Is the government gagging the BBC?

[lonelyplanet]

During August there were daily stories on the BBC news about the safe reopening of schools. Inaccurate photos of socially distanced desks and classes with only 15 children in them were being widely used.

The schools have now returned and there is silence. There is no information on what is happening and no updates. Why is this?

Last night I watched the BBC Panorama Test and Trace Exposed. Panorama is known for uncovering scandals. The programme interspersed snippets of Boris' speeches with his promises that have fallen flat. However there was no mention of the promise that Test and Trace would be in place for the safe opening of schools. Or for that matter anything about how the Test and Trace has failed schools or been problematic because of schools.

Universities have started to go back this week and there is quite rightly loads of coverage about the problems and issues.

What I would like to know is why is the mainstream media not covering the return to schools? Why can't I find out what is going on nationally? How are schools really affected? Are there lots of children and staff off sick? Are there no reporters out there willing to ask the questions that need asking?

@MarshaBradyo

Yes, state in England but DC at stand alone sixth form college. The Government have different guidelines for further education colleges. They are allowed to do blended learning. So in college for one lesson per subject per week and then online classes and further work. The reality is very few online classes and work sent through by email. I am very concerned that DC will not be ready for exams.

Meant to say, there was in place a plan to increase onsite teaching but that has now been postponed. Our figures are very low so quite surprising.

Ah that’s tough This I don’t blame you. I have yr11, part time would be hard atm too.

@MarshaBradyo
Yes, I am really worried. I was so hoping that DC would be back full time from September and then praying they would increase onsite teaching as term got underway but it has been pushed back.

Hope everything is going well for your DC. I think this situation is particularly tough on exam year students.

Just seen this in the Guardian...

Teaching union calls for 'Nightingale schools' to help reduce Covid risk

Richard Adams Richard Adams
The National Education Union wants the government to back “Nightingale schools” with additional teachers and smaller class sizes, to help curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus in areas of high risk.

The call comes as the NEU launched a new website to track Covid-19 outbreaks around each school, as part of a campaign to lobby the government for better access to tests for both staff and pupils.

In a briefing before the union’s special conference on Saturday, Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said:

We have got Nightingale courts to deal with the backlog in the courts. We think we need Nightingale classes too.

Some people tell us this is over-ambitious but in Bolton and in Newcastle we are worried that they are going to move to a rota operation and we think that reducing class sizes in those areas is a better option. It will take real work but there are supply staff, there are [teachers] who qualified last summer who still don’t have jobs and this could be work they could sensibly do.

Courtney said the Department for Education’s latest figures showed that more than 500 secondary schools in England were only partially open, and that there were reports of entire year classes and groups of pupils studying for GCSE and A-level or BTec qualifications being sent home to isolate.

The union’s delegates will also consider a motion calling for changes to the exam and assessment system for 2021. It wants standardised tests in primary schools to be dropped, and for changes to GCSE and A-level exams to avoid a repeat of this year’s fiasco.

Link to website: www.schoolcovidmap.org.uk

The government won’t meet with journalist. It’ll order the new Director General (the one they’ve put in place to sort this mess that is the over funded and inefficient BBC out) to tell them to do as they are told

The government is not going to tell the Director General that BBC journalists can’t cover whether or not there are COVID outbreaks in schools.

Even if they did and the DG said ‘ok then’ (which he wouldn’t because we don’t live in Russia or China) there would be other news outlets covering if and likely asking why the BBC didn’t.

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/30/rise-in-home-schooling-is-partly-down-to-misinformation-says-ofsted-chief

Some reporting here on numbers still off school...

They wouldn’t meet with the director general. The gov could impose a voluntary D notice though. They’ve been used more than they should in the last decade. These have been around for a century in one form or another and the press voluntarily agree not to cover a subject. They could get away with breaking rank to report facts but not to make a big deal or campaign. They’d be expected to balance out any reporting of facts with positive articles too.

I say this as someone who’s worked in media not a conspiracy theorist

@Orangeblossom7777

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/30/rise-in-home-schooling-is-partly-down-to-misinformation-says-ofsted-chief

Some reporting here on numbers still off school...

Really made me laugh (weep?) that the head of Ofsted calls it misinformation about 'not being able to use sewing machines or play football, and having to keep doors open' all of which are in place at our school!

