Media Coverage of COVID -19

[kez19]

And you’d be correct in thinking that, the media have been driving up the fear and the government has buckled every single time.

Since when did we then elect the media? Then again this can quite possibly go back to the Murdoch days of the startup of Sky. Politicians and media shouldn't mix but of course we know that but still - this is possibly media comeback in general. Just to also add you notice the tone with media if its anything bad to Boris, Bad Boris but be anyone else in devolved areas its good. (so if aim is to make Boris bad they must be in a way trying to or influencing devolved areas elsewhere - however how much is true is impossible to know).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Jul 2021 ==

I can't help wondering how this would have turned out 30 years ago. No Facebook, no constant news and of course no way for most people to work at home. Apparently the late 1990s were very bad flu years in the UK. I knew nothing about it until someone mentioned it on this forum a few months ago. Shows how little interest I took in the news at the time.

The thing was back then the news (to me) was it got to the point covered the stories, now because its 24/7 its constantly changing but they seem more caught out regarding checking facts - its more of whatever is said is true.

 

[Bantamzen]

I can't help wondering how this would have turned out 30 years ago. No Facebook, no constant news and of course no way for most people to work at home. Apparently the late 1990s were very bad flu years in the UK. I knew nothing about it until someone mentioned it on this forum a few months ago. Shows how little interest I took in the news at the time.

I can remember the various bad flu years going back as far as the 1980s (and there have been a few). There was coverage of it, but as you say with no social media or rolling news networks none of the hysteria we've seen over the last 18 months was generated. There were no happy clappers for the NHS, no pot banging, no pensioners walking around gardens, no charity days to raise a few quid. There were no masks, no lockdowns, shops & pubs stayed open. We all still had to go to school or work, there was no furlough, no working from home.

This is the power of modern day media, a few spooked politicians in Europe can now brining the entire population of the world to an almost standstill. And let's be honest, this is how all these lockdowns started, politicians spooked by what was supposed to be happening in China (though not always verifiable because Chinese media was / is heavily controlled on fear of imprisonment). And so they opted for the authoritarian routes to "beat the virus", believing that just locking up the public would give them the victory they desired. However they didn't figure on one thing, that eradicating the virus was near impossible and so the weeks & months passed, they scrambled to respond to an ever more fearful public fuelled by social & national media that was busy telling them they were going to die, or that they would be responsible for someone else's death.

So here we are some 18 months after the pandemic started, seeing wave after wave of the virus, very possibly in part because of on/off lockdown scenarios, and with some countries so fearful they have no exit strategy & in near isolation. None of this says that the situation wasn't serious, it was. But not so terrible that we had men, woman & children locked up in some countries for weeks & even months. Or not so terrible that entire economies could be wreaked, with countless millions of jobs around the world gone or in jeopardy. Certainly not worth pushing an estimated 500 million people around the globe into poverty (an IMF forecast last year). The effects of all these measures will be felt for years, maybe decades to come, yet the virus will still be with us.

At lot of this could have been prevented if governments has worked together to deal with the immediate issue of ill people instead of competing. But a lot more could have been prevented if governments had not panicked themselves and the media into a veritable frenzy.

 

[DustyBin]

I can remember the various bad flu years going back as far as the 1980s (and there have been a few). There was coverage of it, but as you say with no social media or rolling news networks none of the hysteria we've seen over the last 18 months was generated. There were no happy clappers for the NHS, no pot banging, no pensioners walking around gardens, no charity days to raise a few quid. There were no masks, no lockdowns, shops & pubs stayed open. We all still had to go to school or work, there was no furlough, no working from home.

This is the power of modern day media, a few spooked politicians in Europe can now brining the entire population of the world to an almost standstill. And let's be honest, this is how all these lockdowns started, politicians spooked by what was supposed to be happening in China (though not always verifiable because Chinese media was / is heavily controlled on fear of imprisonment). And so they opted for the authoritarian routes to "beat the virus", believing that just locking up the public would give them the victory they desired. However they didn't figure on one thing, that eradicating the virus was near impossible and so the weeks & months passed, they scrambled to respond to an ever more fearful public fuelled by social & national media that was busy telling them they were going to die, or that they would be responsible for someone else's death.

So here we are some 18 months after the pandemic started, seeing wave after wave of the virus, very possibly in part because of on/off lockdown scenarios, and with some countries so fearful they have no exit strategy & in near isolation. None of this says that the situation wasn't serious, it was. But not so terrible that we had men, woman & children locked up in some countries for weeks & even months. Or not so terrible that entire economies could be wreaked, with countless millions of jobs around the world gone or in jeopardy. Certainly not worth pushing an estimated 500 million people around the globe into poverty (an IMF forecast last year). The effects of all these measures will be felt for years, maybe decades to come, yet the virus will still be with us.

