The Media and the Safety Issue.

The media refers to the ways and institutions which provide and distribute information to an audience. Included in what is commonly referred to as the 'mass media' is print media (newspapers, magazines, books) and broadcast media (radio, television, cinema) and the internet.

Having previously discussed the analysis of The Times newspaper reporting of fatalities it is important to investigate the relationship between safety, racing fatalities and the mass media.

The 1960s saw the rise of television coverage of sport including F1. As regards Britain, motor racing news was mainly communicated at this time by the print media, radio broadcasts and news bulletin reports, notably cinema news reportage. Murray Walker, who has commentated on motor racing since the 1950s, recently compiled an F1 history video and found little race footage pre-1960, he recalls:

"It is impossible to find any continuous race coverage . . . Movietone News would send someone with a camera to the odd race and you find footage of Graham Hill walking through the paddock, then someone would be taking the chequered flag and that would be it".

(Hughes 1999:110)

Even when television sets became a more commonplace feature in homes during the 1960s motor racing, whether live or highlights, rarely featured in the schedules. The financial and technical resources to broadcast foreign races was limited and outside broadcasting was still very much in its infancy. During the 1960s British television coverage of races tended to include only the British and Monaco races, other motoring news would be broadcast in sports and news reports. Murray Walker is quoted as saying:

"Back then, the public used to get its Formula One information from the newspapers, not television . . . It all began to change when James [Hunt] got ahold of the public".

(Hotten 1998:205)

British driver, James Hunt began racing in F1 in 1973 and won the World Drivers' Championship in 1976 and quickly became a British household name. Though driving as a professional, Hunt's persona was often represented by the press as a driver of the 'old school' - he was public school educated, spoke with a 'posh' accent, good-looking and projected a playboy lifestyle which seemed to be an antithesis to the growing stereotype of the professional race driver concerned with fitness and their career before all else. Hunt's celebrity status went beyond the sporting world and he was a regular guest on television programmes and his personal life was regularly featured in the gossip columns which exposed himself and the sport to a larger audience. When Hunt's first wife, Suzy, left him for actor Richard Burton the story was reported extensively in the tabloid newspapers, Hunt noted such media exposure was:

"bloody good publicity for me, which turned out to be a good boost for my career".

(Donaldson 1994:137)

However, Hunt also discussed the conflicting aspect in the relationship between the reporters and 'reported'. When Hunt developed a reputation as accident prone he was berated in the media by such nicknames as 'Hunt the Shunt'. In 1978 Hunt pulled Ronnie Peterson from a burning car:

"When the media persisted in glorying his role in the rescue he lashed out: 'They spent the whole season knocking me then all of a sudden they were quite unjustifiably acclaiming me a hero' ".

(Donaldson 1994:240)

Hunt is undeniably being modest in this quote, his actions were brave, but it does demonstrate how sports competitors are aware that with celebrity comes the possibility of being both acclaimed and criticized with legitimate course or not - hero to zero. Coakley (1994) discusses that with increased television coverage of (all) sports during the 1950s sportswriters were no longer the prominent providers of 'action' news and needed to write beyond the sports action. Sports reporting tended to become more investigative and as sports people became celebrities they often found themselves subjects of non-sports related articles including increased reporting of their private lives. Coakley notes this has altered the relationships between journalists and competitors as the latter may alter there behaviour, such as consciously not saying spontaneous remakes, which in turn may alter the behaviour of the journalists who may go to greater lengths to get a 'good' story.

Hunt's popularity ensured F1 greater exposure on British television which expanded its coverage to broadcast all races from the mid-1970s onwards, many races live as outside broadcasting became more accessible. This provided a new medium for accidents to viewed. The BBC broadcast F1 races until 1997 when ITV won the contract to broadcast races. If showing races live the broadcaster has little opportunity to edit their programs if an accident happens, however if a fatal accident occurred during an earlier practice session or race due to be shown in highlights the BBC had a policy not to broadcast any footage of the accident. I remember seeing footage of Gilles Villeneuve's fatal accident on British television a few years ago when it was noted it was the first time it had been shown - what I can't remember is which programme and channel this was on - if anyone can remember I'd be most grateful if they'd let me know. However, the Villeneuve accident was shown extensively in other countries at the time and Professor Watkins who attended the accident scene recalls:

"I was sickened by the television showing time and time again . . . Gille's accident and telephoto lens close-ups of intubating him".

