Do you think reporting is being restricted?

[jellybeanteaparty]

I have noticed that the news and reporting is quite different from lots of news stories. No footage of outside hospital's, no interviews with relatives or people with the virus or the medics. Initially there was some but now they only seem to show scenes in other countries. Is this by agreement with all news agencies? It feels odd compared to the usual circus! Not sure I mind just curious if others have noticed.

I am no tory, never have been, loathe them with a passion. But I think BoJo is doing his best in shitty situation, and if that includes supressing a certain sector of the print media from inflaming things more

Sadly, I think you are right - but that BoJo isn't up to the job, and his "best" is nowhere good enough.

He rolled into PM-ship thinking it would be a cushy number - lots of opportunities to show off, be a public clown, receive approbation, drink Bolly, give his mates a few hours and directorships and shag a few more secretaries.

And he got this.

And we've got him.

God help us.

I rolled my eyes at then asking for volunteers with the food parcels etc.,
I know people will but why should they when others don't give a fig? Why risk your life?
The poor key workers have no choice.
It's so sad

Not going to argue with you there @SchadenfreudePersonified

I cant help thinking that he thinks/hopes this will be his WWII and he will be remembered as the national hero who brought us through this. And I genuinely hope he's right because the alternative doesnt bear thinking about.

I am a news reporter for a large media organisation and I am in no way restricted. We are all trying to get the very latest data and info and it is being published as soon as possible.

Not in the UK but believe me - it will be the same there!

For a number of weeks now the main UK news channels and especially the BBC have clearly been following a government led format about coronavirus. Why? Because it is very very important that the public does not panic. So there will be no interviews, no horror stories, nothing rolling footage of what is happening in OUR hospitals. What we are seeing is rolling footage to terrify us into staying in from other countries, mainly Italy, not our own.

The psychology is that if you stay in now, this won't happen to you. We can avoid Italy. This has been orchestrated with 'special permission' from Italy's ICU etc. The could in fact go to any London and hospital and see the same thing, but they will not be showing that. It is being done to help the British public do the right thing, without scaring them witless.

We need everyone to be a tiny bit scared that they stay at home, but not too terrified that it affects their mental health. An unstable population that is petrified would be dangerous.

Do not expect to ever see too much of this from our own hospitals from main new channels, you can find out this information separately on SM and other sources if you want to.

What we are seeing is a very managed and careful approach to this in terms of what is being reported, not for dark or controlling reasons, but simply to keep everyone in the country on board, and where possible not descending into a blind panic.

Think boiling frog analogy.

I honestly was beginning to doubt the whole thing because of the lack of reports that showed something tangible. Lots of online stories from nurses etc but nothing that I could conclusively say was genuine.

However, in the last 48 hours I have heard of people I know being diagnosed (some with 100% certainty having had a test) and I can only assume that 'front line' reporting was being restricted. Maybe because it was initially early days and to not lull us into a false sense of security, and now because it might cause panic.

We are all trying to make sense of and process this unprecedented situation. Our governments included.

I also think the government are doing a good job, I can not think where we would be now if Corbyn was leading this fight
In PM questions, Corbyn couldn't even say coronavirus, and instead called it coronas virus, at that moment, I thanked the heavens we at least have a strong government and a leader that is listening to the experts. It could be (much) worse!

No, FFS. What control do you think they are benefitting from by closing down the economy and asking us to stay at home? Also Italy released photos inside it's hospitals as a warning to others, why on earth would we be printing photos of people on ventilators, and have interviewers and crews outside hospitals? There are definitely some things not being printed, like the moving around of staff, but please don't go spreading rubbish when it's hard enough for people to follow simple requested to stay indoors.

who knows but I don't think it's particularly helpful to say "you may die because our NHS can't cope" or "you children may go hungry as we cannot get food delivered fast enough", & "if you survive you will be paying high tax & face no state pension if you even manage to hold onto your job", "we do not have the resources to protect you from looters & criminals". Fear controls people but too much fear does the opposite.