At lot of this could have been prevented if governments has worked together to deal with the immediate issue of ill people instead of competing. But a lot more could have been prevented if governments had not panicked themselves and the media into a veritable frenzy.

Great post. We thought it was SARS and panicked. It wasn’t, but the ball was rolling and we couldn’t stop it. In fact the media helped it along, and here we are.

 

[NorthKent1989]

I can't help wondering how this would have turned out 30 years ago. No Facebook, no constant news and of course no way for most people to work at home. Apparently the late 1990s were very bad flu years in the UK. I knew nothing about it until someone mentioned it on this forum a few months ago. Shows how little interest I took in the news at the time.

I was a child in the 1990s and I had some pretty bad flus, the worst was the winter of 1998-1999 and I had that strain, it made the news I recall and they considered shutting schools down in the London area because of the high infection rate but obviously it never happened, we got over it in a few weeks.

My mum phoned the hospital to get me admitted in but the doctor told her not to move me that night and to wait until morning, my fever broke and I was okay, I had a few more days of bed rest.

The 2000s were also a bad decade for flu’s, the years 2003 & 2008 I recall were the worst years for the flu

 

[Bikeman78]

I was a child in the 1990s and I had some pretty bad flus, the worst was the winter of 1998-1999 and I had that strain, it made the news I recall and they considered shutting schools down in the London area because of the high infection rate but obviously it never happened, we got over it in a few weeks.

My mum phoned the hospital to get me admitted in but the doctor told her not to move me that night and to wait until morning, my fever broke and I was okay, I had a few more days of bed rest.

The 2000s were also a bad decade for flu’s, the years 2003 & 2008 I recall were the worst years for the flu

Sorry to hear that you were badly affected. My boarding school was badly affected by flu in 1992. Almost all of the 800 pupils had it. I only got it quite mildly, but they sent me home for a week which was nice. I don't remember passing it on to my parents.

I was at Cardiff Uni in 1998 and like I said, I was oblivious to the flu outbreak. My granny would have been 79 and I don't remember her being remotely concerned or even mentioning it. But then she was still going on week long cycle tours around Wales so she wasn't a typical 79 year old!

 

[NorthKent1989]

Since when did we then elect the media? Then again this can quite possibly go back to the Murdoch days of the startup of Sky. Politicians and media shouldn't mix but of course we know that but still - this is possibly media comeback in general. Just to also add you notice the tone with media if its anything bad to Boris, Bad Boris but be anyone else in devolved areas its good. (so if aim is to make Boris bad they must be in a way trying to or influencing devolved areas elsewhere - however how much is true is impossible to know).

With the rise in social media it has unfortunately blended the political and media worlds together and now they are so linked that they have effectively become one confusing establishment

 

[kez19]

With the rise in social media it has unfortunately blended the political and media worlds together and now they are so linked that they have effectively become one confusing establishment

It’s like really saying the media has a voice in everything without scrutiny, yet I still believe these tables will turn, whilst I believe in scrutiny of our politicians/governments/SAGE etc, I think and sad to say it but both social media and media may need curtailed to a point (I believe in freedom of speech and press), but what feels like a media driven frenzy, I think it will come to an abrupt end.

 

[Bikeman78]

However they didn't figure on one thing, that eradicating the virus was near impossible and so the weeks & months passed, they scrambled to respond to an ever more fearful public fuelled by social & national media that was busy telling them they were going to die, or that they would be responsible for someone else's death.

I remember thinking when lockdown was announced "there's no way out of this." I think most people will come out the other side of this fairly quickly but some will sadly be living in fear for months or years to come. My kids have coped pretty well but then I've carried on as normal as much as possible. I've taken them on buses and trains which they enjoy so they still think that is normal rather than something to be avoided.

 

[yorksrob]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Swedes will come to be seen to have been right all along.

 

[kez19]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Swedes will come to be seen to have been right all along.

I agree

 

[NorthKent1989]

Sorry to hear that you were badly affected. My boarding school was badly affected by flu in 1992. Almost all of the 800 pupils had it. I only got it quite mildly, but they sent me home for a week which was nice. I don't remember passing it on to my parents.

I was at Cardiff Uni in 1998 and like I said, I was oblivious to the flu outbreak. My granny would have been 79 and I don't remember her being remotely concerned or even mentioning it. But then she was still going on week long cycle tours around Wales so she wasn't a typical 79 year old!

Your grandmother sounds like my own gran! She still gets around and all after a triple heart by-pass she had in 2013.

I was only three in 1992, but my aunt and my cousins all came down with flu that year which came up in a recent talk about everything going on, and much like the 1998-99 bad flu season it was raised in Parliament.

