Thread by @StefSimanowitz

It’s 3 months since something ‘shifted’ within the British media.

The warnings had been there since the start of the pandemic (see this article from 13 March👇) but, in my view, the shift happened in the aftermath of a @BBCNewsnight episode & this opening monologue by @maitlis.

The #BarnardCastle scandal had been rumbling on for days

Cummings’ attempt to shut it down the previous day had convinced no one & Ministers kept being asked about it in every press briefing

The govt was pushing the message, “time to move on”

But the media wasn’t playing ball.

So the govt turned their guns on the media (Andrew Bridgen demonstrates on the same #Newsnight episode)

When he talks about “throwing Cummings to the wolves”, the wolves are the media

When he talks about fighting “the monster”, the monster is the media.

Andrew Bridgen’s incendiary description of the media was part of a broader onslaught against the “media mob”

MP’s & supportive commentators took to Twitter. The Sun leader called the anger “disproportionate, whipped-up rage.”

The BBC received 18,000 complaints rising to 24,000.

The next day, the BBC issued an apology.

Writing at the time, @AdamBienkov commented:

"It says a lot about the political culture in the UK that the only person who has faced any consequences for Cummings' action is a journalist who pointed them out."

The govt’s onslaught against ‘hostile’ media isn’t new.

Following the Trump playbook, exclusives are handed to friendly journalists whilst other outlets are boycotted, shut out or not given a question at press briefings.

Not just @piersmorgan. Even @thetimes fell out of favour.

In Feb, journalists walked out of a No.10 briefing after their colleagues from 4 publications weren’t let in.

But there’s been little such visible solidarity since #COVID19.

A few days after the BBC’s apology, @maitlis tweeted we “should be afraid”

She then deleted the tweet.

"Journalist had very little choice but to accept our version of events & relay it more-or-less unedited to the public. Govt is an information machine. If journalists weren’t supportive we’d freeze them out."

Ex civil servant, @carneross tells @johnpilger.

Sound familiar?

“There was a fear in every newsroom in America. A fear of losing your job...the fear of being stuck with some label, unpatriotic or otherwise." @DanRather, ex-CBS news anchor, speaking to @johnpilger about the Iraq war. #COVID19 #COVIDー19

In the deleted "you should be afraid" tweet, @maitlis was quoting an @adamboultonSKY article from February in which he warns that the govt seem "willing to do away with any of the traditional checks & balances to unfettered govt including the free press." minhalexander.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/no-10-…

This @Telegraph piece warning that: “Those questioning the govt’s #coronavirus strategy are not only wrong, they’re a danger to the rest of us," was published on 13 March.

I've not read the pay-walled article but its author told me that he did not object to the headline.

Stonewalling, boycotting & attacking the media isn’t just happening in the UK.

In the US, @gaslitnation journalist @sarahkendzior talks about “a disinformation crisis" in which “investigative journalism is disappearing & far-right media is consolidating."

On 19/3, the editor of the Dutch newspaper, @volkskrant, was asked:

“Isn’t it a journalistic duty to ask questions rather than take ministers at their word?”

“No,” he replied. “We all need to get behind the govt, not amplify opposing points of view.”

Does it feel to you that there has been a perceptible shift among the media since the @maitlis "slapdown"?

With some heroic exceptions, journalists no longer seem to tweet so freely & have limited enthusiasm for digging too deeply beneath official lines.

At times of war, we know journalists don’t always “press the most uncomfortable buttons hard enough”.

DSMA notices (formerly D notices) require editors not to publish/broadcast some subjects for reasons of national security.

But when the enemy is #COVID?

At times of national crisis, it is vital that false or misleading information isn't disseminated.

But not properly scrutinizing govt strategy would not only be a dereliction, but could mean that vital, even life-saving, information might go unreported.

Have some journalists stopped speaking out?

Ironically, Jonathan Powell - one of the architects of the Iraq War - warns that “[t]his looks like the beginning of a rolling coup. It starts with the civil service then moves on to the judiciary & the media."
independent.co.uk/voices/boris-j…

Asked his advice to journalists in a time of #COVID19, @piersmorgan said:

“Do your jobs. Never has there been a more important time anywhere in the world to be a journalist. Hold your governments to account.”

This goes for MPs, scientists & experts too.

Today, it emerged that the MOD has blacklisted the investigative journalism platform, @declassifiedUK

Is this the latest attempt to censor the media?

The NUJ has called on Defence Secretary, @Benwalla, to “intervene.
By @NortonTaylor via @dailymaverick google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dail…

An article in the Telegraph is very powerful

Due to SEO optimisation, a Google search using just a few of the words, will put their articles top

If you type in "coronavirus not only strategy" you will get more than a BILLION results. The top one with be @BobbyFriedman's article

“Some journalists are sitting on explosive information that should come out in real time.”

@joncoopertweets on complicity between some US journalists & the Trump
admin.

Is there a similar complicity btw some UK journalists & the Johnson/Cummings govt? https://t.co/NfyYfNIWcc