The slow media catch-up
The Government has a lot to answer for relating to its mishandling of the coronavirus; as does the ‘opposition’. But we mustn’t let the media off the hook for the role it has played too.
In March, Peter Hitchens told Bournbrook that Britain’s institutions were failing in their response to the coronavirus — in particular, its media.
‘You can’t find the news on the front page,’ he said: ‘it is buried elsewhere, and it’s not even directly stated because the people who are writing it are telling those few who can read the signals.’ (Listen to the full interview here; or read it here.)
The media has blown the damage caused by the coronavirus out of proportion from the get-go, whilst initially underplaying the damage that could be — and has been — caused by the Government’s lockdown.
James Black was quite right in May when he wrote for Bournbrook that ‘hysteria has spread through society like a rapacious fire’, thanks largely to the media’s coverage.
The media pushed fear-mongering tales about Britain having the ‘most deaths in Europe’ from the coronavirus, ignoring basic facts such as that different countries measured deaths differently (some included care home deaths, and others didn’t, for example), and continuously conflating deaths of people with coronavirus and deaths from coronavirus.
Criticism of Professor Neil Ferguson for his highly overblown predictions (based on discredited models) came second-best in the press to coverage of his dubious love life.
Stark warnings from eminent legal minds about the damage done to our liberty by restrictive lockdown measures were, meanwhile, pushed to the back pages. Lord Jonathan Sumption, for example, who said in March that the Government’s response to the coronavirus had been disproportionate, and was comparable to the actions of a police state, was described merely as being ‘known for controversial opinions’. What about his having being granted the prestigious role of delivering last year’s Reith Lectures for the BBC? This wasn’t important, apparently.
The media is now starting to catch up, though very slowly and, perhaps, too late.
The Daily Mail today leads with a study that suggests the ‘staying-in rule’ does not stop the virus from spreading:
It has, however, arrived rather late on the scene. I wrote the following (based on another, yet equally important study) FIVE MONTHS ago, in May:
‘If lockdown is our saving grace, why have most coronavirus-related hospital admissions in New York, for example, been from people who have isolated themselves in their homes for weeks, and who have not been to work?’
The Government has a lot to answer for relating to its mishandling of the coronavirus; as does the ‘opposition’. But we mustn’t let the media off the hook for the role it has played too.