(Watkins 1996:99)

This demonstrates how graphic accident footage can be. It is not only F1 accidents which are subject to television coverage, consider other sports and other events such as the horrific tragedy at the Hillsborough Stadium tragedy which was shown live on television. When violent or disturbing images are shown during news reports they are often preceded by a disclaimer or warning that some viewers may find the scenes disturbing and upsetting - this is not possible if an event is shown live. But we also see accident footage frequently repeated, in recent years Ayrton Senna's fatal accident has been shown many times in both news reports and other programmes. It is now possible to see video clips of fatal and non-fatal accidents on the web. It is difficult to assess how witnessing such events affects the many millions of spectators but by examining the effects accidents have taken on other participants who have recorded their feelings such as journalists, drivers and team members we are given a glimpse of the many and varied reactions. As discussed in the section regarding Masculinity and the Perception of Risk , witnessing accidents may affect drivers perception of risk and contribute to feelings of fear and apprehension.

Witnessing accidents can induce feelings of horror, grief, anger but may also feel remote and compelling. Consider the number of programmes and videos produced about accidents and 'miraculous' escapes but always with the knowledge those involved escaped (relatively) unharmed. Though many people may like to disagree witnessing an accident may produce feelings of tension-excitement amongst some spectators especially if harm or death is 'cheated'. This may be because as safety has improved many people do not equate accidents with death as readily as in the past and this may also be linked to the media coverage of accidents. Many sociologists have discussed how media, especially dramatic production, has dulled people's perception of violence and blurred the distinction between fantasy and reality. Whilst bringing live action into the home television coverage may be perceived as very distant, consider this quote from Gerhard Berger's biography referring to the death of Austrian driver Jochen Rindt in 1970 when Berger was 11 years old:

"Berger remembers it as a television event, something very remote"

(Hilton 1993:15)

Personally, having witnessed a number of serious accidents in F1, and other motorized sports, live at the event and comparing this with serious and fatal accidents I have witnessed live and recorded on television I did feel more distressed at the live events even though they were thankfully not fatal accidents. This is of course only my own experience but does suggest an interesting area of further research.

Many people suggested during the 1980s that any future racing deaths, especially in light of television coverage, would seriously damage the popularity of the sport. When Ayrton Senna was killed he was one of the most popular and skilled drivers of all time and many believed the sport's popularity would suffer, however it would appear the opposite happened as television figures steadily increased. Senna's death generated a large amount of publicity, Hotten notes:

"Ecclestone himself was to acknowledge, the televised death of Ayrton Senna in 1994 brought new interest to the sport".

(Hotten 1998:209)

I would not equate this phenomenon with a 'de-civilizing' spurt as many may suggest on first glance. Instead I would suggest this provides an excellent opportunity to consider Elias' theory of the Civilizing Process and the concept of people's threshold of repugnance further. Did the realization of the risks the sports involves grasps people's attention in a world where the pursuit of lessening life's risks is often portrayed as paramount? Do people put themselves in situations where they are aware their threshold of repugnance may be surpassed in a sense to test themselves? Or was the fact the deaths were labeled as 'sporting accidents' aide people's normalization of the death - once more reinforcing the notion that sport is somehow beyond 'normal' life and that competitors take the risks knowing? The very word 'accident' emphasizes that the death was unintentional and therefore a tragic but not condemnable event - indeed this the basis of many people's argument against the legal action which followed Senna's death.

As the nature of media changes rapidly the relationship between F1, indeed all sports, and the media will be an interesting area of study.

Part 11: A Summary of Conclusions and Thoughts