When BBC News butted into an episode of Bargain Hunt on BBC One at 12:39pm on 8 September, it triggered an almost unprecedented period of rolling news coverage.
For the next 4,641 minutes, the BBC’s main television channel was devoted to little else other than coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s health, death and the transition to King Charles III.
The same is true for newspapers and news websites. Almost immediately, coverage of the normal news agenda ended. As one politics reporter told GQ on the day the Queen died, they knew their reporting would fall by the wayside. Since September 8, news coverage of the late Queen and new King has become all-encompassing. MailOnline has published 540 stories mentioning “Queen Elizabeth” in the last five days; The Daily Express’s website has pushed 511. The Mirror’s website has shared 445 stories on the royals. (The Guardian was more muted, publishing 173 stories, while The Independent had everyone beaten, with 724 stories mentioning the Queen.)
We’ve become overwhelmed with coverage about a single news event – and from that, comes the opportunity for those seeking to bury bad news. (The now infamous phrase stems from a memo from an adviser to then-UK transport secretary Stephen Byers, who coined the term in an internal memo written on 9/11 2001, saying it was “a good day to bury bad news”.)
“Governments, particularly those who are most cynical working within them, will always seek to make the most out of a tragedy,” says Steven Buckley, associate lecturer in journalism at the University of the West of England. “It is common practice for bad news to be put out at Christmas or New Year when many journalists aren’t working in the hope the information goes unnoticed.”
“The public is distracted from the day-to-day work of the government”
In this instance, at least three major news stories have passed without the kind of coverage that would ordinarily have been afforded to significant government announcements.
On the day that the Queen died, Liz Truss announced more than £420,000 in political donations for her bid to become leader of the Conservative party – including £100,000 from a former BP executive. This is politically awkward because of Truss’s past links to the energy industry, and her willingness to discount calls for a windfall tax on energy firms to tackle the cost of living crisis. In the hours after Buckingham Palace had announced the Queen’s doctors were concerned for her health, and before it was announced she had died, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the new energy secretary, announced that he would be restarting the controversial concept of fracking for gas. The decision is controversial because the UK has previously considered fracking as an energy source, then abandoned it because of concerns over the practice causing earthquakes. A government review into tremors has been repeatedly delayed.
Meanwhile, the Department for Business declined to comment on claims by a think tank that richer people would receive more government support to survive the imminent economic downturn, saying it wouldn’t speak during the official period of mourning. And the Metropolitan Police’s new chief, Sir Mark Rowley, canceled a publicity drive about his first 100 days in charge of the police force, citing the mourning period. Downing Street has also used the mourning period as a way to avoid questions about the alleged shooting of Chris Kaba at the hands of a Metropolitan Police officer.