Thread by @WillHayCardiff

People often ask why we, as WALESonline, write stories about what happens in England, and why we compare Wales and England.

I think this is a fair question to ask so I will explain the rationale behind it.

[Thread]

Firstly, let's address the fact an organisation with "Wales" in its name writing about England.

The vast - and I mean vast - majority of our stories are about Wales.

All our reporters and editors are based here and our newslists have dozens of stories about what's going on in Wales on them every day.

But we do not write exclusively about Wales. We write about what will interest and affect our readers who live in Wales.

Many people in Wales are very interested in things beyond the border (for example, stories about the Covid outbreak in India were some of our most read articles at that time).

This is not a strange concept.

Many news orgs write about things beyond their geographic area.

Secondly, let's talk about why we focus on England more than we do, say, France, Scotland or the USA.

This is simple: what is happening in England is far more relevant to people in Wales than any other country (apart from Wales itself of course).

And that's without mentioning the social, family, work and economic ties between the two countries.

Let's take Covid as an example.

The rules in England, directly impact on people in Wales. If England sneezes, Wales catches Covid, literally.

We saw in both the second and third wave of Covid that new variants of the virus entered Wales directly through the north east border.

Much Covid news in England is very relevant to the lives of people who live in Wales.

A simple example is people who cross the border every day to get to work.

A familiar refrain through the pandemic has been that nothing that the Westminster government does applies in Wales, which is false.

Issues like furlough, vaccines, PPE, foreign travel and advice from SAGE and JCVI are directly relevant to Welsh lives.

Wales is literally part of the UK. Our taxes contribute to things that are happening in England.

If people are not furloughed in England because nightclubs are open, that matters.

So why directly compare England and Wales Covid rules?

I get this question a lot and there are perfectly sound journalistic reasons for it.

The first is based around accountability - for both the Welsh and UK Governments.

Wales and England are drawing from very similar evidence bases.

Yes, Wales has the Technical Advisory Cell but that is drawing a lot of its information from SAGE. There are also Welsh representatives on SAGE.

If these two administrations are looking at similar data and drawing very different conclusions, we have to ask why?

Is one being to blasé? Taking risks with our lives?

Is the other being too cautious? Are they restricting our civil liberties unnecessarily?

The best way to illustrate this and allow people in Wales to form their own conclusions as free thinking adults, is to show them the differences in policy.

The reasons don't stop there.

Something like 50% of people in Wales live 25 miles from the borders. What is happening in England is not a matter of curiosity, it has a direct impact on them, their families and their jobs.

But even if you live in Cardiff, have no family or work ties to England and never leave Wales, it is still fair to assume you will still be interested in what's happening across the border.

Since March 2020, coronavirus stories by WalesOnline journalists have been read 200 million times. Specific stories on comparisons between Wales and England are read hundreds of thousands of times.

This week, a tweet around what people in England can do that people in Wales can't got a lot of attention.

It's entirely reasonable to point out that people in Eng are now able to do things that people in Wal are not.

Esp when decisions are being made from largely the same data and when people in Wales couldn't go to their kids sports days while Wembley filled up with football fans.

That's not a comment on which stance is right or wrong and to suggest otherwise is wrong.

If we are explicitly challenging Welsh or UK Government decisions, which we have done many times in the last year, that is clear from the way we frame our stories.

Many people in Wales are pleased the Welsh Government is taking a more cautious approach, and there is certainly evidence to back up a more cautious approach.

Some people will still get very angry we do any stories mentioning England at all.

And I mean seriously upset. They will make each other even angrier and then fill up my timeline and DMs with abuse.

But to pretend that people in Wales aren't interested in, and affected by, decisions and behaviours in England, simply because your political preferences are that this wasn't the case, is to ignore the reality of life on a very interconnected island.

I hope this provided some insight.

In an age of fake news I think there is value in journalists explaining publicly their rationale behind editorial decisions.

Thanks for reading