Intensive Care Wards BBC News.

Nope

I think we are getting more inured to it so the shock value has diminished since the first lockdown. Public Health Officers up and down the country are telling us how serious it is but so many either don’t believe it is as bad or are being fatalistic.

The purpose of the news shouldn't be to reinforce government or public health messages. The purpose of the news is to tell us what's happening. We get warnings if dramas include things which might trigger anxiety or panic but we don't get warnings that we are about to see harassed medical staff dealing with distressed patients. Maybe the thought is that we can expect to see that if we are watching the news.

I've found the news coverage of the pandemic to be sensationalist and scaremongering and we don't need to see any more reporters with concerned faces ramping up the panic and mis-interpreting the facts. The use of grieving widows and children, and terrified people who have partially recovered telling us how bad things are, isn't news, it's sensationalism.

So no, you're not alone OP. Rant over.

I've been seeing comments on Social Media that because no one has taken photos inside hospital wards and corridors, that things aren't as bad as NHS workers are making out. (Obviously piffle btw)
Public service workers really can't win. They speak the truth, and are called liars.
Regarding scaremongering - we still have friends hugging etc, we still have those with masks exposing their noses, or no masks for no good reason. I do feel sorry for those who feel the media goes over the top, but plenty are still ignoring the warnings.

There was a discussion on radio 4 at the weekend that came to mind.
Apparently, there are lots of idiots taking photos inside hospitals.
These photos show empty corridors and other empty areas.
These idiots are putting them on social media as 'proof' that's it's all an exaggerated, hoax, lies yada yada yada.
Other idiots are believing them.
It's a widespread thing, as is violence and antisicial behaviour towards HCPs.
It was mentioned during the interview that the last thing that hospitals needed was camera crews in to prove otherwise, but that something needed to be done.
So I think that the BBC going in and filming the reality was a reaction to this.

I've found the news coverage of the pandemic to be sensationalist and scaremongering and we don't need to see any more reporters with concerned faces ramping up the panic and mis-interpreting the facts (?). The use of grieving widows and children, and terrified people who have partially recovered telling us how bad things are, isn't news, it's sensationalism
Neither scaremongering nor sensationalism. Maybe an invasion of privacy but I think necessary if the general public will not accept the facts without seeing for themselves .
Doubting Thomas started a bit of a trend those 2000+ years ago.

I'm not talking about the media, I'm talking about the news. It's still not the purpose of the news to scare us or influence our behaviour. It's the purpose of the news to give us the facts. If we want analysis and pictures of the grieving bereaved we can watch current affairs programs on that topic. There are plenty other ways of getting the "Stay at Home" message across.

Regarding the friends hugging - if the scenes we have seen so far haven't stopped them doing it, its too late now.

I didn't read Chardy's post before I posted, but it seems that we are making the same point.

I'm not surprised that we here in the North West are feeling under pressure, well the hospital staff are. It's because they're taking in sick patients from other areas, even from London, while those areas are struggling.
Even hospitals in Cheshire who are under great strain are relying on Liverpool to help them out.

Who helps those in Liverpool I wonder ?

Ramping up the panic and mis-interpreting the facts

How many people died yesterday? People will say 1,000 but the answer is actually we don't know yet, because the 1000 deaths were reported yesterday and were spread over at least 5 days, but its much scarier to say 1000 people died in 24 hours instead of giving the facts. (Max 600 people died a day so far in the second wave. May of course rise, but those are the facts right now)

Or how about the story that we were going to mix vaccines, that caused so much concern on here but was a (possibly wilful) misinterpretation of the actual facts?

Now don't get me wrong, all these numbers, deaths and hospitalisations and illnesses are dreadful, I'm not undermining that at all. But the news media are not being responsible in their reporting and are causing unnecessary fear and panic.

The hospital could and would have said no. Fergus Walsh has been there before and built up trust with them. There's an in depth interview with him and Hugh Pym in the Guardian about filming in the two hospitals they visit.

It is possible to film such a report with just the reporter and a cameraman. Walsh, in the report, talks of editing the report with his cameraman.

The report also states that the Staff at UCH have told him that they have been contacted by hospitals from across the country expressing gratitude that the reports are going out.

The evening news programmes, and the two on which Walsh and his colleague Hugh Pym, the BBC’s health editor, appear most often, now have a combined nightly audience of around 12.8 million. If their reporting gets people to 'Stay at Home' then, I for one, think it should continue. I found it very emotive last night and left me hoping that a few more might now be thinking what they have to go out for and why.

www.theguardian.com/media/2020/apr/19/bbcs-covid-19-reporters-i-wanted-to-show-the-reality-but-was-deeply-troubled-by-what-i-saw

Alegrias1

I'm not talking about the media, I'm talking about the news. It's still not the purpose of the news to scare us or influence our behaviour. It's the purpose of the news to give us the facts. If we want analysis and pictures of the grieving bereaved we can watch current affairs programs on that topic. There are plenty other ways of getting the "Stay at Home" message across.

Regarding the friends hugging - if the scenes we have seen so far haven't stopped them doing it, its too late now.

