Media Coverage of COVID -19

[kez19]

At the risk of using Conspiracy Theorist terminology, you really need to avoid mainstream media if you want to really see what happens at these protests.
There are several livestreams you can watch (or skim through) after the event. They will give you a true flavour of how many attended, and their reasons.
I laughed at the Sky reporter who said ‘a crowd of 10,000’. How on earth could he make an accurate estimate from a stationary, street-level vantage point on Oxford Street. If anyone cares to look at the link posted, see if the numbers look a tad more than that ...

I wouldn't say it was, its just common sense, rather than watch/listen do your own research or let alone turn it another start questioning everything thats thrown at you, I see that even the BBC reporter Marianna Spring has given her 2 cents on the events today (yet she is supposedly a "disinformation" reporter)... https://twitter.com/mariannaspring/status/1386002180444987396 but hey this is meant to be our impartial media in the UK. (not just BBC all UK outlets)

 

[Philip Elliott]

I do find it quite astonishing that the BBC website seem to be completely ignoring the (100k?) peaceful protestors against future lockdowns and vaccine passports in London today.

Especially as only a few days ago they gave full coverage to the ER vandals in Canary Wharf.

Sky's website mention it halfway down but only under the headline "COVID deniers among protestors in London". Probably true, but most people there just want to be able to have secuirty in their jobs, see ill family, not live in a 'papers please' society, etc...

This will be the protest where shoppers were verbally abused and police attacked in Hyde Park?

 

[yorksrob]

Not a thing on the BBC website about the anti-lockdown demonstration.

It looks like an abdication of responsibility to me. They will report demonstrations they agree with but not ones they don't.

 

[kez19]

Not a thing on the BBC website about the anti-lockdown demonstration.

It looks like an abdication of responsibility to me. They will report demonstrations they agree with but not ones they don't.

and boom goes the dynamite, selective "hearing" with the media - if they want to cover BLM/XR then cover all others properly.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

This will be the protest where shoppers were verbally abused and police attacked in Hyde Park?

No, this will be the protest where most people had started to go home, and a group of police assaulted a band playing ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ to a small crowd. People pushed back and some of the media selectively showed only the angry response. Watch this:

 

[DustyBin]

As much as I welcome the media finally calling out Susan Michie, they’re a bit slow on the uptake aren’t they? Several of us identified this issue months ago....

IAN GALLAGHER: Is lockdown's biggest fan a communist

Few viewers will realise that Prof Michie is a key member of the Communist Party of Britain and is dedicated to establishing a new socialist order in this country.

www.dailymail.co.uk

IAN GALLAGHER: Is TV's favourite Sage member Professor Susan Michie such a big fan of lockdowns because she's a Communist once known as Stalin's nanny?

Few of the Government scientists helping to shape the nation's Covid strategy are as influential and ubiquitous as Professor Susan Michie. Not only is she a senior member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) but also two other groups guiding Ministers and she is regularly given a platform by the BBC and ITV to share her ideas.

Yet few viewers and listeners will realise that Prof Michie is a key member of the Communist Party of Britain and is dedicated to establishing a new socialist order in this country.

To her critics, it is little wonder that she is prominent among those demanding yet more Covid controls, bursts of short, sharp isolation and seemingly indefinite mask-wearing and distancing – the sort of policies favoured by the Communist Morning Star newspaper.

As the entrepreneur and former Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson noted drily: 'Susan Michie is a member of the Communist Party. They know all about controlling behaviour in places like Communist North Korea.'

He might also have added China. Normally Prof Michie – who was dubbed Stalin's nanny when she was a student at Oxford – is coy about her revolutionary politics but just before the first lockdown last year, she responded to someone praising China's extreme measures of in dealing with coronavirus by tweeting: 'China has a socialist, collective system (whatever criticisms people may have) not an individualistic, consumer-oriented, profit-driven society badly damaged by 20 years of failed neoliberal economic policies. #LearntLessons.'

It offered a rare window into the true beliefs of a woman who has been a Communist Party member for more than 40 years. Prof Michie remains at the forefront of the campaign to keep life closed down until the virus has been completely eradicated. Even this month, with the death rate plummeting and vaccinations proving an outstanding success, she co-authored a widely circulated article that demanded yet more restrictions on daily life and 'maximum suppression' of the virus here and around the world.

