Introduction: Organizational communication in media management functions not merely as a means of message transmission but as a vital flow that sustains the everyday operation of newsrooms, ensuring organizational coherence, professional interaction, and the efficiency of content production. Media work is inherently collective, fast-paced, and collaborative, relying heavily on face-to-face interactions, informal newsroom communication, and real-time coordination among news gathering, reporting, writing, and editorial decision-making. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of physical distancing measures and mandatory remote work, the established balance of this communication ecosystem was disrupted. Media organizations, which were themselves responsible for informing the public and contributing to the formation of public understanding during the crisis, simultaneously experienced significant disruptions within their own organizational and human structures. The lack of adequate technological and organizational preparedness, combined with the sudden prioritization of health protocols over established journalistic routines, created substantial challenges for meaning-making, coordination, and interpersonal interaction within newsrooms.
The primary objective of this study was to phenomenologically explore the lived experiences of journalists, editors, and media managers in Tehran in dealing with COVID-19 preventive measures, particularly remote work, and to examine the resulting changes in the context, patterns, and quality of intra-organizational communication within newsrooms. The study sought to provide an in-depth understanding of how media professionals experienced the transformation of their professional relationships, organizational interactions, and sense of belonging during the crisis.
Methods: This study adopted a qualitative approach and a descriptive phenomenological research strategy to explore participants’ lifeworlds and their experiences without imposing predetermined theoretical assumptions. The research population consisted of reporters, section editors, editors-in-chief, and managing editors working in print and online media organizations in Tehran. Participants were selected through purposive snowball sampling with maximum variation to capture diverse professional positions and experiences. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and sampling continued until theoretical saturation was reached after interviews with 21 participants. To enhance the rigor and trustworthiness of the findings, the criteria of credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability proposed by Guba and Lincoln were applied. Data analysis was conducted using thematic analysis and a systematic coding process involving open, axial, and selective coding, through which the underlying semantic structures of participants’ lived experiences were identified and interpreted.
Findings: Qualitative data analysis resulted in the identification of three main categories and several related subcategories:
Disruption in Media Organizations and Organizational Communication: This category encompassed the decline of informal communication flows, the disruption of intellectual synergy generated through newsroom interaction, the transformation of spontaneous interpersonal exchanges into more linear and bureaucratic forms of communication mediated by virtual messaging platforms, ambiguity in communicating qualitative editorial feedback, declining collective motivation, and feelings of professional and psychological isolation among journalists. Physical absence from the workplace weakened employees’ sense of organizational belonging and contributed to experiences of organizational alienation.
Challenges in the Media Economy and among Journalists: Analysis of participants’ lived experiences revealed that the pandemic shock affected the revenue structures and employment conditions of media organizations. Declining advertising revenues and reduced circulation were associated with increased job insecurity, delays in salary payments, staff reductions, and the transfer of costs related to work equipment and internet access to individual journalists. These economic pressures further complicated professional relationships and contributed to uncertainty and stress among media workers.
Declining Status of Established Media: Reduced field presence among journalists, combined with increasing reliance on online sources, press releases, and the republication of news bulletins during lockdowns, contributed to content homogenization and a perceived impoverishment of news production in established media outlets. At the same time, the expansion of informal channels and social media reduced the relative visibility and perceived news authority of traditional and formal media organizations in Tehran.
The synthesis of these categories led to the development of a conceptual construct termed the “Reverse Turn in Organizational Relations.” This concept refers to a process in which the dynamism, spontaneity, continuous feedback, and interpersonal solidarity embedded in everyday organizational communication recede under the pressure of crisis-induced urgency, physical disconnection, and inadequate managerial and technological infrastructures. In this process, organizational interactions shift from relatively organic and collaborative forms toward more instrumental, reductionist, and hierarchical modes of communication. In the absence of clearly defined protocols for remote communication, media organizations struggled to reproduce the collaborative and synergistic environment of the physical newsroom. Consequently, mechanical and fragmented forms of interaction emerged, weakening internal social capital, collective creativity, and professional commitment.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that epidemic crises should not be understood solely as public health emergencies; they can also function as structural disruptions to the ecology of human communication within creative and knowledge-intensive work environments. The experiences of media professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate that the rapid transition to remote work, when implemented without adequate organizational preparation and communication infrastructures, can alter not only patterns of interaction but also employees’ sense of belonging, professional identity, motivation, and collective creativity.
The emergence of the “Reverse Turn in Organizational Relations” highlights the importance of considering organizational communication as a central component of crisis management in media organizations. Rather than treating remote work merely as a technological solution to physical distancing, media organizations need to develop integrated organizational and communication strategies that preserve the collaborative and relational dimensions of newsroom work. These strategies include developing dual-mode (in-person–virtual) communication protocols, establishing mechanisms for continuous editorial feedback, strengthening psychological and motivational support systems for newsroom staff, ensuring equitable access to technological resources, and enhancing remote-management competencies among editors and media managers. Such measures may help media organizations maintain organizational cohesion, professional solidarity, and collective creativity and reduce the risk of recurring disruptions in organizational relations during future crises.