Any one else fed up of journalists questions?

I think they are just stopping the questions from falling off the agenda.

Regarding the end of lockdown, it is really important that the government don't rush it through in order to save the economy over lives of the population. Keeping them accountable might help to prevent them from doing that by asking for the criteria they will be looking for before loosening the rules.

The journalists are a bit short of news, other than Cv19.

They have to stir things up , in order to have something to report, because I’m afraid this is a long haul with every day pretty much the same, as far as they are concerned.

The media is about sensation. Well, news, actually.

They are trying to keep their jobs.

My thoughts too. Unless they have some answers I don't want to hear the questions over and over! I'm interested in new developments and facts not blame. No one could have prepared for everything that is transpiring. There will be time for reflection on the failures when it is all over. I hope.

SuzieQ Totally agree with everything you've said. I marvel at the patience of those standing on the podium when I am shouting at the TV myself.

Suzie I couldn’t agree more. Thank goodness for a Captain Tom. This is like a war. Let’s all pull together now. Time for recriminations afterwards.

So true * SuzieQ178*

I often wonder if all the other countries with just as many problems and slow resolutions as us, have as many repetitive questions and drip-drip daily rubbishing from the press?

It seems other countries are all doing marvellous things in record time - I just don’t get how their citizens are dying, just as ours are.

If I listen to one lot, South Korea have all the answers, then Germany, then Sweden, or maybe NZ. People I know in Spain are crowing about how wonderful things are there and that’s with 20,000 dead already and staff in nursing homes deserting residents for dead!

I think they ask the same questions over and over (perhaps worded slightly differently, but basically the same questions) to the different people who come onto the daily briefings in the hope that one of them will give a different answer. They can then bleat on and say "Oh well, so and so said such and such which was different to what you say - are you in disagreement about what to do?" I'm convinced they are trying to trip up the ministers and health advisors, and I for one, am sick to death of them.
They also ask questions which have just been answered, they really do need to listen more! Then again, as I say, it's an attempt to trip up those giving the briefing.

So glad it is not just us, they are supposed to be educated people, even our GC could come up with better questions and they certainly have better manners than these journalists.

Journalist are just so called shock-jocks nowadays

like many others, we turn the tv off after the daily update, the journalists questions are simply too irritating to waste time listening to.
I think some of them (Peston springs to mind, and Kuennesberg) see themselves as 'champions of the people' there to root out all the government's dastardly plans, when the government is trying very hard indeed to do the right thing for the health of the nation, and there are no dastardly plans.They regard themselves as being 'awkward buggers' and expect to be lauded for it, when in fact the questions are repetitive, banal and often stupid.
The Minister doing the briefing and the health experts are unfailingly polite, when secretly they must wish they could give a good kick up the bottom to the questioners.

We just don't have any 'news' programs on at all.
I look on line to see what the daily figures are and that's it.

I'm with merylstreep - no news watching, check the figures every so often.

Journalists in the UK have lost the plot.

I don't think that there are dastardly plans, but I also don't think that the government or its representatives should be allowed to get away with the disgraceful lack of preparation that has led to the deaths of so many people, and will lead to many more if they don't get their fingers out and sort out the testing and PPE that were promised ages ago.

Given their shameful record so far, I think it is important that journalists ask them to justify their actions, and to explain their plans for things like ending lockdown. Letting people know when and on what basis this might happen (as in what needs to be in place before it can be considered, as opposed to even an approximate date) is not a matter of national security or commercial sensitivity - it should be a matter of public record and debate.

I think they have given very clear criteria for ending lock down.

At least twice at the briefings. Maybe more. I haven’t listened to them all.

Have you not heard them?

I am very tired of reporters and presenters, particularly those on television A very bossy female BBC presenter commented, when a spokesman dismissed a question: 'It's our job to hold the government to account. '
No it is not.
It is their job to present the news, and stick closely to the facts.
Much of the reporting, and so-called journalism at present, is designed to cause alarm, and should not be happening, at this time. There is enough panic evident in the small sample of the populace which Gransnet comments represent to show how dangerous it, At This Time.
And it is so easy to criticise, with no responsibility.

My jaw dropped the other day. I think I heard Laura Kuenssberg say something that was NOT a criticism of the government. I actually think she was admitting that they were between a rock and a hard place( my words , not hers).

Course I could be wrong, I was doing something else when her voice alerted me??

It’s ‘Gotcha’ journalism. They just want to trip people up. That’s not forensic journalism, getting to the nub of matters.

On the Scottish news last night there was a report on a Nightingale hospital in Glasgow being ready for use. It may well end up not being used as, so far, the Scottish NHS is coping.

Journalists are now asking whether the £43million it cost could have been better spent elsewhere. For goodness sake, either you prepare for a pandemic or you don’t, you can’t it both ways!

Why does the BBC always get to ask the first question?

Probably because the briefings are broadcast on the BBC, Canalboatgranma.

Eglantine Yes, Have heard them. The question was about the relevance of the journalists' questions. In my opinion, as I said, they are relevant because the government needs to be called to account for its (lack of) actions, and we need to be kept informed about what is likely to happen in future. 'We are listening to science' is not an acceptable answer. We need to be told what science, how it has been tested, and how it will feed into policy. The fact that we were given a list of criteria last week is not enough either, as these things change on a rolling basis (perhaps rightly). We need to know if, how and why the plans have changed - every day if necessary.

Couldn't agree more.We have stopped watching all but the briefest update otherwise we find ourselves shouting at the TV.
They are desperate to fill air time and keep their jobs. I read the paper daily and that's enough.

Yes I tend to switch off when the same so called journalists ask the same questions over and over again, never anything positive all negative. It's the same on GN the same posters post the same negative posts as if they are experts and have all the answers re Covid 19 as if lol.

PamelaJ1 I heard Laura K speaking almost positively too! I had to sit down and check with DH that it was her talking. Perhaps she’d been drinking or smoking whacky backy. She was back to normal this morning.

BBC are asked first as a courtesy because its broadcast on BBC1 I assume

We are in such a weird place, there is nothing else to report except corona news, and as a daily news item it does get very repetitive. I actually feel rather sorry for the news people, they are desperately trying to fill the space. There is almost nothing to film, interviews are always in someone's house and people rarely have anything new to say.