'Public health leaders should focus on efforts that maximally suppress viral infection rates, thus helping to prevent the emergence of mutations that can become new variants of concern,' she wrote on behalf of the Lancet Covid-19 Commission Taskforce. 'Prompt vaccine rollouts alone will not be enough to achieve this. Continued public health measures, such as face masks and physical distancing, will be vital too.'

There are some things that Prof Michie – whose first husband was Andrew Murray, once a key adviser to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – is rather less inclined to discuss, including money. Perhaps because she has so much of it. Indeed, she is the blue-blooded descendant of an earl who, along with her brother, sold a family heirloom – a Picasso painting called L'Enfant Au Pigeon – to Qatari royals for £50 million in 2013. This didn't stop her once urging fellow Communists to support Jeremy Corbyn at a presentation with the words: 'We, the working class…'

As Britain begins to emerge from lockdown, her critics remain puzzled at how a woman committed to the wholesale socialist transformation of society continues to be at the heart of pandemic policymaking. She is believed to be one of the experts who persuaded the Government to use fear to ensure people complied with lockdown rules, a strategy that exceeded expectations. So much so that it led to concerns over whether people would return to work, forcing Boris Johnson to publicly implore workers to get back to the office last summer. But earlier this year Prof Michie stamped on the idea, warning that people were 'having to choose between the risk of serious illness or death and losing their job – not to mention the risk of spreading the virus on the way to and from work'. And she suggested click-and-collect services were opening Covid transmission routes and should be shut down unless essential.

Some psychologists believe the Government, acting on the advice of experts such as Prof Michie, emphasised the threat from Covid without putting the risks in context, leaving the country in 'a state of heightened anxiety'. They also claimed that 'inflated fear levels will be responsible for the 'collateral deaths of many thousands of people with non-Covid illnesses too frightened to attend hospital'.

Prof Michie doesn't see it that way. She says 'persuasion' rather than fear helped people stick to social distancing and favours giving people 'an accurate perception of risk and therefore, for some, increasing the personal threat they perceive, along with being empowered to take actions to reduce the threat'.

Last year she was one of three government scientific advisers who criticised the Prime Minister for defending his then aide Dominic Cummings for driving more than 250 miles during lockdown.

One of the other two – though he wasn't identified as such at the time – was her husband, Professor Robert West. He is also a behavioural psychologist, who works with Prof Michie at University College London. He tweeted: 'Conservative MPs and supporters must be feeling alarmed at what is going on in Government. It is nothing short of a shambles with Trumpian levels of deceit. The people of this country are being treated like idiots and I doubt they will stand for it.'

The couple, members of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), have both spoken publicly of their belief that the recent lockdown was too lax. 'People are walking around the community spreading it, and the reasons are because of not having enough income or not enough practical support,' said Prof Michie.

She added that it was not 'just about what you cannot do' but what 'the Government should be doing to support all of it'.

Today, despite the optimism created by vaccines, Prof Michie and her husband cling to the idea of a 'Zero Covid' strategy that would see people locked up for longer, social-distancing rules imposed indefinitely and overseas travel curbed.

Prof Michie's views on eradicating the virus were recently described as dangerous 'nonsense' by distinguished geneticist Prof Anthony Brookes of Leicester University, a signatory of an open letter calling for an end to restrictions.

'If we continue with such stringent lockdown and suppression measures, the really nasty mutations of SARS-CoV-2 (which will always be out there – and likewise for all the other respiratory viruses) will be selected over the regular strains,' he explained. 'Instead of keeping us safe, her plan could help these strains to emerge and spread into dominance.'

Such criticism seems to cut little ice with Prof Michie, who was a keynote speaker at a Zero Covid rally in London at the start of the year, sharing a platform with Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the National Education Union, who congratulated his members for closing down schools.

Meanwhile, the Morning Star has noted approvingly that Prof Michie's husband has been doing his bit, saying that Zero Covid has garnered 'support among the Government's own scientific advisers, including Prof Robert West from UCL'.

 

[Bantamzen]

As much as I welcome the media finally calling out Susan Michie, they’re a bit slow on the uptake aren’t they? Several of us identified this issue months ago....

IAN GALLAGHER: Is lockdown's biggest fan a communist

Few viewers will realise that Prof Michie is a key member of the Communist Party of Britain and is dedicated to establishing a new socialist order in this country.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Her Twitter feed is quite revealing, constant virtue signalling and denouncing anyone that disagrees with her as trolls, evil or on one Tweet being "against women". I get the impression that she spends more time blocking people disagreeing than she does anything else.

https://twitter.com/SusanMichie?s=09

Follow the link at your own risk...

