patients like the double your children were behind the most apocalyptic predictions about both the scale and their lives thousands he'll call that 19 predictions that thankfully failed to realize but created a lot of fear or perhaps a lot of justifies here and nonetheless. well i think that obviously the pandemic is an extremely scary situation for everyone around the world and it's also extremely important for you insist to have access to information about what's happening on the crowds and now i think that it's obviously important to balance what is obvious the reporting around a phrase scary situation with also managing the emotions audiences who already i think in many cases finding this is a true medics times goes through. i think that judicial media have beliefs stepped up next coverage of the pandemic under extremely challenging circumstances and this

i think is particularly important because we've seen this as a 1st kind of social media can date where this information from a variety of different sources being shared circulated and social media and that information may not be as reliable as information that audiences get from more traditional established media organizations karen lee said a moment ago and the traditional media have really stepped up to the play during this paradigmatic what makes you believe that's the case can you give some examples of that i didn't find this coverage for some time ever since the outbreak started in china and i think initially we did see a lot of fairly fear inducing and scary courage in the mainstream media i think that what we're seeing now is that the condemn it has become this all consuming in

banks that affects all of us and i think all sectors of society and when i say then media has stepped up what i mean is that judicial newspapers and broadcasters gleacher trying the best they can to provide. the lively information under the 6 unit challenging circumstances that is not to say that i think that the media are always getting it right. and it's also not to say that. this coverage is always the to be assuring fact a lot of it is quite scary. but i think that the media do have a say the role to play now i'm sure you teach your students as i was taught them i j school that the task of journalists is to be a government's watchdog meaning that they have to be not just critical but employing critical thinking in analyzing government policies under when it comes to the log data there is

a heated debate among scientists and paul imo if you give me all a just on the advocacy of the quarantine measures in downing the pandemic there are many cross and cons to it and yet if we look at the media especially the traditional media they are almost uniformly indorsing the quarantine measures as are the governments why do you think there is so middle questioning of that rationale in the traditional media. so i think that what we're seeing in the context of this and to me is that the reporting of science has probably become more important now than it ever has before and i think that. the media are reporting that debates around the consequences of the lock down obviously they're also they much driven in their reporting by statements made by

government officials for example who changes be the ones who say the agenda and here it's obviously extremely important in this kind of position to hold the politicians accountable for their actions. so in a sense i would say that scientists have become. stars of the show and they have become important sources well information innocent to me but it's out isn't that always the case of journalists have been strained specifically on how the court and science in absolute s.s. their cases may be able to base their own remote scientists how well since you mentioned scientists as spoken to a number of if you can they all exist in recent weeks and many of them are convinced that the current response to call that 19 is no longer within the reality of the ology it's it's it and i don't logical and political issue more than anything else the politicians need to be seen as sparing no resources to save lives

which is good the problem is that they're back to me prioritizing the lives of corbett 9000 patients. all rare other lives there is a a rise in the heart attacks we know that from a lot of surgeries have been postponed when many victims of the spend democrat who have nothing to do recovered 99 percent of their suffering nonetheless and i know that many doctors aches. to me on customer with this kind of tree asking because this is ultimate they treat us problem who does this they decide to prioritize and yet there is very little discussion of it within the larger society of whether we are going to you know assign a 2nd degree priority to let's say heart patients as opposed to call that 19 patients who get their 1st priority treatment right now. well

i think obviously this is a tremendously challenging and difficult situation and i think that we do see that reflected in the coverage and i think we've also seen a kind of shift both in terms of public debate and in terms of public opinion over time because i think that initially there was extremely widespread support for quite extreme not only measures now obviously does a certain level of that seek setting in the present world and also an increased concern around speak central economic consequences i think that we are seeing these reflected in the media coverage so having done a small the study of today's cut which we can see that coverage of the financial crisis quite says. that i think freezingly prominent in media coverage

now at this point i think we can of a fast the potential consequences. of the introduced measures and bob as they keep piling out do you think the mainstream media the traditional media will be just as aligned with state policies on common 1000 as they are a by and large the coverage is whether it is that russia or in the u.k. and the united states miss some rare exceptions is who are allies in favor of the of the matter is introduced by the government do you think this will remain the case as this means turn sour region they certainly will at least on the economic front. well i think that what we're seeing now is a sort of classic. kind of element in terms of the media coverage where initially there was a great deal of consensus around the. it's decision to. completely know

that it's becoming politicized and becoming scrutinized also by opposition politicians around the world we are seeing more criticisms of political steps being taken and also more consideration of consequences so this is something that i've looked at in different colors explains denmark where originally from and where the opening up of society has happened sooner than elsewhere we have seen a shift from overwhelming support for the actions of the danish prime minister to really end up. in a quite significant way and now we're then beginning to see a lot of questioning of the specific ways in which science is being opened up and i think we'll see just. around the world what bugs me the most is that nobody has really asked and nobody has actually clearly explained whether we need those low

