Media and journalists play numerous roles in society. For some authors, the most important role is to provide citizens with the information they need to make decisions that are crucial for democratic societies and to oversee the authorities. During natural disasters, the role of information exponentially increases. In addition to firefighters, rescuers, and civil protection teams, it is also journalists who are often the first to arrive on the scene. Although journalists are primarily assigned the role of informing the public and overseeing the authorities, their role can change in exceptional circumstances. The goal of this master's thesis is to investigate how the roles of local journalists and correspondents changed during the floods in Slovenia in August 2023. The theoretical part of the thesis presents the roles of journalists, their
transformation during extraordinary circumstances, and the characteristics and state of local journalism. In-depth interviews with six local journalists and correspondents who reported from the Carinthia region showed that the collaborative role took precedence, as the primary focus
was the safety of the population. The monitorial came into focus later. The findings of the thesis also open a broader discussion on the relationship between media owners and the importance of local journalists and correspondents in everyday life, not only in emergency situations.
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