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The outbreak of COVID-19 is placing an unprecedented strain on health services in Wales and across the world. At the same time, coverage of the outbreak is essential, and there is a great demand from media organisations and their audiences to receive information about the outbreak and its frontline. This can put additional pressures on health care organisations and staff and may in certain cases interfere with their operations in dealing with the outbreak. This document has been prepared by Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Cardiff University, to support the work of the Welsh NHS Confederation. It draws on input from leading academics, journalists and PR practitioners (full list of contributors on p. 9). The document provides a number of suggestions for media organisations designed to facilitate coverage in and around healthcare facilities in Wales. The experts involved in preparing this document are independent from the NHS, and the document does not reflect official NHS policy. Here is a summary of our advice: 1. Responsible, detailed, and accurate reporting of COVID-19 is an essential public service. 2. Use credible experts as sources and be wary of unverified rumour 3. News organisations should use pooled materials whenever possible. 4. If looking for information verification, check other sources first before contacting NHS. 5. Ensure compliance with procedures for risk assessment and consent. 6. Enforce social distancing and ensure safe use of equipment. 7. Ensure risk assessments have been carried out prior to hospital visits and face-toface interactions with NHS staff. 8. Obtain consent from anyone interviewed or filmed. 9. When making requests for interviews or information, be specific about who you need to speak to, and where, what and how the information will be used.

Drawing on a content analysis of television news and newspapers during the 2015 UK General Election along with semi-structured interviews with the heads and/or senior editors of news or politics from each broadcaster examined, we explore the intermedia agenda-setting influence of the national press during the campaign. Overall, we found similar policy-orientated agendas, with more stories emanating from right-wing newspapers and moments when front-page splashes dominated television news coverage. Many broadcasters were editorially comfortable with covering stories originating from newspapers if further context was supplied. Our findings do not point towards any deliberate political bias among broadcasters. We suggest instead that a range of structural constraints and professional routines encouraged broadcasters to feed off stories that were more likely to be supplied by right-leaning newspapers. Since news values are not politically neutral, we argue that if journalists or editors routinely rely on newspapers to help shape the political agenda it compromises their ability to make impartial judgements about news selection. Combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, we conclude, could help to better understand the editorial processes behind the selection of news and to more carefully interpret intermedia agenda-setting than large N studies can supply.

The reporting of the Panama Papers – which has been based on a massive global analysis of documents leaked from law firm Mossack Fonseca outlining how the world’s elite use tax havens – is a remarkable feat of collaboration which builds on several trends in investigative journalism.

There is now a clear choice following the publication of the British government’s green paper into the future of the BBC.

A series of articles in The Guardian analysing media coverage of the 2015 UK General Election

n 2012 the Trust decided to launch an impartiality review of the breadth of opinion reflected in BBC output.\ud \ud The Trust commissioned Stuart Prebble, a programme maker, author and former CEO of ITV, to lead the review. The review examined content on BBC national TV and radio, online content and looked at three subjects in particular as part of its review of breadth of opinion: content about religion and ethics, the UK's relationship to the EU and immigration.\ud \ud As well as the authored report by Stuart Prebble, the review also included content analysis and audience research. The review below includes the Trust conclusions, Stuart Prebble's report and the Executive response. The content analysis and audience research, as well as a list of individuals and organisations consulted during this review, are provided separately.

The report will consider proposals for reinforcing existing levels of protection including the\ud possible need for a new international convention dealing specifically with the safety and protection of\ud journalists including, if required, an emblem to achieve a secure and safe environment for journalists\ud and those who work with them.