 

[kez19]

Her Twitter feed is quite revealing, constant virtue signalling and denouncing anyone that disagrees with her as trolls, evil or on one Tweet being "against women". I get the impression that she spends more time blocking people disagreeing than she does anything else.

https://twitter.com/SusanMichie?s=09

Follow the link at your own risk...

Kinda like Devi? Could easily bang heads together with this lot.

On BBC Breakfast (speaking of Devi), she referred to things as Pokemon, jeez who knew people’s lives revolved around Pokemon (supposedly it was a challenge to her on Twitter).

 

[brad465]

Her Twitter feed is quite revealing, constant virtue signalling and denouncing anyone that disagrees with her as trolls, evil or on one Tweet being "against women". I get the impression that she spends more time blocking people disagreeing than she does anything else.

https://twitter.com/SusanMichie?s=09

Follow the link at your own risk...

She also seems to have banned commenting on her own tweets, something I don't recall being in place a few months ago when I last remember reading her feed, which would be a sign she's losing her argument (as well as the petty insults you describe).

 

[kristiang85]

She also seems to have banned commenting on her own tweets, something I don't recall being in place a few months ago when I last remember reading her feed, which would be a sign she's losing her argument (as well as the petty insults you describe).

Scientists who don't allow comment and debate on their proclamations are always ones to be wary of...

 

[kez19]

She also seems to have banned commenting on her own tweets, something I don't recall being in place a few months ago when I last remember reading her feed, which would be a sign she's losing her argument (as well as the petty insults you describe).

I thought that was me that spotted that!

Scientists who don't allow comment and debate on their proclamations are always ones to be wary of...

or reach for the block button too! (or quite simoly clutching at straws or pearls whichever they grasp at these days) .... looking at you Devi..

 

[brad465]

Scientists who don't allow comment and debate on their proclamations are always ones to be wary of...

That would also include the entire Government (not that this will be news) and any media channel that hasn't given a proper voice to scientists with other opinions on the matter but are still qualified professors/scientists.

 

[kez19]

That would also include the entire Government (not that this will be news) and any media channel that hasn't given a proper voice to scientists with other opinions on the matter but are still qualified professors/scientists.

I think for me yesterday seeing a comment from a BBC Correspondent done it for me, I thought all UK media are meant to be impartial/unbias but yet it seems the BBC have pushed it further, I would have stood up for mainstream media but now I just can't and I think yesterday proved that their true colours came through and are just pushing without thought their own views.

I have came round the idea that in general all media like to prefer calling people by labels than seeing the person(s) for who they are (without agenda) but they don't its what they would like us to believe what we read/listen too without proper thought.

I know society is pretty much judgemental these days but it hasn't helped by the media goading people at each others throats regardless of where you stand but like I say they'll happily watch us have a punch it gets clicks (without researching properly) - job done, yet my story could be completely different to what actually happened (pretend fight - a laugh), the media loves to twist things around, I wish people would wake up to this fact and than be so gullable at times.

 

[Ediswan]

Scientists who don't allow comment and debate on their proclamations are always ones to be wary of...

People who don't allow comment and debate on their proclamations are not scientists.

 

[DustyBin]

Her Twitter feed is quite revealing, constant virtue signalling and denouncing anyone that disagrees with her as trolls, evil or on one Tweet being "against women". I get the impression that she spends more time blocking people disagreeing than she does anything else.

https://twitter.com/SusanMichie?s=09

Follow the link at your own risk...

I followed the link, I now feel slightly sick.... Only sycophants allowed it would appear!

 

[Bantamzen]

I followed the link, I now feel slightly sick.... Only sycophants allowed it would appear!

Yep, that was pretty much my feeling. As others have pointed out for a professor and member of a scientific group advising the government to literally shut down debate is quite honestly worrying.

 

[WessexEclectic]

Yep, that was pretty much my feeling. As others have pointed out for a professor and member of a scientific group advising the government to literally shut down debate is quite honestly worrying.

I get the feeling that she is still fuming that the Bible was translated from Latin into English...

 

[initiation]

So for the last few days we've had pretty extensive coverage of the situation in India.

