Lazy and brain-dead BBC reporting...

[Derbygerbil]

... The tabloids do this too but I expect better of the BBC. There have been a number of times they have reported misleading or half accounts. The latest one I’ve noticed is as follows:

“In Spain, 37% of the 166,831 people infected have recovered, in Italy 22% of 156,363, in France 21% of 133,670. In the UK 85,208 people have tested positive, but only 0.3% have so far recovered.”

Does the BBC reporter writing this has such little common sense that they believe only 0.3% of those who tests positive for CV in the UK have recovered? I can’t believe that a BBC reporter is so moronic that they just parrot this without question or engaging their brain. Very poor...

The BBC News are a joke and have been for a long time, the latest of which is reporting (along with Sky News) John Ashton (a hysterical Labour party shill) as some kind of unbiased expert.

The BBC are an absolute disgrace.

Anti British and far left bias news reporting and journalists.

The license needs to be scrapped.

The BBC are deplorable. I loathe them.

I never watch bbc news. They are completely biased to the left.

@EggBaconBeans really? The entire left seems to see the BBC as extremely right wing/Tory biased...

Well, half of people reckon the BBC is biased to the Right, judging by their complaints reports, so they are probably getting it more or less correct.

The BBC are so far left they’re not fit for purpose.

What Polly said.

The BBC also distort their news reporting for their own liberal left agenda.

It's disgraceful.

You only need to watch Charlie and Naga on breakfast TV and that's just for starters...

Except that’s very close to what worldmeter is reporting.
I suspect the UK isn’t providing that info.

How is that far-left propaganda? That’s just poor reporting and ignorance on how recovery figures are being collected.

My point isn’t a political one. It’s basic journalistic competence! My 11 year old could do better in many cases. They’re an embarrassment.

It's because it's just picked up from other sources.
They've lifted that figure from Worldometer which in turn takes its data from each country's figures.
So, tbf, we come back to the govt reporting procedure.
It was like 3 weeks ago when some of us were accused of lying and scaremongering because Worldometer only had the UK down as having 20 serious Covid cases. People read that, and assumed it was fact because it was on the internet.

It now says recovery rates are not available.

It's not biased to the left or right. Otherwise why would right wingers shout left wing biased and vice versa?

Except that’s very close to what worldmeter is reporting. I suspect the UK isn’t providing that info.

Exactly, that’s my point... Someone’s lifted the figures from Worldometer without any critical thinking.

The real joke is that the UK government isn't collecting and releasing the data on recovered cases, unlike all other countries. Blame our govt

People read that, and assumed it was fact because it was on the internet.

Even my 11 yo knows not to believe everything posted on the internet, especially when it doesn’t fit with the other facts. It’s sad that some adults can’t seem to do that, but it’s an absolute disgrace that a BBC journalist can’t!

The real joke is that the UK government isn't collecting and releasing the data on recovered cases, unlike all other countries. Blame our govt

Government do shoulder responsibility for not providing accurate data. That in no way absolves
the BBC.

The tabloids have always gone for the sensationalist headline - eg “10000000s at risk of dying from Corona“

Sadly the BBC is starting to follow suit. Nobody seems to be interested in a story which goes along the following lines

• Most hospital and care settings now getting PPE. Some gaps we are trying to resolve.
• NHS capacity quickly increased. Currently sufficient beds, inc ICU and ventilators to meet demand. Work continues on increasing capacity.
• Staffing stretched but sufficient to meet demand. Arrangements in place to meet localised crises.
• Compliance with social distancing much better than our models dared to hope for

We all want horror stories and the press are willing to comply.

Thanks @Statistician999 there's also the fact that in the UK, the people tested until very recently have been the people in hospital who are about to die. The numbers will change as testing is rolled out to NHS staff and the wider public.

I agree OP. Half reported stories lifted from somewhere else without checking facts. Quoting random people on twitter as if their opinion was relevant. It is atrocious and getting worse. Only a couple of weeks ago they said they were holding off making 450 news staff redundant. They should be sacked, they aren’t doing their job.

I read a shocking piece on Trump about a week or so ago - incredibly partisan. It should have been entitled “My personal rant on why I hate Trump”. Such partisanship totally undermines reporting the news - the whole article could be dismissed by anyone supporting Trump as the rant it was. If they had reported the facts in an unbiased way then people might be more prepared ask questions. After all Trump is generally easy to condemn by facts alone.

Most hospital and care settings now getting PPE. Some gaps we are trying to resolve

Is that true that most have it? I’m only going on anecdotal information-but none of the frontline NHS workers I know have PPE yet-they are all still waiting.

With social media and todays connected world, the BBC and hard copy newspapers are devoid of any real 'news' reporting. In the last 10 years they've resorted to opinion and headline baiting. The problem is that a lot of the new media formats are full of mis-information.

In this social media world, more than ever we need a news source that does do investigative jounalism, that looks at the stories circulating and investigates the true facts behind them and reports them in as unbiased a way as possibly. If they don’t do this then they simply become irrelevant.

lest we forget, here's how the BBC greeted Donald Trump's visit last year

This thread gladdens my heart. A lot of mumsnet posters seem to believe chapter and verse anything they hear or read about Corona with seemingly no critical thinking being engaged. There is global narrative going on biased to sway opinions and perceptions in certain ways and to affect our behaviour; sadly even our old beloved 'beeb' is now no different.

They are also obsessed with the US and Trump. I'd be much more interested in how Europe is dealing with this particularly the EU who we hear almost nothing of from the Beeb, funny that.