This appeared in my ConservativeHome Diary this week. To read the rest, click HERE.
There isn’t a sector of society or the economy that hasn’t changed over the last month. Even politicians of different parties are being nice to each other and acting in a partisan way.
The media has had to change the way it operates, with studios shut to guests, and indeed in many cases presenters.
What hasn’t changed is the attitude of some journalists who seem to think their well learned modus operandi shouldn’t change at all.
I’ve always thought that if the Second World War had been fought in the days of 24 hour news channels, we wouldn’t have won.
You can see it in the media today, which seems to think that everything that is happening should have been anticipated, that all government politicians and civil servants are incompetent morons whose only interest is allowing as many people as possible to die.
Any new initiative that is announced is looked upon with scorn and if all the measures haven’t been introduced within 24 hours in a perfect manner, this is cited as further evidence of government incompetence.
I am getting heartily sick of interviewers, especially on TV, who seem to think the public enjoy 'Gotcha' interviews at the moment. They don't. Times are different. Interviewers should be informing and elucidating through their interviews, not from the outset trying to skewer.
I saw an interview the other day where a government minister had ventured onto a programme which Downing Street has been boycotting – wrongly in my view. By the end of the interview I imagine the minister would have decided never to go on again.
The interviewer may have got a lot of satisfaction from the fact the minister was ritually humiliated, but what did the viewer learn? Only that the interviewer loved the sound of their own voice and was needlessly aggressive.
Of course we are all there to hold the government to account and question what it does. But there are ways of doing this without being a complete and utter arse.