We need everyone to be a tiny bit scared that they stay at home, but not too terrified that it affects their mental health. An unstable population that is petrified would be dangerous

What peeps has said

Unbelievable that some people on this thread think they know more than those behind the scenes in government.

I don't know what to believe, there is so much conflicting information (yesterday I read that the illness is sudden & the illness comes on gradually from 2 different supposedly reputable sources!!). I think it's interesting that after the images of all those spring breakers on beaches in America there were more stories about young healthy people getting seriously ill. Then there were early reports that the virus crosses the blood brain barrier & a lot of people in Wuhan were having seizures - all that seems to have disappeared. I have also read about people in Italy, China & America just dropping down dead in the street from the virus - all these stories came from randoms on social media sporadically over the past couple of months so who knows.

I find it odd that whilst the media repeatedly say kids are fine with it everyone seems to ignore kids with health issues - it hardly gets acknowledged.

Those who I suspect are being paid to constantly say Boris is doing a good job have a number of tactics.

• They say they hate Boris/Tories, are no fan, and then go on to consistently support every single thing they have done over this.
• They call you names suddenly out of nowhere or imply you are mentally ill or on drugs.
• They say Corbyn would have a done a worse job, even though no one else has mentioned him and it is frankly irrelevant as to whether Boris is doing a good job or not. If you want to compare look at how other leaders are handling this.
• They try and elicit sympathy by talking about how hard Boris is working and how tired and stressed he is looking.
• They say repeatedly that he is listening to the experts. This is bollocks. If he was really listening to the experts he would do what WHO says. He is not.

It's well documented that the illness comes on gradually, though the breathing difficulties can get intense quickly.

Listening to Radio 4 now, there are not shying away from reporting the doctor saying young people in their 30s and 40s are in intensive care with CV.

@LuxLFC yes kids with health issues are ignored. I have no idea about seizures.

And there is some scaremongering posted upthread about why this press suppression is happening. This kills mainly older people. So why on earth would it lead to pensions being abolished. This will reduce the pension bill.

The press are reporting on Italy because they are effectively banned on properly reporting in the UK. And no the aim is so that people are not frightened, carry on mixing, and spreading the virus. Boris still wants most people to get it because of his bullshit herd immunity theory, but is trying to reduce deaths a bit.

It will be very easy to see if deaths from this have been hidden by citing other reasons as the general mortality rate will increase.

Yes Radio 4 are better for reporting and Aljazeera are as well.

If reporting is being restricted then Mail Online didn't get the memo. It's full of the usual scare stories, including pictures of a CV patient being wheeled out of a nursing home on a stretcher by people in biohazard suits this morning.

Is it not the case that journalists are working remotely where possible?
I’ve seen interviews with patients and medics in the print and online media - these can be gathered remotely.

Why do you think a story that someone in a nursing home can get this would be suppressed? This fits in with the government narrative perfectly of only people near death already get this bad. It reinforces the government message.

This fits in with the government narrative perfectly of only people near death already get this bad.

The DM also reported yesterday that an 18 year old had died of CV - with no mention that they had any underlying health conditions in the headline or at the top of the article. How does that fit the government narrative?

(They did later amend the headline to add in that important caveat).

Yes absolutely.

1. They are making sure the total number of deaths is not reported in the headlines but buried in the text
2. They are telling us nothing about how many people are critically ill, how many HCPs are affected etc
3. They are not telling us what the “underlying conditions” are
4. There is fake information like “masks don’t work” because they don’t want the optics of loads of people walking around wearing masks (and because there are not enough)
5. They are not prioritising testing widely so we don’t know the true numbers

I work on the frontline. Zero figures are being collected from our service as far as I'm aware. Perhaps the deaths. But not the other 100s of daily C19 patients.

I would say they're massively under-reporting things.

Especially banging on about elderly. In my trust the patients are very young.
It made me feel paranoid and I am pleased to see they're now telling people younger people are not safe.
Some of the policies drawn up are utterly terrifying.

1. We are not being told anything about whether people are left with permanent lung damage.