COVID-19: News Coverage šŸ˜·

Well they did think tonight that standing outside a hospital on the Gold Coast was a good idea to anchor the bulletin while ignoring the address to the nation by the PM. Ratings will probably support their decision - who wants to listen to a politician as opposed to hearing about a Hollywood superstar.

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Which brings us back to Australian sportsā€™ strange new philosophical dilemma: If Richmond plays Carlton at an empty MCG next Thursday night, does it make a sound?

Notionally you would think TV rightsholders would be unfazed, given those who donā€™t attend matches would be likely to watch them at home.

But does a match without crowd atmosphere have the same viewing appeal as a frenzied blockbuster?

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Hong Kong has been racing with no crowds permitted for weeks.

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32 posts were merged into an existing topic: Coronavirus Impact

CBS This Morning is now coming out of Washington due to two employees in its New York headquartered coming down with the virus.

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Iā€™m surprised that various media companies are not protecting their ā€˜assetsā€™ better from the virus. Just this morning, even on breakfast radio, announcers were needlessly exposed to extra people in the studio - on 4KQ a former cricketer seemed to be interviewed in the studio while on ABC Radio it was a contest winner.

I would be keeping the ā€˜talentā€™ away from these sort of unnecessary interactions. The same goes for TV where Iā€™d be having the majority of interviews were possible via live links and have as few people in the studio as possible including no audience - why take unnecessary risks?

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I mean, that seems pretty normal.

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I feel this needs a poll. How do you think the news has covered coronavirus? Too much or too little?

  • Yes, an overreaction
  • Yes and no. It was an overreaction at first but now is proportionate
  • No, the news has largely been fair
  • No, the news has largely underplayed this issue

0 voters

ACM need someone with actual grammar knowledge to proof-read (bold emphasis added):

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said events could still go ahead this weekend as authorities were ā€œreally confidentā€ there was no community transition of the virus.

ā€œWe have one case of COVID-19 in the ACT and all of the close contacts of that person were tracked down yesterday and either isolating and being tested as required and so we donā€™t have that community transition. And so this weekend, that advice still stands.ā€

Transmission. :woman_facepalming: :mask:

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I voted for the most popular option.

But my opinion is a bit more complex than that. While Coronavirus is obviously a serious issue that should be reported by the media, some elements of the coverage (eg, the panic buying frenzy of toilet paper and other basic products) has been over the top and if anything, potentially adding a can of petrol to the fire of general hysteria.

Having said that, the cancellation (or closing off to crowds) of sport and other major events is an entirely appropriate measure to take because if something were go ahead and a Coronavirus outbreak happened, weā€™d no doubt have plenty of ā€œWhy wasnā€™t the event cancelled?ā€ commentary and potential class action cases.

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Agered. Which is why I stuck with ABC news coverage . They just reported the facts, and they didnā€™t create this huge panic like the commerical news has done in hte past month or so. Can only imagine what Sky News were doing to create panic with the likes of Paul Murray and Andrew Bolt.

A post was merged into an existing topic: Fox Cricket Coverage

https://www.3aw.com.au/all-gatherings-of-more-than-500-people-should-be-cancelled-says-medical-chief/

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Seven and Nine (well, pretty much any networkā€™s main channel) could essentially become 24 hour news channels if the crisis worsens?

Not sure about Fox League/Footy though, they might have to have some old match replays on standby.

Iā€™ll say it again guys - this is a coverage thread, not a thread for the possible impact on upcoming television shows that film in front of a live audience that have yet to enter production.

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Is there another thread for that?

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I donā€™t think thereā€™s a need - the individual show threads should suffice for now. We can revisit if thatā€™s not working.

We will likely split this thread out so we have one for coverage and one for the news event itself though (impacts on sporting events and the like)

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