JUNE | OPINION
Access’ Editor
Stuart Wood
The events industry
must avoid becoming a
scapegoat for the media
as we move towards the
re-opening phase, says
Access Editor Stuart Wood
Who is to blame for
Covid-19? No single
person, of course,
although questions remain
about its origin. The virus is
likely the result of an accidental
transition from the region’s
markets, which made the jump
to humans through food.
This presents a problem
for the world’s media. Most
incidents of earth-shattering,
history-defining news come
pre-packaged with a villain. The
villain might change depending
on what side of the fence you
read the news from, but there
is usually one. Someone starts
a war, betrays a campaign
promise, or gets embroiled in a
dangerous scandal. Blame and
outrage ensues.
Covid-19 is different. Despite
the best efforts of American and
Chinese politicians to blame
each other for the current crisis,
the world is dealing with an
invisible and infallible enemy.
As we move through the initial
‘shock’ phase and into the ‘anger’
phase, some parts of the media
are rubbing their eyes and
looking around for people that
can be blamed for the virus.
Just look at what happened
to “professor lockdown”.
Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson
was one of the UK government’s
main scientific advisers, and
his modelling of the virus
was a factor in implementing
the current lockdown. But
only weeks after the BBC
transformed Captain Tom into a
hero – one who nicely represents
the English value of getting
on with it – The Sun gave
“professor lockdown” a different
treatment.
“Prof Lockdown broke
lockdown to get his trousers
down” was the headline.
Ferguson, who advised millions
to stay at home and not visit
Avoiding the “prof
lockdown” treatment
anyone, was caught meeting
up with his partner in breach
of lockdown rules. He was
subsequently removed from his
position.
Caught with our pants down
Why is this relevant to the
events industry? Because I think
there is a very real chance that
the same thing will happen to
us, particularly in the festival
sector.
Ferguson is a scapegoat –
very few knew who he was a
month ago, let alone had reason
to berate him. But tabloid
newspapers are using him as
a punching bag because the
nation is restless and frustrated,
and we have nothing to take
our frustrations out on. As
events begin moving into the
‘reopening’ phase, we risk
suffering the same fate. Expect
to see at least one story in
mainstream media along the
lines of “X event allowed to go
ahead as Covid cases spike”.
It has already started
happening, in fact. In April,
The Daily Mail ran a series
of negative stories about
Cheltenham Festival. The event
took place just on the cusp of
lockdown, when government
advice was still that events
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