downs in the 1st place because. you know you would understand that from. just tickle point of view definitely the governments need at some time you know to create craved that extra bad capacity to build new medical facilities to train the doctors but locking people from monza now and you know it's a it's a very questionable decision from an if you're a logical point of view i mean it's not going to exactly clear that that's going to prevent them from the virus because they better are they will encounter it. sooner or later and when they encounter they will need that have you know back when you knew that about metabolism rate death and you do not improve when you see it at home with you know the phrase the tally and the cow and it almost seems that the bigger the mall monumental decision that you were a questions are being out. yeah i mean it said well it's really really interesting

and one trace the density moment of media coverage and because we simply never faced a crisis up this kind within the lifetimes of most people around the world and so i think that from the beginning the spin in a sense so you know oh what was it that just hit us and what are we going to do about it we don't know what we're going to do about it the only thing that we know works in this situation is a form or unseen and well reaction we don't know that for a fact. it's still hardly debated by i think we all are just wired there for a long long down to really decrease lethality. from this virus and i'm sure you're hearing about the example of sweden which decided and gas that introducing a quarantine precisely for those reasons that they are not sure that that work.

in any case those are very top ethical dilemmas for very hard choices let's take a surety rask rundown for now but we'll be back in just a few moments stay tuned. i. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race in this on offense clearly a dramatic development the only really i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical dying time to sit down and talk. israel media a reflection of reality. in

a world transformed. you want to make you feel safe. isolation and community make. you going the right way or are you being led. down to. watch history. is made. in the wild corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the death. or inmate in the shyness. welcome back to worlds apart carol and your again from director of research

development and environment and the hardest school of journalism and media culture cat care and just me for the great he suggested. this corona virus outbreak is dave outbreak of its kind to take place in a hybrid media environment where traditional media craigslist with social media and i'm not sure i agree with your dad because i covered wars and that libya and in syria and not only been media environment it was very much alike but also bill lines of covers the kind of stories journalists were filing were very similar i mean in a war zone there are 2 main kinds of stories the front lines and the victims and their emotional personal stories and i see the same thing with the coverage of congress 19 you have they they hospitals and the doctors and the victims of this pandemic don't you think that there is something to that it's not only the

politicians but also the journalists who are approaching this pandemic flu at a paradigm of akong like. well i think that we do see metaphors of war being used being widely in terms of talking about the cruel virus so it's like a sort of scary invisible enemy comes to attack us and we've got frontlines in the hospitals and care homes where the doctors and nurses are at the equivalent so so just so in some ways you can see a lot of parallels in terms of looking at the condemn it hasn't were so it's a metaphor that's not without its problems but i guess is also they. may tend to pull made a point terms this idea that all the citizens of a country have to work together to defeat this invisible enemy and i think that's

the kind of political underpinnings of don't buy states use that metaphor well you call it political i call it wartime propaganda because. just as you cannot see and appreciate the damage the full damage of the war and the frontlines in the same extend emergency wards are not the only snapshots of the pandemic and as i mentioned before the lockdown has its own victims there are people. other health conditions there people who lost their livelihoods there are people whose mental how who was compromised children are suffering there is a rise in domestic airlines around the world and there are many many other consequences don't you think that it is perhaps manipulative or increased distorting cupra trade this been demick primarily from the hospitals and government briefings well i think that 11 of the one of the issues here is

obviously you don't wear this name medical staff. as the mean we're. heroes in this situation and in a sense that is important because it's accurate that they're facing great risks and dangers but i have to say it's also true that we're seeing a lot of other people who could themselves in harm's way whether it's people who are in supermarkets or who drive buses or create our rubbish there are also many ordinary people who. are affected by the indirect consequence of the condemning so milly if we use it to. a trial of the case out in hospital or it's you know we're obviously failing to see the bigger picture the message consequences of this and then it is heading across the whole of society

and around the whole wilks now in your book and multiple media and politics meeting i highly recommend to all our viewer if it's a very interesting read you make an important distinction between an emotion and immediate emotion but the latter being far more deliberate calculated and constructive and when it comes to the comment 19 outbreak or any other large scale event journalist always have a wide wide choice in which emotion to transmit which emotion to put forth reaching or to communicate to their audience and which perhaps to downplay what do you see as the dominant sentiments are they spend democrat you already mentioned the gratitude the very genuine and sure gratitude that really feel towards the doctors and other product line workers spread are there any other emotions that are prevalent in the coverage of this pandemic what i see in the

media coverage is that fear is actually the dominant emotion now and that's not all that surprising in the same speak us may. dealing with this unknown and scary disease and then condemning yourself as tents and a series of a frightening consequences for all of us but what's interesting to sink about is a next steps here like other emotions can be just as contagious as the disease itself and when we see something scary and when we speak about scary things we can also be spending that fear in relation to other people while we are on the subject of p.r. let me play the devil's advocate for a while because i heard a number of doctors and public officials sensually the jazz that people need to be saved from the south the most the fact you wait you can do that under the pressure

of circumstances is their fear because if you scare them enough with the footage of emergency wards are the footage of the savage trees or the morris perhaps they will think twice about taking their family out. for a barbecue and that's not totally more of commonsense because you know their courage is a really struggling right now i don't want to minimize the the scale of the challenge that they're facing and i think we need to give them credit for what they're doing but do you think the use of fear is justified as a scare tactic as a social control tactic when it's for people's own sake. i think that we have seen an emphasis and fearing the coverage but also in terms. of how governments have communicated and. because like you

