Your opinion on reporting of the pandemic

As the late great Clive James wrote: "Mass death dies hard". He was writing about the Press's response to anthropogenic climate change. As he pointed out, those newspapers which didn't carry terrifying stories were losing out to those which did. The same applies to TV. There is no interest in balanced and careful reporting. Last week saw the first day since early March when there were NO hospital deaths from Covid-19. Did you see that reported anywhere? It was on NHS England website, with an accompanying graph. The same day the BBC gave a lot of time to 'second spikes' in various countries around the world, 'hotspots' in NW England and 'increases in R value'. You would think that 0 Covid deaths in hospital would be a real way-mark in our journey through this pandemic, but it didn't fit their purpose! The BBC is the worst offender, I think. Don't expect any reporting integrity from them any more! Even Hugh Pym, their health correspondent, has been seen shaking his head on screen when his more hopeful message was being ignored by Sophie Raworth on the Ten o'clock news, when she tried to get him to say something he didn't. I despair of the main stream press!

I hope it all worked out for your daughter growstuff. Its not perfect in Scotland but we’re doing OK just now.

Let me be very clear about the purpose behind this thread (Sorry 4allweknow, I’m channelling the FM ? )
I am not downplaying the situation, I understand how serious it is. I’m not crazy Christingle. 50,000 dead in the UK. I have friends and family in the US, Brazil and Australia so I know what’s going on. I don’t need to hide from the truth Frankie51.

My point is that the news coverage is misleading and generates an atmosphere of fear unnecessarily throughout the population. As for the idea that they have to frighten us so that we obey the rules, that ceases to be news and becomes propaganda. But that is what has happened, as JenniferEccles says. Pictures of people dying in intensive care wards and interviews with grieving relatives are not news, they are manipulation. On Radio Scotland this morning I heard the phrase “a deadly second wave was unleashed”. Really? How does that inform or educate the population?

Can we all try to understand the difference between responsible reporting and sensationalism?

www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/sitting-comfortably-not-six-oclock-news/

Alegrias
Absolutely, you’ve hit the nail on the head. In my opinion, there is a huge amount of journalistic opinion given rather than actual news.

maddyone

Get yourself an iPad growstuff it’s quick and easy to use.

Too expensive and I don't like little gadgets. I like a proper PC with a big screen and proper keyboard and mouse.

(Sorry! Off topic)

speedwaysue

I agree totally GrannyGravy13, the death figure yesterday was 2. I know that for the families of those 2 it is terrible news, but how many people die or are seriously injured on the roads in a day, or from other illnesses?

Both figures were given. My feeling is that the correct figure is somewhere between the two. There are still people in hospital 28 days after having had a positive Covid-19 test, who are definitely suffering from it. I guess it's important that England is now consistent with Scotland, but I suspect we now have underreporting.

The BBC is becoming incapable of reporting anything impartially. I want the news - not their opinion of it

Caro57

The BBC is becoming incapable of reporting anything impartially. I want the news - not their opinion of it

Which is why I don't watch TV news and only glance at the BBC website (it does have some useful stuff on it besides the news) and go directly to sources for information I'm interested in.

I'm afraid I don't understand people letting themselves be terrified by the news, nor do I understand people who don't want to know what's going on in the world. I usually have to resort to the foreign press. I certainly don't think the BBC should be offering a "feel good" service.

The BBC reporting of the pandemic was brutal. They need to stop the doom and gloom. The should not have been attacking politicians they should have been supporting the government's and getting the truth of this virus across. Not reporting all the spam news. I would hate to be a politician right now as they are damn what ever way they turn. How many of them knew how to deal with a pandemic. Did all you know how to deal with this I certainly didn't

They are frightening people into submission as they have other things on the agenda, that have been going on for years.
You ladies need to start investigating agenda 2030 and agenda 21, just google it , and do a bit of investigating, hope it don’t scare you all , as the things they’ve got install for the world are not good, I am doing as much research as I can on these agendas along with a few other people who don’t believe in this pandemic, happy hunting

I have just written on another thread regarding testing for Covid but think that some of my post is relevant here, too:

I think that it is true that 'bad news drives out good news' and perhaps there has been a negative slant to Covid reporting. However, I am sure that many British people are not taking the problem as seriously as they should: the R rate in my locality is now up.

What will happen if we don't get a grip on this in the summer months? As we all know, winter brings 'flu and as it seems that no amount of negative reporting will bring some of us to our senses (in terms of not taking preventative measures against Covid now) so what on earth will happen then?

The professor who is running the Zoe study has pointed out that 'it is disappointing to see that the number of daily new cases is no longer falling as they have been in previous weeks'. There is further information which is too much to add here - but please think about joining the Zoe Study (reporting only takes a few seconds each day), it is interesting and you would be doing something to help the country.

