TV crews on Covid wards - is it OK

If you stop ranting and actually listen...you will find that the reporters are actually being very respectful and handling their visits to the wards sensitively.
They have asked permission or been invited in.
This is good journalism and NOT voyeurism.
Watch Fergus Walsh, the brilliant BBC health reporter, or Hugh Pymm. They were profoundly affected by what they witnessed.
We have always needed reporters on the front line.
If you look, you will see the faces of the patients are blurred.
Another case of Gransnet not being aware of the proper facts.
Sorry....but this post has really irritated me.
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How many times do we need to see the patients with their faces blurred, though?
I'm sure most people have an idea of what the set up looks like.

No justification for this over reporting. As usual, the media are hell bent on stepping over the line and in my view have behaved questionably throughout the whole virus coverage. I think in days to come, this will come to light.?

Maccyt1955 - I agree. Also, not everyone watches the news, or even the same news, so if these reports stop even a few people from behaving irresponsibly & spreading this virus they will have been more than worth it.

Thank you Joplin.

I have heard bbc reporters explain that they take their own PPE and donate some more for NHS staff. I think they are respectful and that we need to know what is really happening. The reporters and cameramen are also putting themselves at risk, and they do so, because they believe, supported by NHS staff, that we need to see the reality. Patients faces are blurred out, except where they have said they want to give a message to viewers - and the messages all add up to this: STAY HOME! Protect the NHS and other people.

Cameras in hospital wards? No. Although some of the patients are unconscious, I still they have the right to a quiet and peaceful environment as far as possible. They must be suffering mentally as well as physically and cameras being rolled around won't help.
I think this footage helps to terrorise people when it is shown repeatedly. The balance of news just now is very skewed to scare stories and warnings. This does not help towards developing positive attitudes towards facing the disease, rather than feeling defeated from the start.

What about the patient? No mention of their feelings? Don't assume that, because they might be unconscious, they have no awareness. The possible upset felt by Hugh Pymm and other journalists is nothing compared to the suffering of the patient.

Yes I am totally aware of the suffering of the patients Semperfidelis. I used to be a palliative care nurse, and treated patients with dignity.
One does not rule out the other.
Soldiers on the battlefield suffered, and reporters were there to record it. Does no one think these reporters are actually on the patients side?

Usually if you listen to the end of the report it is reported that the journalists and crew replaced the PPE that they used

I think the reporters are invited onto these wards because the Frontline Workers want more that a five minute clap once a week. They want everyone to be aware of how dangerous this virus can be, of how hard they are having to work 24 hours, seven days a week, for no-one yet knows how long, to get our 'loved ones' through it.

They only needed to have one photographer and reporter in once, on the understanding the results would be available to all news outlets. Then anyone who is still in any doubt how hospitals look in a pandemic can watch the footage again
on iplayer or youtube.

TV crews and reporters are providing their own PPE.
It's usually stated before every report that comes from inside a hospital.

I agree with some of this but i also agree with Seeker4 life. Sometimes i think we need to see this to bring everything into focus. It certainly makes you think. Having said that i dont think it should be shown every night.

A lot of faces are deliberately blurred from the camera so the important message will still come across without individual identification. Just because most Gransnetters might, hopefully, be considerate towards others it doesn't mean that quite a large percentage of the population just won't bother. Which is why some people need constant reminders.

Without those so-called intrusive reporters, none of us would know what’s going on. They are trying to inform. No one is on camera without permission. Pixelated if they say no. Do you think Dominic Cummings and crew would let us know the actual reality if we had no media? They’ve only just reluctantly added the sad death toll from care homes. Journalists often get it wrong. But we do need them!

I said a while back that the patients they were filming looked very uncomfortable.

I saw one where a woman was being discharged after having been in ITU. The reporter was saying "you must be so happy to be recovering"
The woman, who looked shell shocked and battered by it all, looked confused by the question, as if to say "why would anyone be happy that this happened to them?"

I dont think ppl can properly consent to filming when they are weak and tired. Its easier to nod than to argue against it...

I don't think filming desperately ill people is going to stop those who are out and about.

It's gratuitous.

Seeker4life has hit the nail on the head.

There are too many media types calling themselves keyworkers in general.

Half of them are not proper journalists, theyre just fluff reporters/presenters.

They know they wont be missed if they go on lockdown so they wont go

I’m retired from the NHS and am amazed by the media coverage that’s allowed and even encouraged by NHS staff themselves these days, and I don’t just mean during the current health crisis but in such programmes as ‘24 hours in A & E’ etc.

I have never forgotten it being made crystal clear when I started in the NHS that the one thing that would lead to instant dismissal would be to breach Patient confidentiality.

That would appear to have gone out of the window entirely, indeed it seems that having a moment in the spotlight is encouraged, medical and nursing staff giving detailed accounts of their work and cameras accompanying doctors on their shift. I find it very unprofessional.

Yes people will be asked if they can be filmed and some will no doubt love it but I’m sure that at least some will only agree because they don’t want to be a spoilsport or ‘let down’ the doctors or nurses. Sick people shouldn’t have to deal with this sort of pressure.

But then again what about the lady who had been in a Croydon Hospital for a month fighting this virus and was given a standing ovation from the staff who had looked after her and other staff as she was leaving. This was hearting warming in so many ways!The news brings us news good or bad and its your choice whether to watch it or turn it off.

I would HATE one of those guard of honours if it were me...

People clapping the fact I nearly died. No thanks.