It is never too late to keep trying to get this message across.
I hope the news does scare people. Really scare them!
You say the purpose of the news is to give us facts., That report from Fergus Walsh gave us the cold facts of what the doctors and nurses are having to cope with. What else would you call it?

What else would you call it?

Scaremongering. Sensationalism. Unnecessary. Manipulative. Disingenuous.

That'll do for now.

They definitely said at the start there would be scenes that viewers might find distressing.

FannyCornforth

There was a discussion on radio 4 at the weekend that came to mind.
Apparently, there are lots of idiots taking photos inside hospitals.
These photos show empty corridors and other empty areas.
These idiots are putting them on social media as 'proof' that's it's all an exaggerated, hoax, lies yada yada yada.
Other idiots are believing them.
It's a widespread thing, as is violence and antisicial behaviour towards HCPs.
It was mentioned during the interview that the last thing that hospitals needed was camera crews in to prove otherwise, but that something needed to be done.
So I think that the BBC going in and filming the reality was a reaction to this.

I've seen some of those photos too. You're right. People then pile in with all the usual conspiracy theory stuff. I would imagine the BBC film was to try and present the real situation. It seems to have failed, even people thought it was just sensationalism.

Alegrias The 7 day average of registered deaths in all four home nations was 679 a day yesterday and has been rising steadily for the last few weeks.

It's almost impossible to give exact figures because there are reporting lags and delays, but it cannot be denied that there is a consistent trend.

There are people who deny that any of the figures are accurate and, therefore, it's all a big fuss about nothing.

growstuff I wonder where that figure came from, because this (attached), is from the government website and shows that the maximum deaths per day by date of death has not exceeded 600 so far in the second wave. So the 7-day average can't be 679.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths

I fully expect that it will rise in line with the recent increase in cases.

Alegrias1

^What else would you call it?^

Scaremongering. Sensationalism. Unnecessary. Manipulative. Disingenuous.

That'll do for now.

My comments are purely about the BBC new item last night.

Scaremongering - I wish more were frightened by these facts
Sensationalism - What inaccuracies were in this report?
Unnecessary - People are still not 'Staying at Home' so the message has to keep being said time and time again.
Manipulative - Yes in the positive sense. The report is trying to get a message across. The reporter was scrupulous in how it was done.
Disingenuous That report could not have been more candid and sincere.

I've left a comment before with this link. www.theguardian.com/media/2020/apr/19/bbcs-covid-19-reporters-i-wanted-to-show-the-reality-but-was-deeply-troubled-by-what-i-saw
If you do read it, I look forward to you perhaps posting what you think to Walsh and Pym words about their work.

I could comment in a similar fashion to you about some other news items but the two reporters in question (opening thread) deserve some credit as does the hospital in the programme.

WOODMOUSE49 - I totally agree with your sentiments. Think both reporters are excellent and I think we all need to know the truth about what's going on in our hospitals, they are excellent reports and well done to the BBC.

I also second that Berylsgranny.

I reckon that because some of the news has been overdone that if/when someone develops a " winter illness " such as a cough, that it's naturally Covid so panic sets in and people hyperventilate making things seem worse than they are.

Roughly 17,000 die each winter with seasonal 'flu anyway though that figure can vary as to the particular strain of the 'flu. Deaths are caused by pneumonia mainly.

The majority of deaths you hear about are mostly the ones which occur at this time of year among both the elderly and also those with weakened immunity through illnesses such as cancer and COPD.

Yes, a running commentary is needed if only to tell those idiots that they're not as strong as they think they are when 'flu strikes and it can affect anyone.

My main concern is for the young ones catching the virus as it did with the Asian 'flu, Hong Kong 'flu, and Swine 'flu too,as although their immune systems are much stronger, a 'flu pandemic will find a weak spot and begin attacking. This is why all teens and young people should have had the vaccination first where it's more effective than on the elderly.

Many vaccines are ineffective to the elderly as there are so many strains of a virus and unless the correct vaccination is given at the time of a new strain, it won't work.

I watched that programme and Northwest tonight. The journalist asked why are the new hospitals not occupied? If the local hospitals were overwhelmed? To me this is a perfectly reasonable question. The answer was they are occupied but only a small percentage of beds were being used. However they were not used to capacity simply as they have not got the staff.
When the reporter was on the ICU ward there appeared to be an extreme amount of staff tending to one bed.
My daughter works in a hospital turning patients all the time. She is lucky if she gets the assistance of another member of staff to help with sometimes very distressed patients.
I think the news coverage is sensationalist and frightening to vulnerable people. Most people do and are still following the guide lines and are now lonely and depressed not seeing their families. The people who have ignored the guidelines so far are not going to change their ways no matter how dramatic the news comes across, The news coverage should be honest straightforward and unbiased. Regarding the statistics on deaths the bottom line is the general public just want the truth without dramatics.

Maybe these " new " hospitals aren't equipped the same----then you have to have the staff to run them, which there aren't.

Alegrias1

growstuff I wonder where that figure came from, because this (attached), is from the government website and shows that the maximum deaths per day by date of death has not exceeded 600 so far in the second wave. So the 7-day average can't be 679.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths

I fully expect that it will rise in line with the recent increase in cases.

I can't read the cut off date. Please can you tell me what it is.