Coronavirus diary, Wednesday 1 April

Doom and gloom....

A dictionary definition of news is 'news recently received or noteworthy information not previously known'. Providing news has been the role of newspapers in Britain since 1665. They are playing a key part in keeping us up to date on the worst international crisis for decades, caused by coronavirus. But are the papers going too far? We are being swamped by an avalanche of news. Take The Times today (front page above). Fifteen pages and thousands of words, expansive diagrams and lists. Almost a book. Instead of, as the popular 1944 song said, 'accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative', they are relaying gloom. 

There are signs of Improvements in tackling the virus, at least in some countries, offering hope and encouragement, but these do not get the space or bold headlines. Instead we get a daily dose of problems, recrimination and stupid actions by a tiny proportion of the public. 

I was a young reporter in 1942, when the war was at its height. Yet in those dark days, newspapers made less grim reading than today. There was censorship of course - in my reports of air raids, Penarth had to be described as a 'small South Wales seaside town' to avoid giving information to the enemy. Papers were just a few pages, but there was no scaremongering coverage. 

No April fool stories this year...

It is not just the newspapers that are overdoing the sombre side. The internet that created the instantaneous flow of information is unable to control fake news. Even the BBC's more balanced reports and its 24 hour 'breaking news' is too much. Calm down and let the public keep calm by more balanced reporting.