Coronavirus | Television News Coverage

I'd suggest that Matt Hancock or Rishi Sunak might also warrant BBC One.

There's no BBC Wales/Scotland/NI News Channel, but when it comes to Covid, there is a BBC England NC.
By this I mean if there are even minute changes to England's lockdown restrictions they'll get reported in depth on the BBC NC. If the same happens in Wales/Scotland/NI, there'll be a few seconds of 'in other news' narration over footage of people walking down the street and that's it. There will only ever be in depth reports if there are major Covid restriction changes in the nations, as we saw in mid-October when the nations started their lockdowns before England.

Before I'm piled on and called a Welsh nationalist, you still can't ignore the fact that many 'national' or 'UK' journalists still don't get devolution when it comes to Covid, or devolution at all.

When it was announced that England was going into lockdown, but Wales, Scotland & NI were already in tighter restrictions and so would be out of lockdown before England, Reeta Chakribarti asked Hugh Pym live on air "why are the devolved nations so out of step with England?"
Last night in Nick Eardley's report on the 10, he referred to "the country being in lockdown". The UK is made of of 4 nations, all with different policies for Covid in place and only one of the 4 UK nations currently is in lockdown. On the 10pm BBC 1 UK news, which 'country' are you referring to Nick?

Huw Edwards is the only UK news anchor I ever see referring to Matt Hancock correctly as "the Health Secretary for England" or Gavin Williamson as "the Education Secretary for England".

Yes, this is all nuance, but it's vitally important nuance during a national crisis when many, esp older people, find out what rules they have to follow from the TV news. So when we still have a very England biased 'national' news operation coming out of London, bar rare examples such as Huw Edwards who correctly refer to the nuances between the nations on air, it's vital that BBC 1 in the devolved nations still carry their govt's Covid briefings, because the 'national' operation in London won't cover them elsewhere, like on the NC.

But what about when when one of the medical or scientific experts give a detailed explanation of what the current situation is? Shouldn’t that be on BBC One, or just left for the media to report one sound bite with no context, and in the case of some organisations, that would be a sensational click bait sound bite

We’ve had press conferences before where there were no ministers at all, that were on BBC One

Now here's a broadcast related job at No10 for someone

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=dXNlcnNlYXJjaGNvbnRleHQ9MTEzNTczMzU2JnBhZ2VhY3Rpb249dmlld3ZhY2J5am9ibGlzdCZvd25lcnR5cGU9ZmFpciZwYWdlY2xhc3M9Sm9icyZjc291cmNlPWNzcXNlYXJjaCZzZWFyY2hfc2xpY2VfY3VycmVudD0xOCZvd25lcj01MDcwMDAwJmpvYmxpc3Rfdmlld192YWM9MTY5NTU0MCZyZXFzaWc9MTYwNTQ0MDU5Ni0wZTE3OTk5ZWIzNWI5NjdkOTJhYjA0N2FhNzI3N2RiM2E4Yzg3YmMy

Whilst I don't disagree with the principle, Matt Hancock, for example, is the "Secretary of State for Health and Social Care" for the UK, it just so happens that some of his responsibilities, such as for the NHS, cover England only, and are devolved elsewhere, but others do cover the whole of the UK, and he is a UK cabinet minister, so it is wrong to call him the 'Heath Secretary for England'.

The current situation does show a problem with an over-centralized media, and it was also shown when England adopted tiers, and the centralized media struggles with that as well. I also hate the BBC's phrase "postcode lottery" when something differs from area to area, often for quite valid reasons.

However, the BBC News (and others) will seem "England biased" when England accounts for 84% of the UK population. Regional and local media don't seem to gain much traction in the UK - and there are various reasons for that.

The government is to end its boycott of Good Morning Britain.

BREAKING: Just had a call from Downing Street. The 201-day Government boycott of @GMB is over & Health Secretary @MattHancock will be appearing on the show tomorrow morning... pic.twitter.com/zDLWi0LkFp

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 15, 2020

(This could be worthy of its own thread, so feel free to do if feel appropriate.)

Asa really should give all users the New Topic button.

Just hope GMB focus on the pandemic and not the boycott. Have to wonder aswell if the exit of Cummings and Cain (or as C4 News call them, the Mitchell Brothers) is just a coincidence or if one or both of them were behind the boycott.

I think it’s all about Cummings and Cain. Cain particularly had often been the target of Piers’ anger, and was obviously at the centre of moment when Boris ‘hid’ in the freezer.

I really hope they don’t spend most of the time talking about the boycott because it will just make it uncomfortable and awkward to watch. Piers says that they should be coming on to inform the public about what’s going on so I hope they actually let them do that.

These ministers and government reps have been doing Sky News just after 7am, then BBC Breakfast about 15 or 20 minutes after that. ITV GMB will probably be after both of them, if they stick to this schedule.

Definitely. I hope Piers lets him finish answering the questions and doesn't jump in when he's still talking. It's fine to challenge his interviewees' responses, but wait until they've fully given them!

Looks like there already planning for it to be a typical piers Morgan interview(a shouting match)
Why are they using words like “the health secretary faces piers and susanna” it’s not a competition. They should be asking them questions and letting him answer but I reckon they’re out looking for a clip to go viral.
‘Piers Morgan gets into heated debate with the health secretary after 200 day boycott’

🚨MUST SEE TV TOMORROW🚨The government boycott of @GMB is over: Health Secretary @MattHancock faces @piersmorgan & @susannareid100 LIVE pic.twitter.com/g5QPqRqL2p

— Erron Gordon (@errongordon) November 15, 2020