1. Many people on social media were pointing to India as why we shouldn't 'rush' unlocking. I'm sure these are the same people who insist we can only compare Sweden to Finland and Norway.

2. When will the BBC/sky news etc.. be putting headlines up about Florida, Texas and other US states where lockdowns have been stopped but cases/deaths still fell. These places are more comparable to the UK than India.

 

[kez19]

So for the last few days we've had pretty extensive coverage of the situation in India.

1. Many people on social media were pointing to India as why we shouldn't 'rush' unlocking. I'm sure these are the same people who insist we can only compare Sweden to Finland and Norway.

2. When will the BBC/sky news etc.. be putting headlines up about Florida, Texas and other US states where lockdowns have been stopped but cases/deaths still fell. These places are more comparable to the UK than India.

I’ll answer number 2 - that would be common sense but that’s not what they want us to know, so India is the distraction, you could ask where is the positive news stories? I haven’t seen any, just seems news has become a depressing medium and it’s full of negativity (or is that the point)?

 

[Cdd89]

I came across this slightly bizarre YouTube / Instagram account full of strange videos which I don’t think has been mentioned in this forum before. It turns out it’s actually a Cabinet Office account according to the YouTube ad information.

I have no idea what to say about it other than I am glad some algorithm somewhere thinks I am young enough to be worth targeting with this stuff.

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

instagram.com

(Should work without an Instagram account, but videos may cause nausea)

Apologies for the Unicode emoji in the quotes.

If you’re out with the gang, make sure you scan!

After the vaccine, your body creates anti-bodies to form a frontline defence against possible harm from COVID-19 But until then, we must remain vigalent
Socialise safely The beat doesn’t stop.

If you’re travelling on public transport this weekend, wear a mask it’s a small ask for such a big courtesy.

Don’t assume your immune… Get a test!

If you’re queueing up, mask up!

Edit: looks like the emoji all got filtered out by the forum software. That’s a relief!

 

[kristiang85]

I came across this slightly bizarre YouTube / Instagram account full of strange videos which I don’t think has been mentioned in this forum before. It turns out it’s actually a Cabinet Office account according to the YouTube ad information.

I have no idea what to say about it other than I am glad some algorithm somewhere thinks I am young enough to be worth targeting with this stuff.

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

instagram.com

(Should work without an Instagram account, but videos may cause nausea)

Apologies for the Unicode emoji in the quotes.





Edit: looks like the emoji all got filtered out by the forum software. That’s a relief!

Good grief. Going through that made me want to throw my phone out of the window. The condescending messages, poor rhyming, and awful grammar.

 

[Scotrail314209]

I came across this slightly bizarre YouTube / Instagram account full of strange videos which I don’t think has been mentioned in this forum before. It turns out it’s actually a Cabinet Office account according to the YouTube ad information.

I have no idea what to say about it other than I am glad some algorithm somewhere thinks I am young enough to be worth targeting with this stuff.

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

instagram.com

(Should work without an Instagram account, but videos may cause nausea)

Apologies for the Unicode emoji in the quotes.





Edit: looks like the emoji all got filtered out by the forum software. That’s a relief!

The government trying to be trendy I see.

 

[kristiang85]

The government trying to be trendy I see.

It reads exactly like Michael Gove trying to be trendy.

 

[yorksrob]

We'll have William Hague back in his baseball cap next !

 

[Darandio]

I got as far as 'Sesh Safe!'. No need to read further.

 

[kristiang85]

Speaking of condescending...

How to hug safely

The advice not to hug might be lifted this month, so how safe is it?

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bantamzen]

Speaking of condescending...

How to hug safely

The advice not to hug might be lifted this month, so how safe is it?

www.bbc.co.uk

Wow seriously? She can <insert expletive here> right off!

I'm utterly done with miserable people hating experts, trying to inflict their wants on us from behind their web cams.

 

[scotrail158713]

Speaking of condescending...

How to hug safely

The advice not to hug might be lifted this month, so how safe is it?

www.bbc.co.uk

Condescending is an understatement

 

[Bantamzen]

Condescending is an understatement

I would recommended staying away from her Twitter feed, she's branding herself "Hug Guru".....

 

[Darandio]

I would recommended staying away from her Twitter feed, she's branding herself "Hug Guru".....

They really need to find a really remote place where all of these so called experts that are desperate for airtime can be banished. Somewhere deep in the solar system would be preferable.