The Guardian readers editors looked at how the Guardian has covered coronavirus news.
The Guardian‘s readers editor, Elisabeth Ribbans, wrote March 15 noting that the Guardian has had tons of traffic with “millions” reading the newspaper’s live blog so “We need to make sure we get things right.” Flagging that coronavirus has spread into news coverage of all topics including entertainment and food, Ribbans said the Guardian has “three formal news meetings on coronavirus” daily to discuss “issues of proportionality and tone” and terminology.
“Dramatic words, such as ‘surge’ for example, which appeared in a 5 March headline as UK cases rose to 116, are now used advisedly,” Ribbans wrote.
iMediaEthics wrote to the Guardian, which declined to comment further, but did point iMediaEthics to a March 20 article from Guardian editor Katharine Viner. In that article, Viner promised the Guardian would “value expertise, scientific knowledge and careful judgment in our reporting” as well as “the facts you can trust.”