Does anyone find sobbing nurses etc in The News every night, in any way helpful?

[Miljea]

.... or does this footage rapidly lose its impact?

I sort of feel 'Yes, we know, and if the first months of footage failed to shock and awe, this won't!'. If anything, all it does is to numb people.

Ditto the non-contextualised rolling statistics.

Do you think it's an actual strategy, to bombard us with this? If it is, I fear it's not working.

FTR I'm coalface, Covid facing, full PPE NHS, tho not ICU.

But I have got up and personal with Covid that is killing people. Including in ICU.

But I don't think the News' blanket slightly blurry footage of HCPs all kitted up going about their business, interspersed with interviews with sobbing nurses- really helps. I have even heard the 'for God's sake, it's their job' remarks (at the hairdressers, when they were briefly open, TV on).

That person was argued with by her mate, but I do wonder whether too much of this sort of coverage makes people weary of it.

Yes to the heroes crap.

It alienates people from each other.

Nothing wrong with the subject matter but it’s very manipulatively done.

Plus people know their bosses are watching.

Louis Theroux would be better.

Jesus!
I see people who are on the brink and stretched to the limit physically, mentally and who will suffer from traumatic stress for years.
I can't imagine what they are having to deal with each day I just hope if it makes 1 person rethink their behaviour then its worth it surely.

I agree and found the bbc news tonight particularly hard to watch. Somebody called it compassion fatigue which sums it up perfectly. We've seen numbers reported every single day for over 9 months now and it does desensitise you to it all.
The flagrant rule breakers will not change because of these sorts of news reports.

" Including the head of the hospital mortuary who reported having to deal with a never ending supply of dead bodies (I am sorry but this prompted the sort of dark humor laugh that escapes when you know it shouldn't)."

What the hell is wrong with you that that makes you laugh?

Probably the idea that a mortuary assistant, whose job it is to deal with dead bodies, is getting upset about dealing with dead bodies.

Yes I do. I hope that the deniers will see it and start thinking of others.

I do agree however three or four weeks ago there were strong calls from some to allow tv cameras into ICU to try and counter the covid deniers. The images are to try and reinforce the message. I do agree that running it night after night loses impact.

YABabitU - if you aren’t in ICU, you haven’t been under the same strains as they have (and I am also working on a covid ward, but I can see ICU are stretched thinner, and having to work in ways they feel are unsafe, in a way that I am just not).

Half of them have PTSD. There’s no wonder they are sobbing. The press focus may be excessive, but it is understandable they if the NHS is at the point of collapse in many places, news programmes want to report on it.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55630157

It is manipulative, but then it's also pretty standard. As said that doesn't mean that none of this is happening, just that they'll always go for a pre-determined angle and source material to suit

Given that the report was reminding us how hard it is for these workers there's a shit ton of irony in a BBC film crew showing up and causing disruption to a stressful working day by poking them with banal questions about how sad they are until they get an emotional rise.

@the80sweregreat

I find it upsetting as I couldn't say goodbye to my dad who died of covid , but it makes me realise what this virus is doing to the ones trying to save people's lives. It's so hard. I know why people think it's wrong to show these things , but it needs to be seen. Especially as so many do not believe this is happening or not following the rules.

I'm so sorry about your dad.

But showing these 'sobbing to camera' pieces over and over again? Do you think they're changing anyone's mind?

A bit of a line was drawn in the sand tonight- the footage inside a mortuary complete with a (covered) body being wheeled in. Who may have been that if an 87 year old grandmother who died peacefully at home, surrounded by her loving family.... I don't know.

But the sobbing 'senior mortuary technician'??

'OK, OK, Julian, any chance of an 'actual dead body'? ITV filmed outside a Covid morgue, yesterday (damn!)- could we get closer? With some real impactful stuff? Tears? Great! It's a wrap'.

And yes, sorry but as a mortuary tech, those bodies do keep on rollin'.

So note, my 'line in the sand' wasn't the inside of a mortuary- I go there quite a bit- it was the 'Hey, sobbin' ICU nurses aren't cutting it, let's do dead bodies!' -thing that is increasingly getting on my goat.

I just hope if it makes 1 person rethink their behaviour then its worth it surely

I'm not sure it is, TBH - not if for every one person who changes their mind you have five others who become so alienated that they start to think "what's the hell's the point ...?"

I agree they are really laying it on a bit thick and on the other hand imo they seem to be downplaying the excellent vaccination news.
I can understand that they don't want people to feel complacent but I was expecting a bit more optimism and maybe even celebration.

@the80sweregreat

The staff are tired and demoralized and who can blame them? They probably have a well earned day off , only to see others out and about flouting the rules. They must absolutely despair.

You have complete missed my point.

