In defence of political journalists

It is open season on the Lobby. Social media is full of condemnation for political correspondents over the questions they ask at the daily coronavirus briefing. Polling, private and public, shows that UK trust in media reporting has suffered badly in this crisis. Ministers and officials privately rage about the quality of reporting on much of the coronavirus story.

Downing Street has decided to surf that wave of irritation by asking members of the public to submit questions too. That’s a smart move, but one that will come at further cost to the standing of the Lobby in particular.

I held a Lobby pass between 2001 and 2017, though I stopped being a regular reporter based in the Palace of Westminster in 2014. The Lobby drove me mad, possibly, for a few months, literally. Throughout those years I was painfully conscious of the flaws and limitations of the journalism the Lobby system produces, all of which are now on vivid display to the public.