say. here in a sense this helpful emotion in terms of making people change their behavior so it is important for politicians to communicate that this is a dangerous disease. and that therefore it's important in the interests of the collective good for people to stay inside stay at home and sue a social distancing. and then at the same time i think that it's important to balance the communication of scary message just with a concern for the mental health and well being of the people who are actually consuming media consents care and i think we would both agree that the media organizations have a long curated what emotions and what information that our audiences are exposed to but i think it has never been. so open now speaking about the fact that both

google and you tube both prioritize the world health organization as diesel or isn't called at 19 even though the rapid taishan of those who are going to zation is quite questionable in medical circles it's in vice on how to proceed with regards to this pandemic has been pretty inconsistent and there are many legitimate crashes about you know w h o's professionalism in these circumstances i mean we're not public health experts so let's not talk about w.h.y. what i want to ask you about is how do you feel about the big tax companies not already needing the debate but actually setting the. crimes of it and pointing to who is a reliable source on this issue and who is not. why i would slightly take issue with your description of the w.h.o. i mean i think that this is spin of a challenging crisis for your is

a shooter handle and they haven't always done this in a. manner that any missteps i don't waver none the less i think that they can be you didn't you consider every libel and authoritative source on this subject and i think social media organizations. have tried to make some make difficult decisions in the face of. this month's not false inec true misleading information that's been circulated and also based conspiracy theories so now i think beck's and in in the u.k. for example if you look at twitter twitter will take you to the department of health and social care websites and that is simply because potentially damaging misinformation circulating both in misinformation which is sort of.

downright dangerous so says someone who comes from so i suspect donald trump suggesting that people shouldn't take themselves with disinfectant speaking about misinformation here is another example from the united states just a few weeks ago you tear you down a brief raid by certified california doctors questioning be need who are strict law down majerus where bigger is at hand i have to add media and math several 1000000 views and i think you must iran having named that these all happened just a few days before a kalak war and yeah relax its restrictions and just as the dog. curious advocated are you really ok with. not only being a platform for having those debates but actually deciding being the ultimate judge of who gets to pretty stupid in those debates and what those the basis for their

rather at what conclusions they should arrive at i mean it it's a really interesting sample that you mason and it highlights the fact that this endemic now represents a kind of moment where we moved from thinking about social media organizations and underlying educators as just being websites and on to being actual news providers and the news providers entails responsibility for making judgments about what information is true and what information is false and that is difficult set of into decisions to make and sometimes these organizations will get that wrong so for me it highlights a fundamental shift in terms of the use of these huge on one case and that's it of a partnership precisely because so many people get their information from you tube

from twitter or from other social media facebook and so on and so if they says the question about whether they. can be responsible for the contents on a site and how they manage that responsibility for care and how can we as media are going to as ations uprose this task in a responsible way when you're dealing with so many unknowns i mean i think when you deal with a normal virus that and based reporting is hindering possible i mean there hasn't been and not trying to establish anything back it takes years to do that and the past me i dealing with. scientific projections and speculations reached also could be wrong and we have seen that a number of trends throughout this but dammit most national health institutions that predictions wreck trubel to be exaggerated i wonder if this pandemic will

force. journalists to reconsider the basic charters of that trade what f.x. what are awkward if for since and why yes i mean i think that you do bring up an important point in terms of these kinds of questions. because 1st of all this is an unknown disease and it's one where ever we don't have a lot we start to send city information to go on and so it's certainly places journalists in a situation where they have to assess the latest see are claims made in scientific debates and the scientific debate on result and also incredibly important so i think it's such a challenging moment but i think it also highlights the actual importance are we lying on their viral information as much as you can rely on the use of

authoritative sources peer reviewed research. i think that we don't know yet what the right way is to deal with these issues and we also don't know what the right way is to be quite on the issues but what we do know is a journalism should focus on actually reporting what the facts show us this much as that's possible karen we have to leave it there is going great talking to you thank you very much quiet sharing your in pride thank you for having me i'm thanking you for watching hope to see you again next week on the world a part. of. our . i think i.

you have a lot of people where you can keep blurry i'm going to remember. at least. the problem. in the. earth and i was really. mean you. will ask yourself how are you going to survive how are you going to protect yourself.

using technology where they've been able to name x. people's private information on the cell phones and see what you've seen if you have crossed off somebody who is going to run a virus and if you are if you had a meeting. on to somebody wasn't a tease you must be in our n.t. . but i think that there was interesting thing. all the people around them or are in the same situation.

hundreds of children across the globe are struck down by an unknown inflammatory syndrome believed to have links to several cases now having resulted in deaths. french drug giant comes under pressure not just from the country's government but also its people to prioritize giving a coronavirus vaccine to the u.s. because it funded early research. the number of coronavirus deaths of u.k. care home residents is 50 percent higher than previously thought to remember the country this week called to account for so-called unexplained deaths in the sector .