How effective are the daily COVID-19 Press Conferences?

[stevetay3]

Is the daily update not a repeat now, it’s the same every day the same fob offs, the same old distorted information,I would rather watch the same episode of Bargain hunt over and over.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The question that should be asked is this. Why are we doing this ? I am not an expert on any of the issues going on at the moment, but as far as I am aware planet Earth has never been closed down before for a virus or anything else not even 2 World wars. But now it’s every thing closed for a illness which will be mild for most of us according to the so called experts

It has happened before...not far off 100 years ago!

BBC Two - The Flu That Killed 50 Million

Christopher Eccleston narrates a docudrama about the 1918 flu pandemic.

www.bbc.co.uk

Well worth a watch, assuming you are in the UK and have a TV licence.

 

[stevetay3]

It has happened before...not far off 100 years ago!

BBC Two - The Flu That Killed 50 Million

Christopher Eccleston narrates a docudrama about the 1918 flu pandemic.

www.bbc.co.uk

Well worth a watch, assuming you are in the UK and have a TV licence.

Please enlighten me we’re we not at war in 1918

 

[Bletchleyite]

Please enlighten me we’re we not at war in 1918

You can enlighten yourself by watching it, it's an excellent piece.

 

[DarloRich]

Please enlighten me we’re we not at war in 1918

Why not try doing some research and educate yourself. it is obvious from your comments as to why the daily news conferences are required

 

[Greybeard33]

In the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee session on management of the outbreak yesterday, the MPs asked much more penetrating questions than the journos in the press conferences have ever managed, and succeeded in prising far more detailed information out of Matt Hancock.

 

[DarloRich]

I don't think it's that bad yet, but the longer the briefings go on meeting difficult questions with platitudes, fudging the figures by leaving out deaths in care homes in the community and refusing to discuss anything beyond the next three weeks, the closer to meltdown the situation will get.

That is the job of the press to ask those questions. Intelligent people can draw inferences from the inability or unwillingness of the government to answer. The car crash that was the sole Priti Patel appearance shows that. That she only managed to express regret that NHS people felt they were being let down over PPE was indicative. No apology for obvious failings leading to loss of crucial people just meaningless platitudes. Inferences should be drawn from that.

I think they were valuable for informing people as things were rapidly changing, but now they are more stable they are getting rather repetitive. My view would be to reduce them to perhaps twice a week. You could do one on a Monday and one on a Thursday or Friday, say. Because so many people are now bored of them they wouldn't be a good way to announce changes, that should be done by a combination of putting it on gov.uk and asking the Press to quote it, and having an "8pm with Bojo" purely for announcement, not discussion.

But that is what chancers like Johnson want. They dont want to be held to account or questioned. Everyday someone from the government should stand up in front of the TV and admit how many of our fellow citizens have died. That should be shaming for them. I doubt it is. There is only Hancock who has managed to offer any sort of humanity.

I agree, daily is overkill. They can be covered off in the news, unless there is something material that needs to be said

It is designed to reinforce the message. It wont be as effective on the news. Ibet you wouldnt watch it. This is a national emergency and should be treated as such. It shouldnt just be a 10 second soundbite designed to make the minster look good. It should be hard questions asking some Tory chancer to explain why NHS people are dying because he hasn't got them PPE.

These briefings should be every other day. They are quickly losing their intended impact.

Also, it goes to provide that journalists are thick as mince. Even when the first one is told we will announce our exit strategy in due course when the time is right, the second, third, fourth etc ask the same bloody question.

Alternatively they should all ask the same question until the thick as mince minister actually answers. Like I say inferences should be drawn from their unwillingness or inability to answer. After all, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something that you later rely on in the Court of public opinion.

It does not need to be on BBC 1 at all, BBC News, SKY News available 24/7 for those that want it all the time.

Yes it does. This is a national crisis and it wont go a way. Hiding wont help.

I wonder if other countries are doing them? I only ever seem to see "addresses" by Merkel, Macron etc when they are announcing major changes e.g. increase or suspension of lockdown etc.

