A listening post is next. As coronavirus maintains its stranglehold on the us campaigning on the election trail has been forced to take a back seat but with so much at stake when will the president ial candidates get the opportunity to hit the road and so their brand of american politics follow the u. S. Election on a jersey. They are Machine Learning or to record to quote surveillance monitoring your response to one of our tracking are a lot of attention for the work done for the u. S. Government including the cia but its not just about making it easier for all the parties to get a hold of your take on a good leader another way of privatizing the n. H. S. Hello im Richard Burton youre watching the listening post working from home here are the coronavirus stories the media elements that were looking at this week. The British Government gets some outside help from Technology Companies to take on covert 19 but where will all the health data the personal medical records and up different news anchors identical content amazon delivers a p. R. Video and local american newscasts just roll over and run it science reporters have proven their value in covering the pandemic but theyre also taking some heat and with so much of the world stuck on pause well fast forward to the day and so when we found the cure and were allowed to come. The coronavirus story can be told in retrospect. Put yourself in the shoes of the n. H. S. The u. K. s taxpayer funded Public Health service you treat around a 1000000 patients every 36 hours and thats pretty pandemic the amount of health data youre now churning out is enormous and you want to harness that data in the fight against covert nighty so you turn to the private sector and get Technology Companies to help you do that seems to make sense but heres the Issue Companies with checkered histories over data handling start landing those contracts and to date the British Government has refused to disclose the contractual terms information does not get any more personal than your health data and in the midst of this pandemic the British Public has been left in the dark on where that data is going and what these companies and the government might be able to do with it down the road our starting point this week is one. Of them and. This pandemic has attacked populations and the response in country after country has amounted to an assault on privacy. The methods the authorities aided by Big Tech Companies have put in place follow our movements who we meet the privacy story unfolding in the u. K. Is on another level. Its about all the new health data produced by covert 19 the caseload transmission rates the testing combined with the medical records the n. H. S. The national Health Service already has on its servers such as underlying conditions demographics. Its a giant goldmine of data that when aggregated and deciphered could help the n. H. S. Better direct its resources hone its treatments and save lives the core issues are who gets access to that healthy and what will they do with it because this goes beyond mere Contact Tracing and where people have been it hits much closer to home. Lets be very clear your medical records is like a fingerprint the sort of takes of the elite d. Child about an individual health vent. Theyre all inherently identifying those events can kick you out from any aggregation of times so the doctor is not and will never truly be anonymous so your full Health Record goal is quote unquote on the record is where is stored d in 10 years time there is new research that says if you have contracted culbut 19 you have a 75 whatever percent chance of getting cancer a model could be built based on that it calculates risk for insurance so that could later down the line affect whether or not you get insurance or how much you pay for insurance what will happen with that body in the future. That is unclear and it doesnt help that the u. K. s department of health has already changed its story on march 28th it assured britain their health data would remain anonymous later it backtracked saying that when that data is shared Privacy Protection regulations will be followed and implicit admission that it cannot guarantee a page. Sentiment that raised alarms as did the governments choice of private sector partners to analyze that data its hired a Company Called faculty a British Tech Firm that worked for the leaf side in the bronx at referendum and has since landed multiple contracts with Boris Johnsons government and then theres the american Data Analytics company pallant whose founder is a libertarian Donald Trumps supporter who has said he does not believe freedom and democracy are compatible the name palin tear is a lord of the rings reference to a crystal ball that can see into the future and the past the company was founded by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. One of the founders of. And pounce here ever since its formation has been controversial partly because one of its initial investors was the mention of the cia so you know thats always going to put people on alert when it opened as i best to you know in a Technology Company allans here are not really. There and. Theyre assisting the cia in iraq and afghanistan. Last year and they became pretty found this for providing status of or to immigration and Customs Enforcement and states and the. Deportation now that there is a Global Presence theres more money in Public Health in the companies the senate and the question is whether a firm whose bread and butter yours and yours get involved. And the arab human rights and the u. S. Border are. The kind of business you want im a partner with your