SPECIAL ISSUE – CORONAVIRUS & THE MEDIA 3 Media North CAMPAIGN FOR PRESS AND BROADCASTING FREEDOM (NORTH) l May 2020 How tabloids deflected attention from Tory Covid-19 failings Nicholas Jones reports – Pages 4-6 2 | MediaNorth | SPECIAL ISSUE | MAY 2020 Editorial Tory media strategy: Deny a problem, then deflect blame By Granville Williams save lives’ as ‘feeble’. reports which have appeared in ‘This is a prime minister para- papers like the Sunday Times and BORIS Johnson’s long-awaited lysed by indecision,’ he wrote, The Guardian or on BBC’s Pano- plan for dealing with COVID-19, ‘kicking himself for unforced er- rama. outlined last Sunday, was ut- rors, terrified of being blamed for The second is reliance on pli- terly confusing. That is because every new death.’ able newspaper columnists in government ministers, civil serv- the Tory press who, instead of Tory failures ants, advisers and Tory MPs are supporting critical coverage of themselves confused and divided This confusion follows in the the government for its failures, about the next steps. wake of a string of other failures attack such reports as sabotage One group wants a speedy by the government in its han- or unpatriotic. end to the lock-down, and a dling of the COVID-19 crisis. Two Those who thought the series of wildly speculative things are clear now in terms of COVID-19 pandemic would newspaper reports appeared its strategy to deal with the me- neuter this government’s hostil- suggesting Johnson was set to The Metro (11 May) poked fun dia. ity towards journalists who hold announce a much more dramat- at Boris Johnson’s habit of The first is to deny there is ministers to account or question ic lifting of lockdown measures. quoting Greek. any problem, whether with PPE its use of empty phrases and slo- They wanted to push Johnson provision, testing or deaths in gans will be disappointed. We are into adopting their position via service broadcasters, and instead care homes, through the ma- seeing the return of the populist the media. using the in-house team he as- nipulation of statistics and facts. tactic used during the 2019 elec- The anti-lockdown coverage sembled after the election vic- The government has form on tion: spread disinformation to in Tory-supporting papers can tory to produce the film and the this. The team in Downing Street discredit facts. be explained by their proprietors clunky graphics – was not clarity is essentially the same as the one also wanting the government to but confusion. which shaped the Brexit referen- lift restrictions amid concerns Coverage in the papers the dum and the 2019 election cam- Let us know that if people continue to stay at next day was withering. Even paigns. This is the third special issue home then newspaper sales and Murdoch’s mouthpiece the Sun The second is to deflect of MediaNorth on the impact of ad revenue will plummet even had the headline ‘Lockdown’s blame. The public gets blamed COVID-19 on the media. We wel- more. been a terrible mistake’, with for not following its contradic- come your comments. The next What emerged when Johnson columnist Trevor Kavanagh de- tory advice but the media is the issue of MediaNorth will be the spoke – significantly avoiding scribing Boris Johnson’s message main target. The attack takes regular quarterly issue which we the involvement of any public of ‘stay alert, control the virus, two forms: direct challenges to plan to publish in mid-June. Survey shows financial ITV furloughs 800 as impact on journalists ad revenue slumps TWO-THIRDS of UK media 39% said they did not ex- ITV, the UK’s dominant commer- es programmes such as Emmerd- workers have suffered finan- pect work opportunities to im- cial broadcaster, has reported a 7 ale and Coronation Street. cially because of the coronavirus prove for three to six months, per cent fall in revenue as the Carolyn McCall, ITV Chief pandemic, with freelancers the while 16% said they do not ex- Covid-19 pandemic hit demand Executive, said: hardest hit of all, an NUJ survey pect to make a living at all fol- for advertising between January “ITV has taken swift and carried out from 24 April-10 lowing the pandemic. and March and continued into decisive action to manage and May 2020 has found. NUJ general secretary April, with advertising down 42 mitigate the impact of Covid-19, More than 1,200 members Michelle Stanistreet said: “For per cent for the month. by focusing on our people and responded to the survey. 