They happen in all four parts of the UK and I think they are happening daily in Germany. The governor of New York does a daily news conference. Trump does a daily news conference/rant/paddy

I'd rather less often with actual proper answers to questions.

Id rather daily with proper answer and journos getting much more aggressive. Only Piers Morgan ( FFS) is going after them. This week he has eviscerated several league 2 level ministers who were shockingly badly prepared, amateur and in several cases horribly smug in their approach. Hancock tired to fight him a bit but fell apart when asked if he would take a pay cut like the footballers he criticised. The answer was yes. He failed to say that!

One of them ( Coffey?) startled to chuckle about something and he tore her a new one. One was reading off a card to the side of the screen and he tore into that one to. Ministers went on 2 days running and didn't even know how many NHS staff deaths there had been. FFS lads try to keep up.

My unhappiness with the situation is directed only at the weak leadership of the Cabinet, their failures to be prepared, and their allowances to zealotry which mean they continue to put their party interests ahead of the national interest. Complaints about the lobby are silly distractions from the reality of the current leadership.

Winner - close thread.

Let's be honest the only question the vast majority of us want to know is "When will this lockdown end?" Unfortunately the only correct answer to this question is "No-one knows".

So why bother with a Q & A session and daily briefing at all; just have a briefing when there's something new to say?

That isn't the only question at all. Far from it. However, I suspect what you mean is for people with a small attention span the only question is when can I go outside.

The government have been forced to change their tune on testing and contact tracing, which they declared in late March as not a part of their strategy and yet now they are telling us they're doing everything possible to ramp these up. Would they ever have changed their position on this if it weren't for the press briefings?

Absolutely not. They don't WANT to do the daily conferences because it shines a spotlight on what is going on. It calls out their failures, their hypocrisy and their lies and shows us how much that costs in lives. The nature of comments here shows that their plan is working mind you. They want a snoozefest so people demand it be taken off and be replaced by a neighbours back episode. Then Johnson and his chums can get on with cocking things up in private!

Bear in mind there is zero scrutiny on the actions of the executive at this time. This briefing is the only tool we have to keep the government honest.

It's very important that questions are asked about non-hospital deaths, testing, PPE, care homes etc even if the answers are evasive. These are the things people are asking about. Of course the answers are often self-serving - we have taken the right steps at the right time - but it puts them under some pressure.

Spot on. Throw their own words back at them. People are dying who shouldn't be.

As for whether they are useful - hmm, its an interesting one. Let's be clear that it is not just a practical benefit, a lot of this is psychological and made for the public to 'feel' like they are being constantly updated and kept in the loop. Keeps people onside with social distancing measures and on a very literal level, an excuse to stay at home to watch!

In terms of the actual content, it is a bit samey, because there is very little new info and some of the questions are frustrating. But as a PR exercise as I've suggested above...

Where else is the executive being scrutinised at this time? I also think there is merit in hearing from experts and frankly I would like more of them and less of a duplicitous minister wibbling on as if this is a party political.

Agreed, a daily update has seemed less and less relevant as the situation has stabilised.

The situation has not stabilised. We don't even know how many people have died!

 

[Bletchleyite]

The situation has not stabilised. We don't even know how many people have died!

The rules have stabilised, which is what most people want to know.

 

[JonathanH]

But now it’s every thing closed for a illness which will be mild for most of us according to the so called experts

Mild for most but capable of putting a large number of people in hospital, potentially on an indiscriminate basis (and certainly an unknown one at the moment).

One potential reason for building the Nightingale Hospitals is as a way of lifting some of the lockdown measures to allow an uplift of the numbers in hospital but I think most people would be better off keeping out of harm's way if they can.

The 'mild for most' seems to have been to reduce fear of this virus in the population but it encouraged complacency that led to the need for the lockdown.

 

[DarloRich]

The rules have stabilised, which is what most people want to know.

Rules? Really? Not how many people have died? Can you tell me?

The rules were clear from day 1. Sadly we have a lot of stubborn/immature/silly/selfish/stupid people in this country.

 

[DarloRich]

1. A BBC journalist doesn't always get the first question.
2. A very wide variety of changing journalists are called upon to ask questions.
3. Does it actually matter who goes first?

because it plays to whatever anti BBC/BBC bias angle you want to play. The wording of the quoted post shows that.