most precious asset your national. The answer to that question could well lie in what those companies are doing for the n. H. S. The contractual terms and conditions but no one in the government is willing to reveal them f. O. I. Freedom of information requests filed by news organizations and activist groups have been ignored and the office that is supposed to oversee the f. O. I. Process and enforce that law says the government can take its time responding given that its so busy these days. My organization but everything from asian actor more than 6 weeks ago for this material and weve been solid not that we can have an idea that its coming but the government wants to balance the publics right to know whats going on against the business interests of. This not if employed enough transparency and if you do with the speed at which they have to move initially sayang. They should not be. Data be handled according to the highest ethical and security standards. For this company necessarily but when. Procession our lawyers are on station we need to know. Just. What has been reported is that parenting here is hiring out some of its Data Specialists to the n. H. S. For about 1. 00 per day is that a big tax sacrificing for the greater good considerate more of an investment a Company Positioning its white house documents revealed last year that the trumpet ministration was in trade talks with the johnson government and the n. H. S. Data was on the table the u. K. s Coronavirus Response appears to have accelerated that process and once those Tech Companies are in the door and have access to n. H. S. Service it will be difficult to get them back again because of whats known as vendor lock in. What is traditionally meant that a government become so dependent on Technology Suppliers that use cry tree technologies that no other companies can supply but its become almost impossible for them to use anybody else so every time you want to. Buy new technologies and what youve got youre left with no choice but to always go back to the same company the reason why this is problematic you know aside from the fact that you only have one vendor you have to work with is that this bender becomes infrastructural in the sense that a private Company ProvidesPublic Infrastructure and there is. Sort of a democratic oversight and the new contemporary our economy is run on the. Peoples there is a source that my right. To do not nonprofit theyre not helping people out of the goodness of heart. And so if the n. H. S. Is britains most beloved. And arguably the health is the single greatest source of. It were going to suddenly let data miners access that theyre not Student Loans on which those companies have access they are not going to be able to afford or for im card and why is that none of us. And its not just yet and the United States of the. Palin 2 year faculty and Companies Like them are offering their Data Services to countries around the world initially the techniques they developed the models they built were used by everyone from intelligence agencies to politicians to advertisers in the fight against the virus theyve been utilized to track our movements our interactions our current state of health and now that our medical records are in the mix its getting personal the Technology Better work because the price if you value your privacy is just. Were discussing other media stories coronavirus related with one of our producers now john hannah whos joel local t. V. Stations in the us have been filing stories on the Worlds Largest retailer amazon and its handling of covert 19 in the workplace those pieces have been spoken a similar what is the back story here i have a little hope for a chance at least 11 local news organizations and segments on amazons health and safety procedures during a pandemic and the company has faced a lot of scrutiny over its failure to protect its employees so this is a legitimate news story but the scripts and talking points are pretty identical millions of americans staying at home are relying on amazon millions of american. Staying at home or relying on amazon millions of americans staying at home or rely bought amazon will you know there is a all right a result of companies keeping employees safe and healthy the company is keeping its employees safe and healthy turns out that it was actually amazons p. R. Departments who didnt just provide the video but actually wrote the scripts a fact that a lot of these entries felt to mention so this was a bit of free p. R. For amazon p. R. That could really use eyes at least 8 of its employees are reported to have died as a result of the virus and a lot of amazon person out of complaint not just about working conditions but about the fact that the company attempts to silence those who choose to speak out lets move on to brazil 2nd only to the u. S. Now dry with a number of corona virus infections and some of the major Media Players there have announced that they are suspending very reporting from outside the office of the president in the middle of a Health Crisis so whos involved and what happened well they are some of brazils major news outlets including broadcasters globo and foley at the south pole of a leading newspaper there and they say that the issue is one of security that supporters of president joe your bulls and narrow are getting out of hand now wilson are has waged a war of words against the media ever since coming into office and recently the coverage hasnt exactly been kind but what do you expect were talking about a president who is cool this virus just a little flu who is actually criticized for mocked reporters for Wearing Masks whilst the