Is journalism dead or controlled by the state? Warning Schools

[Morfin]

These photos show what the MSM are using as images, the three are the BBC, Sky and Daily Mail (that's who BJ gave his interview to) images are powerful they influence the reader. This is the image that is being peddled to the public, is there really no journalists working anymore that actually research a story? As an aside I bet these 'news' outlets have pictures condemning our children for not SD when they flood out of school.

Beawillalwaysbetopdog exactly

Most teachers have been taught about dual coding which is giving the same information in picture form as text. So the incorrect images actually are really important. If the text narrative is schools are safe but the picture is a normal crowded classroom or corridor then the safe message is undermined.
Added to the fact a large majority will only read the few sentences under the headline it's no wonder that Joe Public think the teaching unions are being unreasonable.

This is absolutely controlled. My ex DH is in the media and there's a huge degree of control out there and has been for a while now. Free speech isn't really applicable now - you only have to look at the highly selected journalists who were allowed to question the government during the lockdown briefings to see that in action. Plus the scientists were heavily censored, both on and off air, in what they were allowed to say.

As for schools- any teacher on here - you HAVE THE RIGHT TO WEAR A MASK AT WORK. This is irrespective of what your school may tell you. You will have the full backing of the unions and of the HSE. Any head who puts it in writing that you are not allowed to wear a mask is treading on very very dangerous legal ground as that could then end up quite tangibly as a form of corporate manslaughter and they would be held liable as they knowingly put you in danger when you requested protection.

Boris isn't really talking to teachers or parents here, I think. He's talking to the restaurant / pub / leisure sector and telling them to get their ducks in line soon no matter how much money they donated to any campaign.

Although as a parent and teacher I'm certainly in favour of what he says, and it's hard to argue against it, I think he has seriously shot himself in the foot here in terms of support within his traditional party base. There'll soon be plenty of voices moaning that if schools were part time pubs could open as well and tons of people wouldn't have to lose their jobs etc. Remember there are far, far more people that work in hospitality alone than there are parents who require childcare to work. Once all these voices start shouting, then he'll look to recover his standing with them again. He really is the weakest - I'll be surprised if he is still party leader within a year!

Same as no notice has been paid to the 200 outbreaks in schools in the last 4 weeks of term.

Just like some posters pay no notice to discussions on prior threads and choose to repeat the same incomplete / inaccurate information...

200 outbreaks quoted in the weekly surveillance reports include all respiratory infections, including flu (which is still in circulation and for which children act as primary vectors).

Specifically on COVID (from the SAGE papers):

Outbreaks in educational settings

• From 01/06/2020 to close on 20/07/20 there were 60 confirmed clusters or outbreaks in educational settings, 33 in primary schools, 15 in pre-schools/nurseries, 5 in secondary schools and 7 in schools serving children of mixed age groups (some of these settings serve children with special educational needs (SEN)).
• There were 292 new COVID-19 (confirmed and suspected) ‘situations’ linked to educational settings identified through HP Zone in total during this period. 232 (79%) of these did not meet the definition of a COVID-19 cluster or outbreak because they involved suspected cases that later tested negative for COVID-19, single confirmed cases, cases that did not have direct links to the educational setting, or finally situations where reported cases remain possible pending confirmation.
• For confirmed outbreaks as of 20/07/2020, the median number of confirmed cases in children has been 0 (range 0-9) and for staff members 2 cases (range 0-10).
• Swab testing of some (n=10) or all (n=7) exposed individuals was carried out in 17 of the 60 (28%) confirmed outbreak or cluster situations notified.
• There have been no reported hospitalisations in children since 01/06/2020, and 3 in total among staff members linked to educational settings.
• There has been 1 reported fatality, in a teacher working in a secondary school. This individual had a known epidemiological link (household) and had also carried out charitable work in the community before becoming unwell as a possible point of community exposure. There were no suspected or confirmed cases in the school in which they were working and no wider transmission in that setting is thought to have occurred.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/907593/s0647-phe-covid-19-situational-awareness-summary-sage-48.pdf

60 outbreaks over 7 weeks is not zero risk but the numbers are much lower than what we have seen in other workplace settings (let alone hospitals or care homes). A typical outbreak has involved 2 members of staff and no children.