@Fetaliving

They wouldn’t meet with the director general. The gov could impose a voluntary D notice though. They’ve been used more than they should in the last decade. These have been around for a century in one form or another and the press voluntarily agree not to cover a subject. They could get away with breaking rank to report facts but not to make a big deal or campaign. They’d be expected to balance out any reporting of facts with positive articles too.

Surely it's not being reported as it is such an interesting story! The fact it is still low percentages of schools doesn't mean it wouldn't be of interest.

What I mean is, it must be deliberately not being reported.

@Fetaliving

They wouldn’t meet with the director general. The gov could impose a voluntary D notice though. They’ve been used more than they should in the last decade. These have been around for a century in one form or another and the press voluntarily agree not to cover a subject. They could get away with breaking rank to report facts but not to make a big deal or campaign. They’d be expected to balance out any reporting of facts with positive articles too.

Look at all the Covid coverage in the media and social media (criticism of the government from all sides, including normally friendly newspapers). Do you HONESTLY believe that every single outlet is going to cave in to some government-imposed ban on reporting on school Covid outbreaks or closures?

I've just googled "confirmed school cases of Covid" and a long list of local paper stories comes up. These are all entitled something equivalent to "Every school with confirmed Covid cases in Greater Manchester/ applicable area". So, if a government ban on the media exists, it's a very ineffective one.

Greater Manchester has 331 schools with a confirmed case, according to research by the Manchester Evening News. The true figure will be higher. That is, without doubt, a LOT of schools. At the moment, though, that figure says more about how many bubbles are being sent home than it does about the actual number of positive cases in schools.

The story is there in the local media. It was linked earlier, it’s not being reshared much for the same reason it’s not a big thing in national press. It’s driven by local interest.

I never said every outlet would cave. I said it would be a voluntary order and that reporting of facts like cases and outbreaks would be allowed. Not a blanket ban on mentioning it at all. More that outlets shouldn’t question it or stray from basic facts at all.

I agree that it is frankly bizarre and at worst quite sinister that there is no transparent reporting of outbreak locations. This data should be published transparently and immediately to let people manage their risk.

Why is there so much secrecy around Covid cases in schools? Why are we being fined for non-attendance, or pushed to deregister, if we don't feel it's safe to send our children in to school?

The other suspicious one is that they don't track the number of people who want Covid tests, vs the number who actually get them.... so we have no way of knowing who they are prioritising (or, my suspicion, if they are deprioritising children) or how many people have symptoms and need a test.

Also, they haven't updated the symptoms to match the ones most commonly actually seen in children who've tested positive for Covid-19 -- such as gastrointestinal symptoms, fatigue, headache.

Yes completely agree.
I didnt trust the site and put in not applicable or whatever for ethnicity. And tried a few permutations in case it wasnt letting kids have tests.
We did get one for 8yo but there was no cancel option and it gave us a walk through when we chose drive.

Local BBC are reporting it.

Our local bbc only had 1 school out of about 7 schools. Maybe ours is just not very good and could vary by area

I think it’s lazy journalism. I have seen very few dig deep and come out with good analyses.

I am also quite cross with the partiality of the BBC. In March they were so pro government, that when they failed to lock down quickly enough, and hundreds of respected scientists wrote an open letter to call for a lockdown - the BBC were extremely condescending and played down the open letter and inferred it was mostly students or people of low respect. I was shocked! Especially as now it is clear that those scientists were totally right.

I felt like I was reading Tory propaganda

No the government isn't gagging the BBC, what a load of bollocks. The way news works is that something is in the papers or the TV news when a story happens - for example, university terms start, cases rise among students and some have to lock down. There isn't really a news story at the moment about schools. They're trundling along with cases here and there but very few have closed and a small minority have had partial closures.
Here is an article in - guess what - BBC news website - about cases in schools.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54341418

For those that can't be bothered to read it:
About 16% of secondaries were affected with partial closures in the week ending 24 September
Some 6% of England's 23,000 schools overall were affected this week, up from 4% the previous week.

This might be of interest

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/bbc-isnt-telling-us-the-full-story-on-covid-h2xm35pmh

There isn't really a news story at the moment about schools

Everyone I’ve told that there are 13,000 kids and 700 teachers currently self-isolating and out of school in Birmingham with a quarter of schools affected has been shocked and appalled. And surprised they hadn’t heard about it.

Clearly people are interested.

[quote Orangeblossom7777]This might be of interest

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/bbc-isnt-telling-us-the-full-story-on-covid-h2xm35pmh[/quote]
It's behind a paywall is there a way we can see it without "signing up for a free trial"?