And similar to you I didn’t pass on any of my viruses to my family in the 1998/99, 2003 and 2008 flu’s, but we all got by then, we all survived, in years to come we will realise that after the first lockdown and especially after the vaccines that we as a society completely over reacted.

It’s like really saying the media has a voice in everything without scrutiny, yet I still believe these tables will turn, whilst I believe in scrutiny of our politicians/governments/SAGE etc, I think and sad to say it but both social media and media may need curtailed to a point (I believe in freedom of speech and press), but what feels like a media driven frenzy, I think it will come to an abrupt end.

The media has to come into question at some point and I hope soon, I too am a strong believer in free speech and free and open media but this crisis has highlighted a worrying aspect in our society that the media seemingly has more power than Parliament and how Boris seems to rely on their guidance rather than the people most effected by this crisis.

Social media in the last ten years has done more to sow the divisions in society than any politician could ever hope to achieve.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Swedes will come to be seen to have been right all along.

It may not seem that way now, but in time people will see that Sweden as well as selected US states have come out of this and gone back to normal and have learned to live with Covid, if they can do it then we can too, the Australian/NZ method is impractical long term.

 

[nlogax]

I was a child in the 1990s and I had some pretty bad flus, the worst was the winter of 1998-1999 and I had that strain, it made the news I recall and they considered shutting schools down in the London area because of the high infection rate but obviously it never happened, we got over it in a few weeks.

I came down with this on New Year's Eve 1998. Temperature of 104°, was off work for at least a fortnight. Worst thing I've ever experienced. Until this thread I had no idea there was a large flu wave going around at the same time, guess I'm twenty three years late to that headline.

 

[kez19]

The media has to come into question at some point and I hope soon, I too am a strong believer in free speech and free and open media but this crisis has highlighted a worrying aspect in our society that the media seemingly has more power than Parliament and how Boris seems to rely on their guidance rather than the people most effected by this crisis.

Social media in the last ten years has done more to sow the divisions in society than any politician could ever hope to achieve.

I’ll also say this again, but with media having its power at the moment it still feels as if this whole thing is a show or it’s basically chasing ratings (news), the media will claim about losing lives or on the other saving lives but do we see them doing anything to help? Of course not and similar to the social media they are managing to create a divide too, for me in terms of media it’s just choosing their own narrative and running with it until public opinion changes but they don’t take the brunt that the public has had, they survive regardless.

I think this is one of the situations where the media are leading the public down a path but if something is to change they will jump ship and of course blame us, on the other the media maybe powerful but they do realise that they could underestimate the public and will feel a wrath unless of course this is the way the media want to put themselves to an end?

 

[kristiang85]

I came down with this on New Year's Eve 1998. Temperature of 104°, was off work for at least a fortnight. Worst thing I've ever experienced. Until this thread I had no idea there was a large flu wave going around at the same time, guess I'm twenty three years late to that headline.

This is the problem - being ill with flu or a bad respiratory virus was part of childhood, so much so we barely remember it now. But now we are conditioning a whole generation to probably be even terrified of getting the sniffles. And, on top of that, it seems a huge swathe of the healthy adult population are turning into hypochrondriacs too.

All it does is deflect attention and resources away from the actually serious conditions that people need to be aware of. "I've got chest pains" "Oh don't worry about it, that's not a COVID symptom".

 

[westv]

I came down with this on New Year's Eve 1998. Temperature of 104°, was off work for at least a fortnight. Worst thing I've ever experienced. Until this thread I had no idea there was a large flu wave going around at the same time, guess I'm twenty three years late to that headline.

I think I was Christmas Eve 1998. First time I remember having flu. Never had in since - touch wood!

 

[Silver Cobra]

**EDIT: Wrong thread. Ignore...

 

[yorksrob]

One wonders if the decision to not offer AZ to males under 40 might be misguided.

 

[Domh245]

One wonders if the decision to not offer AZ to males under 40 might be misguided.

I don't think so. At this point the issue isn't supply, but a lack of people able/willing to get the vaccine (for now) - bear in mind as well that AZ was still having to do fairly significant 2nd doses until recently - the window of opportunity between "AZ has excess capacity" and "There's people coming willing to get jabbed but unable to get a slot" would have been reasonably slim I feel

 

[102 fan]

BBC News - Covid to get worse before it gets better, doctors warn

Covid to get worse before it gets better, doctors warn

Medical leaders urge people to act with care including continuing to wear face masks in indoor areas.

www.bbc.co.uk

'The situation with Covid will get worse before it gets better with cases "rising dramatically", medical leaders have warned.'

Cases. There's a definite smell of desperation creeping in to this scaremongering now.

