Downing Street Bans Sunday Times From Coronovirus Briefings

[Zacs-Master]

https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/downing-street-bars-sunday-times-journalists-from-posing-questions-during-coronavirus-briefing-toby-helm-observer-1-6625055
Channel 4 has also been banned.

A strange path to go down.

[naomi24]

Is Reuters, your preferred source of news, reporting this?

[woofgang]

interesting website "Become a Supporter

"Almost four years after its creation The New European goes from strength to strength across print and online, offering a pro-European perspective on Brexit and reporting on the political response to the coronavirus outbreak, climate change and international politics. But we can only continue to grow with your support."

quite a lot of allegedly and reportedly there.

[jno]

lol, this is a government that tried to blacklist Mary Beard from becoming a trustee at the British Museum because she thought Brexit was a bad idea. They bear grudges deep and long.

[Zacs-Master]

I’m not sure what point your trying to make, Naomi. Or if you even have one.

[naomi24]

I just wonder how authentic you think the report is
... seeing as you said you only take your news from Reuters these days, zacs. That's all. It sounds very strange.

[jno]

they've barred journalists before

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/journalists-walk-out-of-no-10-briefing-after-rivals-barred-gg27gsrz5

[Zacs-Master]

I didn’t say I only took my news from Reuters, I said what you wrote first, that it was my preferred one.

If it turns out to be wrong, I’ll apologise and ask for the thread to be removed.

[bednobs]

ch4 asking a q right now

[douglas9401]

Nasty questions, nasty.

He's learned a lot from phone calls with The Donald.

[naomi24]

Oh, right. zacs. I do recall that the Telegraph wasn't acceptable to you.

[Mozz71]

Have to say, no-one else is reporting this. Not even the Sunday Times or C4.

[jno]

the Sunday Times won't be reporting it as such, Mozz, it only comes out the one day a week; during the week it shares the Times website. It's possible both the ST and C4 are keeping their mouths shut, as Cummings will have hoped.

There's some background here

https://www.buzzfeed.com/joeydurso/rupert-murdoch-sunday-times-boris-johnson-coronavirus

[tomus42]

I understand it to some extent. These briefings and the Q&A afterwards are for disseminating information and updating the public on the current situation.

They are not for Paxman style aggressive questioning to expose a gaffe or to trip up whoever's at the podium. They should save that stuff for the inevitable post crisis investigation where we focus on what could be done better next time.

[Mozz71]

Jno, id have thought that the Times would report on something concerning their sister paper.

[jno]

not necessarily, Mozz, there's often covert war between sister papers (same with the Mails).

The government's leaning on the Observer as well

https://twitter.com/tobyhelm/status/1254470591534501888

[ToraToraTora]

ban the lot of them, in all the weeks this has been happening I have yet to hear a sensible question. They are just playing yaa boo all the time just do the spiel and ugger boff, end of.

[jim360]

This seems to be mistaken, given that Channel 4 had the fourth question today.

It's clearly wrong to ban the media, though. They can ask all the stupid questions they like, but what matters is that the public, not the government, should be the judge of what a stupid question is.

[ichkeria]

I actually watched today and the questions seemed sensible to me.

I’d be surprised if this is true. It would certainly be outrageous if true.
And strange, because it would simply pee off respectable journalism and would be unlikely to make them change tack.

[tiggerblue10]

Maybe they can only allow a certain number of journalists.

I still can't believe they allowed Dan Wootton to ask a question the other day. Can't recall what he asked but I remember cringing.

[Togo]

The Times has become a shadow of the responsible newspaper it once was. they did say that Boris....."“… must swiftly seize control of coronavirus planning to counter allegations of drift at the top of the government. He will chair the morning coronavirus war committee with senior officials each day. While he is not expected to speak at the 5pm televised press briefing today or tomorrow, he is likely to appear before the end of the week. An overflowing in-tray awaits him, alongside a cabinet split between those concerned about the impact of lockdown on business and the economy and those who fear that easing it would prompt a new surge of cases that could overwhelm the NHS.”


Cabinet split? Another wet dream from the left wing luvvies finds it's way into print. Time to shut down the nightly bun fight and repeat, rinse, repeat, rinse, nonsense that it has become. The "journalists" (pass the sick bag Alice) rock up every afternoon with a ""question""( not) that has been asked a dozen times already, couched with a different spin each time in eager anticipation of a truth that they can weave all the way up to a National disgrace and a few days of press fuelled outrage. Time to fill all the empty emergency Hospitals that have been put together, at great expense, and concerted effort, with the virus carriers that now clog up our regular Hospitals. We would be allowing the NHS to do what it is there for and ensuring that the virus can no longer run rampant through them as it has done. Isolate the virus, isolate the gainsayers and negative thinkers.