The story titled Crowd crush won't happen here: Splendour organisers written by Fenney on the 28th July 2010 which featured in the SMH, discusses some of the concerns surrounding the Splendour in the Grass event which is due to take place in August. It comments on the efforts and preventative measures taken to assure event goers that there won’t be a repeat of the tragedies that took place at this years Love Parade event in Germany that claimed 20 lives. The article is interesting because it affects a number of people in Australia not just the patrons attending but also there relatives and friends that may have concerns.
The article has the following news values, timeliness- it is an upcoming event, controversy- as people are criticizing large scale music events because of the Love Parade tragedy, currency- because of the Love Parade incident and impact again it relates to the Love Parade incident. While it is featured in the entertainment section of the SMH it can be considered a hard news story as well as it concerns public safety.
The article is well written and has sourced other sources used and where comments were taken from. The writer has targeted the main issues and areas of concern and has used industry professionals and professors in the music and creative industries amongst others. The article covers the importance of security and medics at the event and states that the difference between Australian music festivals to foreign festivals is that ours are government regulated and the steps taken by organizers to make sure these regulations are met.
However it would have been to the writer’s advantage to get opinions and statements from the security company used and the emergency services as to their perspective of how the event will be monitored by them and procedures put in place to assure patronage safety.
Overall I thought it was a good article as it erases the fears and concerns of people by providing them with the information needed to know that the event will be monitored and safety measures are put into place to ensure tragedy won’t happen.
Story: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/crowd-crush-wont-happen-here-splendour-organisers-20100727-10u64.html#comments
