How effective are the daily COVID-19 Press Conferences?

[HH]

Moderator Note: Posts #1 to #4 originally in this thread:

How long do we envisage 'shielding' to go on for?

Was talking to my headteacher this morning about various bits and pieces that cropped up in the headteacher virtual meeting this morning. One of the things that we were discussing was the impact on those that are shielding. As it is, I'm not likely to be in school until mid-June when the...

www.railforums.co.uk

My own thought is that the 'shielding' advice will change and different groups received differing extensions, this being (to use a government phrase) "guided by the science". I suspect over the next few weeks, more patterns will emerge - which will obviously have to be looked at scientifically. On a related topic, while I realise the three musketeers at the daily press briefings cannot give definitive answers to many questions, I do wish sometimes they would be a bit more open about what options could be implemented, depending on the science.

Come on, be realistic. Anything they say, can, and will be, used in subsequent days to hang, draw and quarter them. I'm getting really annoyed with journalists asking questions that they damn well know will not be answered.

 

[theblackwatch]

Come on, be realistic. Anything they say, can, and will be, used in subsequent days to hang, draw and quarter them. I'm getting really annoyed with journalists asking questions that they damn well know will not be answered.

It shouldn't be at all - unless people are thick enough to not know the difference between could and will. And if you give a few different options at opposite ends of the spectrum, it makes it clear that they won't all happen.

 

[DarloRich]

Come on, be realistic. Anything they say, can, and will be, used in subsequent days to hang, draw and quarter them. I'm getting really annoyed with journalists asking questions that they damn well know will not be answered.

Perhaps they should just ask nice, easy, marshmallow soft questions that don't try to hold minsters to account or point out their stunning hypocrisy and obvious lies.

 

[HH]

Perhaps they should just ask nice, easy, marshmallow soft questions that don't try to hold minsters to account or point out their stunning hypocrisy and obvious lies.

My point is that these are easy questions for the politicians. Repeating them doesn't make them harder.

There are harder questions, e.g. around the government's early response, but these aren't getting asked, or if they occasionally are, are being asked incompetently.

 

[DerekC]

My point is that these are easy questions for the politicians. Repeating them doesn't make them harder.

There are harder questions, e.g. around the government's early response, but these aren't getting asked, or if they occasionally are, are being asked incompetently.

I think that in a crisis you do have to focus on what's needed to get out of the mess rather than wasting too much time on the "who did what" of how you got into it. There is time for that later. Up to the point where it's obvious that the situation is out of control and the government is incompetent to handle it (as in May 1940). 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.

 

[Bletchleyite]

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.

 

[Mag_seven]

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.

 

[Ianno87]

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.

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

 

[scotrail158713]

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.

I’d agree. Whereas initially I went out my way to watch them, I now only end up watching them if I happen to have the TV on at 5.

 

[stevetay3]

Daily updates complete waste of time now, if the right questions were asked thay would not be answered at all and why does the government broadcaster always get the first question. As for the endless tv adds, those that are not complying by now NEVER will, TV is a relief from this we do not want to constantly be reminded about it.

 

[gazthomas]

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

 

[Ianno87]

Daily updates complete waste of time now, if the right questions were asked thay would not be answered at all and why does the government broadcaster always get the first question. As for the endless tv adds, those that are not complying by now NEVER will, TV is a relief from this we do not want to constantly be reminded about it.

I guess the ongoing ads still have a point in enforcing the "don't get lazy about it just yet" message. Plus it's probably filling ad space that may not be sellable at the moment anyway.

 

[scotrail158713]

The thing that bugs me the most about it actually is the timing of it. We don’t need the programme for 90 minutes on BBC One followed straight up by the BBC News at Six - of which the only story is Covid19. Running it earlier in the afternoon would then mean we don’t have 2.5 hours solid of Covid19 updates.

 

[Qwerty133]

The thing that bugs me the most about it actually is the timing of it. We don’t need the programme for 90 minutes on BBC One followed straight up by the BBC News at Six - of which the only story is Covid19. Running it earlier in the afternoon would then mean we don’t have 2.5 hours solid of Covid19 updates.

The timing is presumably to allow all of the data to be gathered and also so that the people at the briefing don't have to go back to their office afterwards and therefore reducing travel.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The timing is presumably to allow all of the data to be gathered and also so that the people at the briefing don't have to go back to their office afterwards and therefore reducing travel.

To be fair the Beeb could help this by not starting the programme for it at 16:30 or earlier, but rather at 16:55.

 

[Starmill]

why does the government broadcaster always get the first question

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?

 

[Starmill]

I think it's very telling that I have seen far more complaints about the questions being asked than the quality of the responses being given.

I have heard complaints from different people that the questions are:
- Too repetitive and not persistent enough on the same points
- Too easy to answer and impossible for Ministers to address
- Too focused on the past handling of the crisis, and wasting time on asking questions about now
- Asking questions which are too technical, and not technical enough
- Asking too many questions about health, and not enough about the economy, and asking too many questions about the economy and not enough about health
- Asking questions at all, rather than supporting the government, or asking questions that the government purportedly had advance sight of

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.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

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 neww to say?

 

[Starmill]

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?

 

[oldman]

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.

 

[Bletchleyite]

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?

I would expect so. It's seeing what other countries are doing, and pressure from universities etc that are doing studies, that are causing this kind of pressure to change, I'd say, not questions from the gutter Press.

 

[CC 72100]

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.

There was an article on FranceInfo this morning (in French) that I read on this - the UK Is very much unique in the amount of press briefings that the government are giving, and certainly in the case of France as you allude to they are very formal and scripted events with President Macron, and only at 3-4 week intervals.

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...

 

[Starmill]

I would expect so. It's seeing what other countries are doing, and pressure from universities etc that are doing studies, that are causing this kind of pressure to change, I'd say, not questions from the gutter Press.

What is happening in other European countries seemed to have zero effect on the Cabinet initially. Indeed, it still doesn't seem to feature highly. However, the headlines, interviews on Good Morning Britain (a programme I can't stand, but I understand why many people watch it) and at the daily press conferences have made significant changes to the rhetoric. Reports in medical journals or the voices of British academics who aren't on the advisory committee were completely and utterly ignored. Until the media started asking questions about them.

All governments are required to face scrutiny. If your response is an ifpology and an attempt to imply you shouldn't be answering questions about your policy, you're a bad government.

In the specific case I gave, which was testing and contact tracing, they were told over and over they should be doing by academics and the WHO that when they still chose to scale it back. It was still happening elsewhere in Europe and around the world, with success. It has returned now because of political pressure, not any development of facts.

 

[stevetay3]

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

 

[js1000]

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.

 

[stevetay3]

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.

Here Here

 

[stevetay3]

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.

 

[Domh245]

On the flip side, it's one less timeslot that they have to fill with a limited number of pre-records or archive material!

 

[scotrail158713]

On the flip side, it's one less timeslot that they have to fill with a limited number of pre-records or archive material!

Tbh I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s part of their reasoning for having it on BBC One as well as the News channel

 

[causton]

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