18% of many…it feels like the eye of the In the first week in May their safety, and by continuing to members had lost 80 to 100% of storm, with more pain to come the broadcaster furloughed 15 reduce costs and tightly manage their income and 84% feared the unless meaningful and urgent per cent of its UK workforce, our cashflow and liquidity. We crisis would lead to redundan- intervention is secured to sup- amounting to some 800 employ- are also ensuring that we con- cies at their workplace. A third port our industry and the jour- ees. tinue to inform and entertain thought their income would not nalists and media workers carry- Most were staff in the ITV our viewers and stay close to our improve until 2021. ing out a vital public service.” Studios business, which produc- advertisers.” SPECIAL ISSUE | MAY 2020 | MediaNorth 3 SAGE report black-out like Stalin’s Russia, says angry professor UK scientists furious over censored report IT began with The Guardian pub- “Personally, I am more be- lishing the names of people on mused than furious,” said the Scientific Advisory Group for Stephen Reicher, a professor of Emergencies (SAGE) followed by social psychology at the Univer- Hugh Laurie. criticism of a lack of transpar- sity of St Andrews. “The greatest ency and a growing demand for asset we have in this crisis is the the minutes of SAGE meetings to trust and adherence of the pub- Will we be published. ‘STALINESQUE’: Large blocks of lic. You want trust? You need to Finally when one report text were blacked out of report. be open with people. This isn’t from 1 April of SP1-B (the open. It is reminiscent of Stalin- ever see SAGE sub-committee providing committee who complained ist Russia. Not a good look.” advice from behavioural scien- about ‘a lack of respect’ and a And while we’re on the sub- Roadkill on tists on how the public might ‘lack of consultation’ over the de- ject of reports, where’s the one respond to lockdown) was pub- cision to redact the document. on Russian interference in UK lished, large blocks of text were One member of the govern- politics which was blocked from the BBC? blanked out. ment’s advisory committee took publication by Boris Johnson in Back in August 2019 the BBC This clumsy action provoked to Twitter to complain of what he the run-up to the recent general announced ‘Award-winning ac- criticism from members of the said was ‘Stalinist’ censorship: election? tor Hugh Laurie will play a Con- servative minister in a major new political thriller for BBC One written by David Hare and pro- duced by The Forge’. Tory MPs slam BBC over This is the plot summary for what the BBC Controller of Drama, Piers Wenger, described Panorama’s ‘shameful bias’ as a ‘brilliantly sharp and funny drama’: A BBC Panorama programme gramme Tory MPs went into Wikipedia.com Photos: “Roadkill is a four-part fic- ‘Has the government failed the attack mode. Andrew Griffith tional thriller about a self-made, NHS?’ broadcast on 27 April ex- said, “The taxpayer-funded BBC forceful and charismatic politi- posed shortages of personal pro- has real questions about its role cian called Peter Laurence (Hugh tective equipment (PPE) among here.” Another, Andrew Holden, Laurie). Peter’s public and pri- healthcare workers. added, “The level of bias being vate life seems to be falling apart The programme reported allowed at a time of national cri- - or rather is being picked apart that the Tories ignored warnings sis is shameful.” by his enemies. As the personal about vital equipment – with The BBC strongly defended revelations spiral, he is shame- no gowns, visors, swabs or body the programme, pointing out lessly untroubled by guilt or re- bags in the government’s stock- that, as NHS trusts discouraged morse, expertly walking a high pile when it was set up in 2009. healthcare workers from discuss- wire between glory and catas- The UK government subse- ing the state of PPE, it wasn’t trophe as he seeks to further his quently ignored warnings from surprising that those willing to Andrew Griffith: “real questions.” own agenda whilst others plot to its own advisers to buy missing speak out were more involved bring him down”. equipment. It meant that the with campaigning around the Who could David Hare have Tory government was woefully NHS. been thinking about? ill-prepared for the coronavirus This in turn led to the Cul- However the BBC DG, Tony outbreak. ture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, Hall ,has announced that cuts of The programme was attacked writing a formal complaint to £125m are needed this year as a by the usual suspects, with the the BBC Director General, Tony result of the increased COVID-19 Daily Mail (29/04/20) alleg- Hall, about ‘a disproportionate expenditure, reduced licence fee ing the programme had been number of those interviewed in income and postponing the 450 ‘infiltrated by the Left’ citing in- the programme’ being linked to BBC News job cuts.