They (and I 😉) the NHS staff are tired and demoralised.

But being wheeled out to sob at news crews, night after night, isn't to anyone's benefit, including theirs (mine).

The press focus may be excessive, but it is understandable they if the NHS is at the point of collapse in many places, news programmes want to report on it

True, but then that's complicated by the fact that they insist the NHS is on the point of collapse every single winter
Anyone with sense realises it's genuinely serious this time, but the constant repetition of the message - the boy who cried wolf thing if you like - really hasn't helped

Mumsnet seems to have gone from teacher bashing (bad) to nurse bashing (good) in the last couple of weeks.

I doubt they cry on purpose . Three patients died on dd's ward last night. She called me crying on her way home this morning, and has gone back in this evening for her fourth 14 hour shift of the week.

The reports may be pointless, and may be hard to watch, but ffs the lack of sympathy on this and many other threads is despicable.

You'll all be glad to know that she won't be sobbing over patients much longer. She has quit, as have many of the nurses she has worked with over the last ten months.

I sort of agree op but I'll never forget the scenes from Italy, all those men lying on their fronts in icu and tales of deceased relatives left in houses because there was no one to take them, very powerful.
That's what prompted me to think, why not us, why do we think we are immune, why arnt we acting now.

Unless you've been in a hospital, and seen it struggling or lost relatives very quickly, etc it's hard to comprehend the very thin line between life and death and disaster.

So we can't hide these things away esp with the idiots denying it happens. But I know what you mean re ramping it up.

I find it annoying for 3 reasons.

Nobody in these pieces ever takes the government to task for putting frontline medics in this hideous situation.

The horrifically difficult situation so many other people are in isn't covered anything like as often.

It feels like lazy journalism.

I think it's good. It brings home that it is real. There are so many people talking shit and pretending it's not real.

@Msmcc1212

I think you are assuming there is some kind of plan within the media in terms of ‘what works’. It’s the news. They are reporting what is happening. Many NHS staff are getting burnt out, traumatised and suffering from moral injury. That is happening and being reported. Not great plan. It’s important that we know that. Just like it’s important that we know about other issues where our fellow human beings are suffering. Where we can offer support we then can. Where we can make a difference we then can. If we can’t do anything about then at least those suffering have had their experiences witnessed and validated. Don’t see what the issue here is really. Would you question footage of people crying after a terrorist attack?

But night after night after night?

Let's say the victims and parents of victims of the Manchester Ariana Grande concert attack were paraded out every night for 20 minutes, for 9 months.

Or Grenfell victims, and survivors?

Would they engender the same horrified sympathy as they did on day 2,4, 6?

Or might we, the consuming public, go 'Yes, okay, we get it'.

It does not mean we do not care. I follow Grenfell closely, but the human psyche does that 'Enough, already!' thing when it's over-egged.

I'm just avoiding anything like that. I turn over instantly.

Apart from anything else, this sort of thing plays havoc with people's mental health. I think the number of extra people who'll take the rules more seriously after it (given how long they've had to do that already) will be far outweighed by those who get even more stressed and depressed, or yes, bored and so caring even less about the rules they break.

I think it’s teLly important for the rule breakers.

But rule breakers and c19 deniers won't be watching.
It's literally pointless

I'm sure we have all heard of people who are walking around parks or taking public transport knowing fine well they have covid. If this makes any difference to them, I'm all for it.

@RaspberryCoulis

" Including the head of the hospital mortuary who reported having to deal with a never ending supply of dead bodies (I am sorry but this prompted the sort of dark humor laugh that escapes when you know it shouldn't)."

What the hell is wrong with you that that makes you laugh?

Probably the idea that a mortuary assistant, whose job it is to deal with dead bodies, is getting upset about dealing with dead bodies.

So someone who sees death daily is still not too detached to be affected by the scale of loss... sounds sad, not funny. Sorry, I can't imagine having that reaction to scenes like that.

roseonrose "Doing a series of reports on a theme over a week or so is not unusual for the BBC (and other channels) and it's not a new style of reporting, let alone one created just for covid."

A week or so? What channel are you watching? It's been month after month after month!

And if someone needs 'a theme' to engage them, they're probably the ones must 'over' the endless in-ICU Covid reporting.

Mumsnet seems to have gone from teacher bashing (bad) to nurse bashing (good) in the last couple of weeks.

I doubt they cry on purpose hmm. Three patients died on dd's ward last night. She called me crying on her way home this morning, and has gone back in this evening for her fourth 14 hour shift of the week.

The reports may be pointless, and may be hard to watch, but ffs the lack of sympathy on this and many other threads is despicable.

You'll all be glad to know that she won't be sobbing over patients much longer. She has quit, as have many of the nurses she has worked with over the last ten months.