2015. But New York Times reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr.'s interest in what would become the Zika epidemic has made him something of an expert on viral outbreaks. After his work on Zika, the virus that ravaged newborns in the tropics, McNeil now finds himself covering the even more deadly coronavirus that is causing COVID-19. In this episode, he gives a reporter's view of the ethics of covering a pandemic while a public health official, the University of Missouri's Lynelle Phillips, offers a different perspective.