Covering the corona crisis
How have journalists approached reporting on the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic?
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How have journalists approached reporting on the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic? With public compliance key to the government’s response to Covid-19, where does the balance lie between reporting the government’s message and identifying its failing, potentially undermining its effectiveness? How have journalists coped with the logistics of lockdown: lack of face to face contacts, official briefings by phone or zoom call? What is changing now we are in phase two – with more complicated messaging from government, no routine press conference and the action moving to local rather than national lockdowns.
On the panel to discuss these questions were:
- Evan Davis, presenter of PM, BBC Radio 4
- Kate McCann, Political Correspondent at Sky News
- Tom Newton Dunn, presenter and Chief Political Commentator at Times Radio and former Political Editor at The Sun
- Jennifer Williams, Politics and Investigations Editor at Manchester Evening News
The event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.
There was an opportunity for audience questions.
- Topic
- Coronavirus
- Keywords
- Accountability
- Administration
- Johnson government
- Department
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Publisher
- Institute for Government