 

[LittleAH]

Just like companies who had daily meetings about Covid, now we're in a consistent position of social distancing, these press conferences have run their course. What these should now be is some version of PMQ's with questions from MP's, as the questions from some journos are just not worth listening to.

 

[johnnychips]

Are there viewing figures for these press conferences/daily announcements? I certainly don’t watch them, not out of spite or anything, but I’ve just forgotten about them. Most people just follow the guidelines and think ‘these things happen ‘.

 

[DarloRich]

Just like companies who had daily meetings about Covid, now we're in a consistent position of social distancing, these press conferences have run their course. What these should now be is some version of PMQ's with questions from MP's, as the questions from some journos are just not worth listening to.

Are there viewing figures for these press conferences/daily announcements? I certainly don’t watch them, not out of spite or anything, but I’ve just forgotten about them. Most people just follow the guidelines and think ‘these things happen ‘.

A national crisis with 15k plus dead and you dont want scrutiny or challenge to an clearly inept and poorly prepared government! Beggars belief.

 

[johnnychips]

Rich, I don’t need to, I just read your comments on here!

 

[thejuggler]

Today the journalists should just concentrate solely on today's story that Boris Johnson didn't chair a COBRA meeting for the five weeks when this issue was being recognised as a potential catastrophe.

To say its from the Sunday Times, hardly a cheerleader for left wing politics, it does not read well at all.

 

[HH]

Today the journalists should just concentrate solely on today's story that Boris Johnson didn't chair a COBRA meeting for the five weeks when this issue was being recognised as a potential catastrophe.

To say its from the Sunday Times, hardly a cheerleader for left wing politics, it does not read well at all.

That was answered by Gove on Andrew Marr. The PM doesn't normally join COBRA meetings (in case you weren't aware there are COBRA meetings about other things than covid-19).

Of course there should have been a comeback that wasn't asked. I'll leave you to work out what that was and hope that at least one of today's journalists picks up on it.

 

[C J Snarzell]

I'm actually finding the Downing Street briefings a little bit motonous now. I was watching the live conference every day at 5pm when the lockdown started but I'm now finding that it is like the same old scenario going round & around and I tend to just watch one every third day now. I tend to catch up on anything relevant on the ITN 6.30pm news.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A national crisis with 15k plus dead and you dont want scrutiny or challenge to an clearly inept and poorly prepared government! Beggars belief.

We certainly need scrutiny, yes, in a properly conducted enquiry, not the gutter Press wasting everyone's time asking stupid, often unanswerable questions.

 

[DarloRich]

We certainly need scrutiny, yes, in a properly conducted enquiry, not the gutter Press wasting everyone's time asking stupid, often unanswerable questions.

I agree some questions are overly long winded and silly but most of the questions are not unanswerable. Sadly the required answer is one that shows how useless the government are so it is not given.

The enquiry should come later and in more detail. However, that is not guaranteed so this is the only way the government can be held to account. Some honesty from minsters would be refrshing.

 

[DerekC]

Rules? Really? Not how many people have died? Can you tell me?

The rules were clear from day 1. Sadly we have a lot of stubborn/immature/silly/selfish/stupid people in this country.

From my personal (but admittedly very limited) observation we have a lot of sensible people who are doing as asked and a few who aren't. The population are, in general, behaving with restraint and common sense. What we need is a government which matches up. Unfortunately this one was picked on the basis of loyalty to Brexit and Boris, not competence.

 

[Mogster]

It seems that Jenrick (and later Gove) telling the world at yesterday’s conference we we about to receive huge quantities of PPE from Turkey (and later China) was very stupid.

The BBC are reporting the stuff is “delayed” which probably means, - the holders are demanding more money, - other countries are trying to outbid us or it’s been stolen. Delete as appropriate...

In future we should keep the details sketchy till it’s here...

