BBC UK and England helping to hide the emerging coronavirus disaster?

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A screenshot of a social media post

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Living in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales and want to know the up-to-date figures for coronavirus cases and deaths? Your public service broadcaster is there for you. No need to click and read down the page. The numbers are there upfront.

Want to quickly see the figures for England or for the UK as a whole? See below:

A screenshot of a social media post

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A screenshot of a social media post

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Got them? No? Not there? Wonder why? Numbers getting scarily big? Several other social media commentators have mentioned this.

It’s only one day, I suppose. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

6 thoughts on “BBC UK and England helping to hide the emerging coronavirus disaster?

  1. Are there any reports on unemployment figures? I haven’t heard much about that either. Or how quickly people are getting processed to receive social security (whatever it is now, universal credit?)? Or how many businesses have folded?

    GMS is usually obsessed with business news, but they’ve been quiet on it just now.

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    1. There is indeed. But has anyone ever seen stats for England or for the performance of NHS England on a readily available, news source Now I can calculate them by subtraction but it’s odd that they are hard to find!

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  2. I don’t want to be morbid or to make too much of this but in terms of BBC editorial decision making this is becoming an odd pattern. At 1130am this morning on the BBC News website, you will find this:

    On ‘UK’ page (tab): no stats on deaths

    On ‘England’ page: no stats on deaths

    On ‘N. Ireland’ page: death stats in NI given in second row of featured article

    On ‘Scotland’ page: death stats in Scotland given in third row of featured articles. This same article appears under ‘Scotland politics’ tab too but on second row down i.e. more prominently.

    On ‘Wales’ page: death stats in Wales given in third row down.

    I also looked at the top level ‘Coronavirus’ tab on the BBC News site – no mention of stats today.

    There is still a link to an article that first appeared yesterday entitled ‘Is the NHS ready for the surge in coronavirus cases?’ The only information included from health service management here is from NHS England. There is no explanation as to whether the non-attributed information is only for England or for the whole UK. Readers outside England are left to ‘guess’ whether they are being informed or misinformed.

    And for context, here on TUSC some people have already pointed out that the BBC almost completely ignored – unlike Channel 4 – the novel, rapid establishment of Coronovirus Assessment Hubs in Scotland last week in order to relieve pressure on GP surgeries. Was this not a prime example of NHS Scotland ‘getting ready for the surge’?

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