I am not for one minute trying to
belittle the tragedy that befell all those involved at these two separate accidents.
Not just the four lives lost and their families, but the competitors and officials
who were most directly involved. Both incidents and their circumstances are
entirely different and should be regarded as such.
In the immediate aftermath of the
accident the Police arrived at Rally HQ in Kelso on that terrible night. I was
asked to handle all media enquiries until the Police Media Relations Officer
could get there. Unfortunately the media relations officer got lost on the way
and couldn't find Kelso Racecourse, so my 'temporary' job lasted a good wee
while longer than anticipated.
Why me? Over the years I have been Press
Officer at other events where fatalities have occurred, at motor racing and motor
cycle racing events, as well as rallies, although the Snowman accident was the
first where a spectator tragically lost her life.
That was why I was tasked with the job, answering
and responding to media inquiries, and then conducted the formal handing-over
process when the officer turned up. Perhaps because of that I was a regular
point of contact in the aftermath where I repeatedly tried to inform and impress
on journalists that it wasn't spectators who were involved in the Jim Clark
event.
At the time I telephoned BBC Scotland,
and emailed them, to try and correct their reporting of the matter. Eventually
in one discussion with a News editor, the explanation was made that it was too
complicated to try and convey all the details in a short news bulletin.
My response was that it was their duty
to report the facts regardless of the complexity. Eventually she offered a compromise
whereby they would in future say 'three people' lost their lives.
Subsequent reports did use the term
'three people' so it did work. They did listen. Eventually. Until today.
At a point in time when the legal
process is just getting underway, reporting of the true facts should be foremost
in a reporter's mind, the News editors who approve the stories and the presenters
who then have to relay them to the watching and listening public. What they report
and say will influence a wider audience, not just those in court.
Apparently the British public pays the
BBC £3.7bn in licence fees to provide a public broadcasting service. For that
amount of money is it too much to ask them to try and get things right?
