The Press

[2todo]

I'm not a fan of Dominic Cummings and feel that the Government could have handled Covid19 in a more proactive way and safed lives. We can't change what has happened and do need to pull together now.

I'm utterly fed up of the press in the UK. Let's be honest they have played a negative roll when it came to Diana, Harry, Caroline Flack and many more people. We cannot continue to let them hound people like they are at the moment with Dominic Cummings. No one has mentioned that day after day the journalists outside of Dcs house break lockdown rules.

DC has been working 16 hour plus days assisting the government trying to beat coronavirus.. He's probably seen very little of his family, little boy, he made a mistake but in fairness probably deserved time away from the daily hounding of our press.

I think it was despicable how the press tried to trip up scientists yesterday and perhaps its time to cut them out of the daily briefings.

He wrote the rules, he broke them, he lied, Johnson lied, the whole front bench lied, his wife lied in her Spectator Article and BBC interview.

Don’t like the press but the whole government policy has gone into saving him and fucking the country.

So no I think the press have done an excellent Job and need to keep going for all our sakes. Him keeping his job shows all that’s wrong with Britain today.

Would add the amount of deaths lie at his and Johnson’s Feet - we have the 2nd highest death rate in the world.

They didn't try to trip them up. Behavioural scientists on sage had considered it worthy of comment, why wouldn't the chief scientific officer?

And the behaviour of the press seems broadly proportionate imo.

Usually I am anti-press, but in this case I think they are doing the right thing.

DC getting off Scott free and setting the example that the rules only apply to mugs could potentially cause a massive amount of deaths due to people following his example of ignoring the rules.

Several people I know have said we are allowed to do anything now because of DC being allowed to do what he did. They have or will disregard the rules because of the DC scandal.

I am beginning to wonder if this was what DC envisaged, he what's herd immunity as the place - which would mean higher deaths, but the economy back and running as soon as possible. I have heard on here that he is into eugenics - so this could be his master plan?

The press are right to not let go off this.

No, fuck that guy.

Not allowing journalists into government briefings would be a very dangerous thing to do.

I ended up turning the briefing off yesterday I’m sick of the media questions being about DC. Rather then asking questions about things that matter right now they continue to hound about this and waste questions that are never going to get answered how they want. It’s not the time or place and quite frankly It’s time to move on in my opinion.

Moving on is what DC wants, then it means he and all the other elites can do whatever they want. It absolutely shouldn't be ignored, regardless of power and position everyone needs to be accountable for their actions.

@2todo

Agree, if the press cannot ask questions of the government and their staff that the PM approves off, then they should go.... perhaps in a not so subtle drive by shooting or a car bomb?

TBH Watching Whitty etc refusing or stopped from answering press questions and Johnson telling us to all "Move on" reminded me of a Putin press conference.

Why should i "pull together" with this shower of shit govt? everything they do is a disaster.

If everyone is accountable for their actions how about the press not social distancing outside his house..

They don't rule over us & are private citizens, you bring this up is just Whataboutery.

Dancingaling....I agree. The press are behaving despicably, and need to stop. Its painful to watch. They didn't even give him 2m space to get in his car.

@2todo But everyone isn't accountable, are they?
To punish the press for that would be even more hypocritical.

Suppression of the media is key to controlling the masses, hence why no press freedom in China Russia etc.

If you want your freedoms curtailed , carry on blaming media for asking questions of politicians.

Journalists hold power to account.

What happened (a breach of the law) is an abuse of power and undermine public trust.

His actions undermine the policy that he wrote and everyone has had to follow, often in distressing and difficult circumstances.

The prime minister then supporting Cummings and retrospectively effectively changing the rules only serves to make it look like if you know the right people you are above the law.

This is about how the law should apply equally to all.

Also Cummings and Johnson gained power on a platform of being against 'an elite who thought they were above the rest of the population and out of touch with public sentiment' and being part of a 'people's government'.

So Cummings being above the law, supported by Johnson when public sentiment is very much against Cummings and there is very real anger represents a betrayal of many of those who voted for Johnson thinking he would bring about a change to this elite notion.

There is also an elite of questioning who is actually in charge and running the country: Johnson or an unaccountable unelected bureaucrat? This raises real questions about abuses of power and threats to democracy.

The press have been doing what what they are supposed. Cummings and Johnson not so much.

I do think a lot of people do not understand what’s going on here.

DC is not elected. Yet he’s indispensable to the PM. Most believe he is the political impresario behind Johnson. Therefore he needs to be held up to scrutiny. We have an elected government who now routinely refuse to be questioned and rarely appear on BBC flagship programmes such as Newsnight and Question Time. We are descending into a state which cannot be questioned and journalists are the only people who have any chance to do this. In a free democracy they are a vital cog in the wheel.

The government (Cummings) is also after the BBC and possibly the judiciary. This is what single party states do. It’s worrying and must be questioned. So it’s vital we maintain press freedom.

Lastly, if DC had not cheated the system the press wouldn’t have been on his doorstep would they? His own actions started this and he knew this would happen if he was caught! So don’t do the “crime” etc......

There's a crucial difference between tabloids reporting on royalty and celebs in a gossipy way and the press holding politicians/government to account.

The minute you start saying the government should not be scrutinised because corrupt shits like Cummings do not like having journalists outside their houses, that's when accountability ends.

I agree OP and @Dancingalong - the media people are awful, especially Laura K? and Robert Peston - asking the same question every single day and particularly Laura K who I think is really spiteful and venomous. Let's get back to fighting the virus instead of gleefully participating in witch hunts which are never going to get anyone anywhere.

I concur OP. I think the media is negative and cynical. and TBH I don't think they have a brain cell between them.
This thing with DC is now bordering on harassment/bullying IMO. I'm sure we've all made mistakes in this crisis. I've roughly a 100 friends and TBH they're all meh about it. It's the journo's looking for sensationalism again.
I'd have preferred the journo's to be asking questions more suited to the situation. For example is the track and trace system safe. Will my details be protected? How do I know I'm not being called by a scammer? etc

Perhaps the public enquires into corona should include the handling of this by the press, I'm convinced they've added to the increase in MH issues and the inevitable problems that brings on households and families.
So much so that a majority of my friends are refusing to watch the news or switch off the briefings after questions from the public.

In the case of DC - you live by the sword you die by the sword.

I found it frustrating yesterday that with new measures announced most of the questions were about DC. Think it was the only the Sun journalist that asked a question about a scenario and they were then able to give more clarity on using the loo etc.

It's clear he's not going and there should be an inquiry into this but perhaps not right now.

I personally wish they would ask more about the virus and the plan and the measures. This is what we need to make sure things don't get out of control

One of the first things to go in any repressive regime is an independent news media.
People who whinge about 'the press' might do well to remember that without good, investigative journalism we wouldn't know about many of the things that have been revealed to be wrong with our society and the whole world.
Our rubbish government and its incompetent leaders would be cocking up beyond our sight.Tabloid tittle-tattle feeds those consumers who have an appetite for it, it's not obligatory to read it. Some people should stop using social media as their main source of 'news'.

My view is you can't complain about the way the media act if you support their gross tactics when the target is one you approve of.

We either have acceptable standards of behaviour across the board or we don't.