Just for context.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2010025?query=featured_home

**Unable to add quotes for some reason**

 

[philosopher]

It is coming increasingly clear that the government have screwed up, particularly in regards to testing, PPE and being too slow to order a lockdown and they are being increasing criticised for it. How would people therefore feel if Boris Johnson did a televised address during prime time one evening this week apologising for the mistakes that were made. Would it be seen as a blatant attempt to appease critics, or as a sincere heartfelt admission that mistakes were made?

 

[High Dyke]

It is coming increasingly clear that the government have screwed up, particularly in regards to testing, PPE and being too slow to order a lockdown and they are being increasing criticised for it. How would people therefore feel if Boris Johnson did a televised address during prime time one evening this week apologising for the mistakes that were made. Would it be seen as a blatant attempt to appease critics, or as a sincere heartfelt admission that mistakes were made?

I am probably too cynical to believe any politician, in office. How many times have we heard the phrase "We apologise and will learn from our mistakes." I'm sorry, but far too often in my opinion, yet little changes. Yes perhaps an apology may appease some of the population. However, it doesn't bring comfort to those who have lost family and friends due to this virus, nor probably to the many frontline workers who have had to make do with what they have available. That then brings it to the question of what would be the next step, if the PM (or whoever) in Government apologises for their errors? Do they resign or do we just accept the status quo and let them carry on, as though they'd done nothing wrong - apart from making a poor judgement of the situation at the time.

 

[causton]

A national crisis with 15k plus dead and you dont want scrutiny or challenge to an clearly inept and poorly prepared government! Beggars belief.

The "scrutiny" by the journalists should happen behind closed doors - the public should be getting clear messages not a conference then a lot of irrelevant questions answered poorly. It just isn't working, I used to try and watch every day but why bother. What does the average member of the public get out of it? Not reassurance, or any new information.

 

[DarloRich]

The "scrutiny" by the journalists should happen behind closed doors - the public should be getting clear messages not a conference then a lot of irrelevant questions answered poorly. It just isn't working, I used to try and watch every day but why bother. What does the average member of the public get out of it? Not reassurance, or any new information.

That's not how democracy works! Scrutiny ABSOLUTELY should not be behind closed doors.

The main problem is the unwillingness of ministers to answer questions.

 

[DarloRich]

It is coming increasingly clear that the government have screwed up, particularly in regards to testing, PPE and being too slow to order a lockdown and they are being increasing criticised for it. How would people therefore feel if Boris Johnson did a televised address during prime time one evening this week apologising for the mistakes that were made. Would it be seen as a blatant attempt to appease critics, or as a sincere heartfelt admission that mistakes were made?

He should but he wont becuase to do so would also require an admission that at least a decade of Tory policy has been wrong, damaged our society and led to the deaths of thousands of people AND admit his part at the head of all of this.

Not going to happen.

 

[Darandio]

It is coming increasingly clear that the government have screwed up, particularly in regards to testing, PPE and being too slow to order a lockdown and they are being increasing criticised for it. How would people therefore feel if Boris Johnson did a televised address during prime time one evening this week apologising for the mistakes that were made. Would it be seen as a blatant attempt to appease critics, or as a sincere heartfelt admission that mistakes were made?

The stuff coming out today is pretty damning. Funnily enough i've been criticising the slow response for several weeks and was called such glorious names as the king of hindsight and told that as it's unprecedented they weren't slow and it wasn't their fault. Nope, I was right to be critical all along.

 

[DarloRich]

The stuff coming out today is pretty damning. Funnily enough i've been criticising the slow response for several weeks and was called such glorious names as the king of hindsight and told that as it's unprecedented they weren't slow and it wasn't their fault. Nope, I was right to be critical all along.

Absolutely but there are many here and In society who think if that the government should not have to answer for thier actions

 

[thejuggler]

That was answered by Gove on Andrew Marr. The PM doesn't normally join COBRA meetings (in case you weren't aware there are COBRA meetings about other things than covid-19).

Mandy Rice Davies famous quote spring to mind with Gove's response. Having just read the whole of today's Sunday Times report it is pretty damning.

It states Matt Hancock chaired the meetings, but as we are all seeing a pandemic isn't a health issue. It is a cross Government issue, hence the PM should have been chairing it to set strategies.