Jeanlang you may be interested to know that the Government undertook a report of how to cope in a pandemic, some years ago. The result was so horrific - in economic terms - as it would cost so much.

An example is PPE. PPE is date-stamped and it was thought that the cost of having PPE just laying around and then disposed of when old would not go down well if this fact was in the public domain. The report was popped away in a filing cabinet somewhere...

I do think that a Government is damned if they do and damned if they don't!

I do however, have disquiet that we did not close our airports and ask people to isolate and wear masks when they had to leave their homes, early enough. All history now though....

very poor
too much conflicting information and fake news

People who "don't believe in this pandemic" are like people who believe the earth is flat. I would advise them not to be lured into conspiracy theories. If you want to do "research" start by checking your sources.

Damned if they do. Damned if they don't.
Personally I'm glad the media have taken a negative perspective. Many people have ignored the warnings, if the press had been more upbeat about things then more people would have had less reason to follow the guidelines.

The part that's wrong is the government for reacting too slowly. And anyone who says they're doing a great job needs to remove their rose tinted specs.

'Did all you know how to deal with this I certainly didn't'

I've asked, from the very first reports from China, why we didn't restrict international travel.
The slogan 'coughs and sneezes spread diseases' has been around since the Spanish flu pandemic 100 years ago, yet we've only recently been told to wear masks.
The containment of disease is the same for any infectious disease. We've known what to do for years and years.

We're an island. We've kept rabies out by keeping out unvaccinated animals. We could have saved the lives of thousands and prevented a lot of people being very poorly but it was all too little too late.

I'm not sure what you think we are being manipulated to do/not do. I look at the facts I can get and behave in a way that protects myself and others whilst living the best life I can. Nobody thinks we or anyone else is having a second wave as we are not totally out of the first yet. Behave in a way you feel comfortable with, if you want to see what happens if there are few rules there are plenty of counties to look at

I glean my information from the FMs daily briefings and also interviews with scientists plus studies/research information. I also look at the 'travelling tabby' coronavirus website www.travellingtabby.com/uk-coronavirus-tracker/ where all the daily information for the country is available to look at in one place. There is also one for Scotland.

Whether it’s Covid-19 being created in a lab, 5G masts causing the illness, or Bill Gates planning to use the coronavirus vaccine to implant microchips in people and create a global surveillance state, the pandemic has been a breeding ground for conspiracy theories.

Stephan Lewandowsky, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Bristol, said the source of the Surrey blog post “is not credible”.

He says such bizarre ideas tend to penetrate mainstream society when we are in crisis. “Evidence suggests that when people suffer loss of control or feel threatened, it prompts a motivation to make sense of the situation and makes some of them more vulnerable to believing conspiracies.”

inews.co.uk/news/coronavirus-anonymous-doctor-letter-conspiracy-theory-debunked-531068

There is as yet no vaccine. Perhaps there never will be. Scientists disagree among themselves on what we should be doing, especially the value of turning the nation into mask-wearing creatures like something out of a science fiction movie. .

We shall all die sometime, but that is not to say we should not do all we can to postpone it. Stopping reading or listening all the various stories before we are plunged into deep depression would be a good start, and don't forget to smile .especially when you are washing your hands for the umpteenth time and singing Happy Birthday, twice! Has anyone thought of a different tune?

Fair comment Soniah. I don't think there is a sinister plot behind it all, I just don't think that much of the media are very good at reporting important stories. I think they are manipulating our emotions, instead of informing us.

As jeanlang wrote, they are more concerned with trying to attack politicians rather than reporting "the" news. (Whatever "the" news is.) And as Caro57 said, we get their opinions instead of facts. Have they all forgotten how to be journalists??

And I agree with you about the second wave.

I've been a Telegraph reader for many years mainly because I like their world news reporting. Recently started reading the Guardian too and so have seen a completely different view of the current situation. Who can you believe? Probably neither of them and the truth may or may not be somewhere in the middle.

JaneRn Apparently a verse of "I will survive" works

That article is worth reading varian, so I'll post the link again:

inews.co.uk/news/coronavirus-anonymous-doctor-letter-conspiracy-theory-debunked-531068

It's especially worth reading, if you're one of the people who think the number of death certificates with Covid-19 as cause of death has been exaggerated.

knspol

I've been a Telegraph reader for many years mainly because I like their world news reporting. Recently started reading the Guardian too and so have seen a completely different view of the current situation. Who can you believe? Probably neither of them and the truth may or may not be somewhere in the middle.

Read between the lines and recognise bias. If sources are given, read them. All media use quotes and statistics selectively, so they should be read in context.