death toll keeps climbing now following months of harassment by a hard core of boston are supporters who have called reporters scum and rats and sellout media they are now saying that they no longer feel safe and that cameras will no longer be rolling outside the president s office. This is like reporters in the u. K. Saying that they will no longer show up outside 10 downing street but how long will that home without considering that your bill sonora is such a big part of the covert 900 story in brazil. Still. For months now journalists around the world have been on a crash course in reporting on medical science they have a little or no experience in covering a pandemic and weve documented some of the shortcomings in their reporting now were turning to journalists with some actual credentials in this field science and Health Reporters in many cases they were the 1st to recognize the dangers of the outbreak in was caught leaving the rest of us to play catch up historically underappreciated and usually under represented in newsrooms science and Health Reporters now find that their expertise is in demand but their rise to prominence has been accompanied by a new level of scrutiny in the kind of work that they do and their critics are coming out of the woodwork the listening post flow phillips now on science journalism the highs and the lows in the age of coke at 19. Or 20 pm december 31st 2019. Hopefully this is nothing out of the ordinary but at permit mail posting about unexplained ammonia is in china is giving me cash takes hours flashbacks. Boston usa in the last few hours of 2019 helen browns well senior Infectious Disease reporter for stat means started tweeting about the reports coming out of. It was something i definitely watching this was something that was setting our home our bills. 12 31 am january 15th 2020 years where we are on the sars like virus found in china still many many questions. 2 weeks later in berlin guy who pushed me to a molecular biomedicine expert and correspondent for Science Magazine joined the discussion about the still undefined virus it was really becoming clear that the pandemic was just not going to be stopped it was clear to everyone what was about to happen not entirely fine. You know january 29th. Governments find denialism. Long people passion gets into. Starting on spawned. By the end of january health and science journalist video krishna was trying to get the word out in india despite facing significant political challenges because the entire polity was union with only. On the team not its a new country no longer. Needed to find a mate you dont even know if you gave. 3 science journalists from 3 Different Countries all sounding the alarm on the virus that would come to be known as coded 19 well before the rest of the world realised what was coming. Their readership and online followings have skyrocketed as theyve taught you terms like flattening the. Theyve schooled you on the importance of lockdowns a mass testing theyve documented the failings of governments to act when the data was that for all to see and they know how to deal with scientists in early february helen browns well challenge dr anthony found many considered to be the voice of reason on the trumpet ministrations Coronavirus Task force present given everything thats going on the risk is really relatively low. When i look at this fire of. Pressure for i kept like theres no. Its not going to stop. And you seem pretty frustrated in that forum one was that. You know i had been hearing for several weeks already in the u. S. And other countries outside of china saying that they thought that the. Outside of china was loaded me 0 sense to me because. The irish was spreading really effectively from person to person in china so when dr french he said that he thought the risk was quite low for the United States at that point i pushed back because it made no sense he did say you know could this become a pandemic absolutely but it felt like they didnt want to alarm people at that point wasnt can make them it was already you know spreading the United States just had been repeating. Your work has also proven to be prescient an article you wrote back in 2013 included a quote about a bat in china carrying a potential pandemic this was peter dash the researcher that i talked to the quote comes from him so i was just doing my job as a reporter reporting his views so you know if anything he predicted it again and again in the in the last 10 years or so when i was doing my reporting this sentence came up from scientists where they were telling me you know its not a question of if there will be a big pandemic the question is when scientists like peter are crucial for reporters like schmidt because like most areas of reporting science journalism starts with the sources and there are 2 sources that many science journalists have in common the 1st is called prometa its the place where both brands well and it 1st heard about an outbreak in which. Its an online portal where Infectious Disease experts share and discuss information on Unusual Health of bents its not designed for journalists but has become invaluable for many Health Reporters who have the background to understand the significance of whats on that the 2nd source. These journalists have in common is what they call preprint. Theyre kind of a testing ground for academics a place where they share their Research Online before it gets Peer Reviewed and published in normal times a lot of scientists hold that Research Back play it safe until theyre sure of that work because at 19 has changed things scientists are flooding the servers with information they hope