 

[yorksrob]

I'm afraid that the medical establishment has been given too much power to lead the agenda over the last year. It needs to be put back in its box.

 

[35B]

There are significant numbers of cases, and they are beginning to exert some pressure on hospitals - directly by beds occupied, and indirectly because of the control methods needed to stop spread.

The existence of an “exit wave” of cases has always been a likely outcome, and a risk associated with relaxation of controls. It’s not unreasonable for doctors to be concerned about that, and to represent those concerns.

 

[NorthKent1989]

There are significant numbers of cases, and they are beginning to exert some pressure on hospitals - directly by beds occupied, and indirectly because of the control methods needed to stop spread.

The existence of an “exit wave” of cases has always been a likely outcome, and a risk associated with relaxation of controls. It’s not unreasonable for doctors to be concerned about that, and to represent those concerns.

Funny how cases suddenly seem to rise just when “freedom day” is upon us, as I’ve said before cases will rise but now it’s time to go back to normal, many different years have had bad flu cases and life went on, now Covid is like the flu, gotta to live with it.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I'm afraid that the medical establishment has been given too much power to lead the agenda over the last year. It needs to be put back in its box.

Presumably Boris & Co. were happy to "listen to the science" in 2020 in order to be able to deflect the blame for any unpopular COVID-19 lockdown measures. (It's not us, it's the science!)

Unfortunately the genie has now been let out of the bottle, and it will be difficult (albeit not impossible) to get it back in again now.

 

[yorksrob]

Presumably Boris & Co. were happy to "listen to the science" in 2020 in order to be able to deflect the blame for any unpopular COVID-19 lockdown measures. (It's not us, it's the science!)

Unfortunately the genie has now been let out of the bottle, and it will be difficult (albeit not impossible) to get it back in again now.

Very true.

 

[102 fan]

There are significant numbers of cases, and they are beginning to exert some pressure on hospitals - directly by beds occupied, and indirectly because of the control methods needed to stop spread.

The existence of an “exit wave” of cases has always been a likely outcome, and a risk associated with relaxation of controls. It’s not unreasonable for doctors to be concerned about that, and to represent those concerns.

Your comment would of been valid last Summer, but not now we're well down the vaccine route.

And it's about time Doctors started being concerned with non covid cases. I know several cancer cases that have been sidelined. I think there's going to be a fair few medical malpractice court cases soon.

 

[DustyBin]

There are significant numbers of cases, and they are beginning to exert some pressure on hospitals - directly by beds occupied, and indirectly because of the control methods needed to stop spread.

The existence of an “exit wave” of cases has always been a likely outcome, and a risk associated with relaxation of controls. It’s not unreasonable for doctors to be concerned about that, and to represent those concerns.

There are a high number of infections as it’s an endemic virus, and yes some of them will be actual cases, more often than not leading to cold like symptoms. I fail to see the significance of this if I’m honest. The same applies to hospitalisations to a certain extent; we’re testing everybody who’s admitted to hospital for an endemic virus. Remember as well that an admission can be an outpatient or a day patient in hospital for completely unrelated reasons.

We will almost certainly see an “exit wave” but I’m not convinced it’s something we need to be concerned about. Again, the virus has lost the ability to cause serious illness in a large number of people as a result of vaccination and (dare I say it!) natural immunity. The previous peak in hospitalisations certainly did put the NHS under pressure but we’re absolutely nowhere near that point and I don’t see how we can possibly get there again at this stage.

 

[kristiang85]

There are significant numbers of cases, and they are beginning to exert some pressure on hospitals - directly by beds occupied, and indirectly because of the control methods needed to stop spread.

The existence of an “exit wave” of cases has always been a likely outcome, and a risk associated with relaxation of controls. It’s not unreasonable for doctors to be concerned about that, and to represent those concerns.

There is no splitting of the hospitalisation data between those admitted to hospital with covid symptoms, those admitted to hospital for non covid reasons but who test positive, and those already in hospital for non covid reasons who test positive. Cases are going up and indeed these will feed into "hospitalisation" numbers, but I bet in reality they are significantly less actually due to covid than the data says.

 

[35B]

Funny how cases suddenly seem to rise just when “freedom day” is upon us, as I’ve said before cases will rise but now it’s time to go back to normal, many different years have had bad flu cases and life went on, now Covid is like the flu, gotta to live with it.

The case numbers were already rising significantly.

 

[NorthKent1989]

The case numbers were already rising significantly.

Maybe so, but it’s still no justification in delaying July 19th

 

[brad465]

I suppose it's useful England have reached the Euros' final, as plenty of media coverage is dedicated to that now, and certainly will be tomorrow and Monday, all in the buildup to Monday's announcement. While covid coverage won't stop, stoking up the fear will be harder.