@MarshaBradyo

I’m not sure where the media have been no real mention of the hundreds of outbreaks and more importantly the increase in outbreaks when schools opened for certain year groups in June.

196 with two or more students out of 30,000 is not much of a story. It could have been one bubble to stop not even a whole school. Not much news. Even on here most people said they had no cases at their school, I didn’t see anyone saying it was closed on a recent thread.

They were mostly only primary schools open. So managing small bubbles, not full school years open, in good weather so outside. Staggered starts, and finishes and part time learning.

That’s all doable and safe

OP you’re right. The images give the wrong impression,

The press and the Tories have been in each other’s pockets for too long for many reasons too detailed to go into here.

They never properly challenge his decisions. Just report like lapdogs.

This is absolutely controlled. My ex DH is in the media and there's a huge degree of control out there and has been for a while now. Free speech isn't really applicable now - you only have to look at the highly selected journalists who were allowed to question the government during the lockdown briefings to see that in action. Plus the scientists were heavily censored, both on and off air, in what they were allowed to say.

Interesting but I'm not surprised. I note the pro safe schools no transmission spin has upped considerably today.

I want to go back, I want kids back, I want my kids back. I want to know that we are being listened to and parents are aware of the realities. There's a danger of complacency; even if children aren't huge vectors (and I mean primary, I don't believe this is the case for secondary) adults are.

If staff get ill, schools will struggle. This is not a simple disease. Staff are leaving, especially TAs. Their wage isn't worth it.

Community transmission is the key to this. The test and trace is a travesty.

The issue with mask wearing is its pointless unless everyone is on board.

Psst - picture desks are separate from reporter desks. The pix are usually added by other people, not the writers.

I'm a journalist (financial, business to business). Hopefully this will help address some of the questions:

1. Images - there is no money for exclusive photos for every story, we have to use stock images unless it's a "live event" report and there is a photographer there. We have to pay to access these stock images, we can't just use Google images due to copyright infringement.

1. More often than not, there will be a "media relations" person acting as the middle person between journalist and source. Many sources will not speak to you unless you allow a quote check / send questions ahead of time. Media relations people are notoriously difficult to work with (not all...but many). They are the ones controlling the message.

1. We often have information that we are unable to publish because it hasn't been verified by enough people. Or we have been given it "off the record" or "on background". Or because it has been embargoed / someone has taken an injunction out against the publisher.

1. No comment is probably one of the most frequently heard phrases to come out of an interviewee's / media relations' person's mouth!

1. Of course, MSM newspapers have political allegiances, and they have advertisers to think about. I wholeheartedly believe there should be a Chinese wall between these divisions, but the business reality of this is that there often isn't. This is VERY frustrating for journalists.

1. The government can't "control" the media in the sense of telling them what to write. But they can control the message - this is evident when politicians refuse to answer questions when being interviewed live on TV etc. The very same thing happens to print journalists.

1. What the government (or indeed anyone else) can do is pay for an advertorial / particular piece of content to appear in a newspaper. This should be clearly labelled as a paid piece of content, and is often different in style (maybe the font / layout) to editorial content.

1. Like any business, we have financial pressures. Sadly there is not time / staff to carry out in depth investigations. Every journalist wants their Watergate.

1. We have a team of lawyers that must be consulted when a story is in any way contentious. There are layers and layers of checks that some stories must go through before they are published - editor, senior editor, managing editor, lawyer...some stories are spiked because they may cause a backlash.

10. Media lies is always bandied about, but how many cases do you actually hear of? The onus is on the journalist to prove what they wrote is true - so it's hella easy for someone who genuinely believes they have been defamed to prosecute. Yet not many do.

I'm not defending poor journalism. Just giving some insight behind the scenes.

want to know that we are being listened to and parents are aware of the realities. There's a danger of complacency; even if children aren't huge vectors (and I mean primary,

Scottish schools are back today. Very English centric statement.

Images-there is no money for exclusive photos for every story, we have to use stock images unless it's a "live event" report and there is a photographer there. We have to pay to access these stock images, we can't just use Google images due to copyright infringement.

So, in this stock of photos, filed under ‘schools’, are there only photos of tiny cute socially distanced children sitting beautifully behaved in classes of 10?

Was the entire stock of school photos with standard classes of 30 that we had for many years pre-Covid mislaid?