will help curb the virus maybe even cure it and some of that material is making it into the headlines when that happens and potentially invaluable but often unverified information reaches the public it can easily end up being misconstrued by both the press and politicians and that i should supposing it were to later say the word could which you could do either through the skin or. In some other way. And i think you said youre going to test those Interest Rates one of the things that i found tragic about. The stand i make in the coverage of the pandemic is how politicized the whole thing has become which side of the divide people. Which. Is a misunderstanding of whats going on in certain parts of the country anyhow lightly and i signs nomen not be nontraditional and maybe i need has been asking our. Population to lie are you. Not or youll go or a great medicine to lose your unity up with immunity were. Common. Ground there. God. Got a plan. In the country on this one the one in the loop or do you believe in line with the politics so that it doesnt look back the minute the story goes online need not go into handles and politicians you know would you look like those and questioning i mean in dismissing the story without actually linking all whats wrong actually thats. One of the reasons the politics tends to trump the science is because thats the way the politicians wanted. To the official say make available at that point things where scientific experts are usually count numbered by politicos reflected also in the press corps covering a shortage of reporters trying to have science of the story im not sure that sanctions need to take the lead but i certainly think they should be you know at the table and i think that is something that also bothers me when i see the press conferences there are a lot of important questions that science journalists you know to ask the political journalists dont know to ask do you have true or people in georgia who are soon going to have a choice about going in there for a lot of mail from on our getting that tattoo Retail Businesses need a bit of time to shop did a bit of time to prepare to wipe out all the opening of german coffee and provision title which one to the sopranos can. Put it in. The president ial order. In by on of the reason it just seems like this press conference would really profit if there were also science journalists there the only body not einstein i know by we dont have access to. Im not a scientist and on 3 to. We have indeed immediately think with joe i displaying does not have a single scientist us and does not have a single science journalist in the audience may not be ok and thats. What theyre talking about and the politicians younglings dont will. On the air asking the wrong question. Another way to put it rather than dispatching medical specialists to diagnose the biggest story of our time to surgically dissect political narratives on covert 19 most news organizations are sending in the equivalent of Family Doctor the general practitioner. Thats hardly the best use of available resources when the story youre covering is a pandemic. And finally the fact that scientists are predicting that this virus could be with us forever has not stopped people from daring to dream of a post pandemic world Thomas Roberts is one of them hes a poet from london who try to imagine how this story would be told to future generations in the following video set in the years to come roberts reads a rhyming bedtime story the kind that needs a happy ending and in his poem which he calls the great realisation roberts manages to come up with war will see you next time here at the listening post it was a world of waste and wonder poverty in place. But before we understood why hindsights 2020. You see the people came up with companies to trade across all lines but they swelled and got much bigger than we ever could. We always had our one but now it got so quick. And i think you dreamed of in a day and with a click. You noticed from a least stop talking thats not to say they never spoke but the meaning must a mountain and the Work Life Balance birth. But then in 2020 new virus came our way. The governments reacted and told us all to hide away while we all were hidden mits the fear and all the water. People dusted off their instincts they remembered how smart. They started clapping to say thank you and calling up them. And while the cockies gathered dust they would look forward to that. And when the skies less full of voyages the earth began to bring the beaches full new wildlife scuttled off into the sea. And so when we found the cure and were allowed to come our side we all preferred the world while the one left. But why did it take our lives people but sometimes youve got to get sick my boy before you start feeling better. 1. 3000000000 indians are in lockdown in the covert 19 pandemic with millions unable to feed their families one o one east investigates the unfolding humanitarian crisis on aljazeera. They say to really know someone you must walk a mile in their shoes. Follow in their footsteps stay forge their way in the was. Shares these personal journeys. Inspiring stories of people persevering on their chosen path. With news documentaries on aljazeera. If you want to help save the world. Seasoned hero. Already. Fired for using Excessive Force atlantas police chief dismisses her own officers for their actions against protesters. And Richelle Carey this is al jazeera live from doha with continuing coverage of the killing of george ward my friend we want than a great life we watch his heart as remain tense following his death in custody and cut and on the ground