EOT REPORT

Anvesha Khillar

The UK's media landscape has been terribly divided by Brexit and it is hardly a
surprise that faith in its coronavirus coverage is one of the lowest in the
dataset at just 31%.
According to the news consumption survey 2019 done by the UK government,
TV remains the most-used platform for news nowadays, even though the
usage has decreased since last year. At the same time, the use of social media
for news use has gone up. Use of TV for news is much more likely among the
65+ age group (94%), while the internet is the most-used platform for news
consumption among 16-24s and those from a minority ethnic background.
There is evidence that UK adults are consuming news more actively via social
media. For example, those who access news shared by news organisations,
trending news or news stories from friends and family or other people they
follow via Facebook or Twitter are more likely to make comments on the new
posts they see compared to the previous year.
BBC One is the most-used news source among all adults (58%), followed by ITV
(40%) and Facebook (35%). However, BBC One maintains its status as the most
important news source. According to the survey it is said that BBC One is their
most important news source, followed by ITV, Facebook and the BBC website.
The BBC News media bias is largely believed to be neutral, but the corporation
has been criticized occasionally for having some liberal bias in their stories.
According to my research, it is not entirely propaganda. BBC is the official state
media of UK. There is also a conspiracy theory of how BBC uses its brand
loyalty to brainwash the citizens of Britain on the command of the British
government.
The British public believes ITV to be the most politically neutral broadcaster,
followed by Channel 4 and then BBC. The results found by the Independent
research agency BMG survey shows that 45 per cent of people believed ITV to
have balanced reporting with 41 per cent saying Channel 4 was politically
neutral and 37 per cent saying the same of the BBC.
In the report it was also mentioned how those on the left of the political
spectrum tend to argue that the BBC has a ‘right-wing’, ‘pro-business’, or
‘conservative’ bias. Similarly, those who could be considered on the right of
the political spectrum reportedly criticise the BBC’s output as overtly ‘left-
wing’, ‘metropolitan’ or ‘liberal’. You can often see the right and left both
publicly baying and lobbying about “the bias” in the broadcast media. Neither
side is ever happy and feels their opinions are not sufficiently covered.
News and political content on UK TV are more regulated than other countries.
UK’s reputation for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak has taken another
global battering after newspapers worldwide reported on what they described
as confusion and internal divisions that are rapidly creating a crisis as big as
Brexit for the UK.With many ambassadors admitting that soft power
reputations are being forged or destroyed during the pandemic, the European
press in particular is taking time to point out that the UK is experiencing the
worst death rate in Europe, revealing a National Health Service that is
underfunded and underprepared.
The UK is also being singled out as the country that led on the theory of herd
immunity only to backtrack. One of the UK’s diplomatic strengths has long
been its international advocacy for global health, and its poor domestic
performance may damage its influence worldwide.
Through this assignment, what I have understood is that majority of the news
agencies present in the country are tremendously pro-Liberal party, thus
during the Coronavirus coverage, more importance was given to the
government, than the human lives.
My own research suggests that fear has played a particularly vital role in
coverage of the coronavirus epidemic. Since reports first started circulating
about the new mystery illness on January 12, and up until February 13, 2020.
50 articles used the phrase “killer virus”. One article in The Telegraph
newspaper was typical of this fear-inducing language, in describing scenes on
the ground in Wuhan. This fear was not justified properly by any media house
which led the people to not take coronavirus seriously and disobey the British
governments restrictions. Then as days went by the numbers started
increasing and the government of the nations had to extend lockdowns week
by week.
With one of the worst coronavirus death tolls in the world, the UK government
is facing scrutiny over its response to the epidemic. The UK press has been at
the forefront of this scrutiny – particularly as journalists have played a visible
role in the daily government coronavirus press conferences which have been
watched by millions. Since the PM, Boris Johnson was diagnosed with COVID-
19, there has been criticism about the amount of attention the media has
focused on his health status rather than the actual coronavirus news. There
was more disproportionate focus on Johnson compared to the thousands of
other people who were suffering with the disease. Which became annoying
after a point, I mean it is good to cover the prime minister’s health report. But
getting fixated over one topic just because every other news channel or
newspaper is covering the same thing. They simply neglected the citizens of
the country when the numbers were rising, and people wanted to know more
information about this coronavirus. Like how many days till the vaccine, the
death toll, the recovery rate, the shortage of PPE kits etc.
As a news agency, their main purpose should be to report actual news to the
citizens of the country about what is happening and not just a show of what is
happening. It’s really sad to see how even during a global pandemic the media
couldn’t set aside its political bias, or dislike for its competitor, to tell the
country about the real news and act as an helpful medium for the citizens.