Notting Hill Carnival Strategic Review - Intelligent Space

1.76 The role of the media in shaping and influencing how the Notting Hill Carnival is perceived has
always been a key area of concern for members of the Carnival community. In recognition of
this, the Review Group devoted its first public hearing to an examination of how the Carnival is
portrayed by the mass media. Those submitting evidence to the Review Group were keen to
point out that the way in which the Carnival is reported by the press tended to perpetuate and
reinforce the popular racial stereotypes about black and ethnic minority people and events.
Rather than focus on the cultural and artistic aspects of the Carnival, there appeared to be an
overwhelming media pre-occupation that associated the Notting Hill Carnival with crime, drug
use, illegal traders and other forms of conflict or anti-social behaviour. Members of the Carnival
community also expressed their growing disquiet at the fact that the Carnival was often
portrayed as a hedonistic street party.
1.77 Whilst the Review Group acknowledged that the media’s interest in the Carnival as a focal point
for conflict and crime as opposed to creativity and community was, to a large extent fuelled by
the event’s vivid history of police-community confrontations and riots, this was not now the
case. There was a clear need for more balanced and informed reporting about the Carnival, the
various disciplines and its wider significance and meaning. The point was made even more
clearly in an article, which appeared in the British Medical Journal in 1989 42 . This article
recounted an exercise conducted by medical staff at the accident and emergency departments of
St. Charles’s Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital to document the number and nature of injuries
sustained at the 1989 Carnival. The figures were then reviewed in light of media coverage of the
riot that occurred on Monday 28 August 1989. The study found that in general, the broadsheet
papers quoted figures for the number of injured that broadly reflected the number of people
actually seen at the hospital accident and emergency departments. By contrast however, some
of the tabloid press quoted much higher figures for the number of injured. The study concluded:
“Though it is not surprising to discover that some elements of the British press report events in a
sensationalist manner, it is worrying to reflect upon the harm that this may cause. The public,
reading about the civil disturbance at the 1989 Notting Hill Carnival, might be misled to believe
that attendance could pose a risk of serious personal injury. The figures for injuries requiring
hospital attention show this not to be the case, despite reports of a riot. …..It is quite feasible
for a massive number of people to congregate in an inner city area, over a period of two days,
without placing an excessive burden on the attendant medical services.”
1.78 However, the carnivalists also accepted that the media were not entirely to blame. At the time
of the Review Group’s public hearings, there was an overwhelming consensus view that in order
to transform and indeed challenge negative media images and news reporting, NHCT as the
event organiser needed to adopt a much more proactive approach to cultivating positive
relationships with key reporters across all media sectors. The Trust was criticised for being in the
main, slow, reluctant and unreliable in providing information to the media. The organisation did
not appear to be driving the carnival news agenda and its ability to react to breaking news stories
was weakened by the fact that funding only allowed the Trust to engage a public relations
company for three months of the year to cover the Carnival Season. The Review Group accepted
that weak communication links between the Carnival organiser and (i) the media, (ii) carnival
participants, (iii) local residents and (iv) the general public, meant that the news agenda was
continually made by others, such as local politicians, police and disgruntled residents.
1.79 In its interim report, the Carnival Review Group recommended that the GLA work with the
Carnival organisers to develop a communications strategy that would include residents,
42
“Notting Hill Carnival 1989 – The Facts”, H. L Cugnoni, T. Challoner, R. Touquet, St. Charles’s and St. Mary’s Hospitals, London
(British Medical Journal, Vol.299 11 November 1989)
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