to Wish the journalists were not part of the daily briefing

[9millioncansofbeans]

Am I being unreasonable ?
I feel like, In general, the scientists give a very sound reasonable explanation of any updates and plans and why they won’t announce plans.
And then every day the journalists ask questions which have been covered. And actually today’s really annoyed me, as one journalist said people are worried the reasons you won’t discuss how we will come out of lockdown is because it’s going to go on for 18 months... well I was not worried about that but now I am!!
I wish they We’re not part of the daily briefing.

It elongates the whole press conference . I would prefer to think about it myself

Yabvvu.

Yes, sometimes they are asking pointless and repetitive questions, but fgs we do need the the government to be held to account.

Asking questions which have already been answered is not holding politicians to account.

‘Answered’.

The format is a disaster for proper accountability and has changed the dynamic a lot, easier for the politicians to duck the question.

YABU as no one is forcing you to listen to the press conference in full or part.

Today I didn't listen as British one is never as entertaining as Trump's.

But we've lost so many rights and freedoms in this fight against the virus.
You want to lose the only way of questioning and challenging the government as well?
Why should we have to take absolutely everything they say at face value with no-one pushing back or proving deeper?

Until a virtual parliament is set up this is the only scrutiny they get that they can't completely ignore! And it's not enough, and the questioning is often very weak, but it's all we have.

Even Trump hasn't cancelled media questions yet.

YABU. It's their job to ask awkward questions

They're not asking awkward questions though! They're asking questions which have either already been answered, or obviously can not be answered yet.

I think the answer is we need better journalists.

If they are there to challenge why dont they ask intelligent questions rather than the idiotic ones they are doing.

There's one group coming out badly out of these daily briefings and it ain't the govt and the other representatives.

It’s the repetition of same unanswerable question that gets wearing then the inevitable columns that are pure speculation.

I thought they were quite good today with some answers. Ie we are here, not side stepping etc

Today I felt like I was watching sixth formers who had been given a Q&A project

I agree.

The serology question was a good one I’ve been wanting to hear more on that.

The majority of press reporting in the UK, including the BBC, is aimed at (and I quote from a media training firm) “a reasonably informed 14 year old”.

The quality of journalism in the U.K. is very dire. I have sat in organisations preparing for media and press briefings and I am shocked by the lack of integrity of the press at all levels.

“It is not about facts it is about impact” - this from a household name.

There wouldn’t even be press briefings if the journalists didn’t demand them. You’d have got one address from Boris and not much else

I think that the journalists don't add anything to the briefing and are there more for show than making a difference to the knowledge of the people watching. A lot of the answers given is stuff that they've said that day in the briefing.

It's understandable that people want to know what next when the government started giving us warning about what advice was coming soon and other countries announcing firm dates for next steps.

FWIW I think the government aren't unreasonable to say that they aren't announcing yet. They will want to see what happens in other countries and how the number of deaths change in the next 3 weeks which is wise. After the herd immunity fiasco it is natural for them to be more cautious imo.

If it's scaring you then I suggest you turn off before the questions. This crisis is pretty strange in that a lot of the news is speculative or discussion about what is happening elsewhere which may not be relevant to the UK.

As there is no Parliament this is all we have and it’s unacceptable. We have not drilled down into the problems of care homes. We have not understood why the police did whatever they felt like doing. We didn’t know why some professional advice was rejected. We don’t know what notice they are taking of the children’s commissioner or cancer experts whose patients are not getting a service. We have no idea what the views of the House of Lords is. They have many scientific and medical Lords. We have no real idea how small hospices will be funded as their events have been cancelled. We don’t know how on earth over 3 million unemployed will be employed again when so many have ruined businesses or no income to speak of. Lots for Labour to ask about and the government to answer.

There wouldn’t even be press briefings if the journalists didn’t demand them. You’d have got one address from Boris and not much else

Well yes, but now they are in place, journalist should be making the most of them. They shouldn't be a wasted opportunity.

Avalanche, 14 is significantly in excess of the reading age at which government materials are now aimed. Journalistic standards are lower than they used to be. The industry is struggling, pay is low and e.g. foreign correspondents posts have been cut to save costs and to focus on the crap news most people read (like the sidebar of shame).

I hadn’t really though the journalist questions were holding them to account. I can see in theory how that works. Although I think many of the questions do not do that.
Could there be another way to hold them to account without journalists involved? I just feel like they basically want to stir it up and have a headline. Which isn’t helpful.
What about questions from independent experts? Or from voluntary sector organisations ? Members of public?
If I’m being ridiculous that’s fine. But I would really rather have a discussion instead of insults thrown and swearing which can sometimes happen on threads like this.

YANBU, it’s Gotcha journalism at its worst.

I really don’t know how the scientists remain polite. They must be very frustrated at having to explain The Same Thing ten times over.

Or just “better” journalists

I think it’s good to invite the press in terms of accountability but it’s incredibly frustrating to have to listen to them ask questions that have already been answered during the actual briefing. Of course they’re not going to be drawn on an end date because that would be stupid. I’m glad to see that our government treats them with respect regardless of how inane their questions are though. If you look at the alternative in the USA it’s quite disgusting how they’re being spoken to by trump.

YANBU OP, they ask questions which have been answered during the briefing, or were asked the previous day.

And Robert Peston should be banned for life, the smug, arrogant twat.

How can you have a press briefing without the press?

I would prefer the journalists to be the health & science correspondents rather than the political journalists Then we might get sensible questions

In the absence of Parliament we need the journalists to ask proper questions and push for answers