Lessons the media can learn from the Glasgow bin lorry crash

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/26/media-glasgow-bin-lorry-crash-george-square

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The George Square bin lorry crash, which claimed the lives of six people and injured 10 others in Glasgow just days before Christmas, was a tragedy so random that even a man of faith – the city’s archbishop Philip Tartaglia, leading a mass for the victims – described it as meaningless. Usually it is the media that first attempts to give some meaning to communal loss, most perniciously in the ascription of blame. This week, the Scottish Crown Office announced that the lorry’s driver, who lost control of the vehicle after he collapsed unconscious at the wheel, will not face any criminal charges, paving the way for a fatal accident inquiry into the crash. And I was minded again of the marked lack of blaming, or naming and shaming, in this case.

I reported on the crash from the immediate stunned aftermath at the scene, through a Christmas week that felt as dimmed as the festive lights around the square. Tough questions were asked of the authorities about vehicle safety and staff health checks. But the driver, Harry Clarke, was not named in the Scottish press until well into the new year, and then in an un-bylined piece in a broadsheet. There was no floodgate of follow-ups, and when Clarke himself issued a single interview to the Daily Record earlier this month, he thanked both the public for their support, and the media “who have not hounded me as they could have”.

Informed – according to local colleagues – by concern for the driver’s state of mind, as well as a tightly controlled police inquiry, it was also reflective of the public mood that regarded a sick council worker as one of their own. As the city council slogan goes: People make Glasgow.

Another Caledonian loss

Of course there is always a risk of sentimentalising Glasgow’s response to tragedy, particularly after the painful synchronicity of the George Square accident coming near exactly a year after the helicopter crash at the Clutha Vaults bar.

It’s difficult to describe the spasm of shock and grief that pulsed through the city that festive week. It reminded me most of a similar pulse – of emotions at the opposite end of the spectrum – that could be felt across the city in the final weeks of the referendum campaign last September. The momentum for change seemed inexorable, and many who didn’t venture beyond the Clyde bubble were baffled when the final vote revealed the nationwide mood to be otherwise.

The steps leading up to Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, at the top of Buchanan Street, became an unofficial gathering point for yes supporters over those final weeks. Beneath the mordant statue of the architect of the Scottish parliament, Donald Dewar, there were impromptu sing-a-longs to Dougie McLean’s love song to Scotland, Caledonia; near-permanent street stalls; and a final day’s rally with balloons and celebrities.

But this week, despite an ardent campaign, Glasgow city council granted planning permission to expand the nearby Buchanan Galleries shopping centre, which will result in the demolition of the iconic steps.

It is perhaps inevitable that the Labour city council prefers a shiny new glass atrium, and the jobs afforded by the retail expansion, to another pro-independence flashmob. It is also indicative of the fact that, months on from the referendum, the defining question for many folk on many issues remains: yes or no?

Crossing a line

It has become a familiar trope that the referendum debate liberated previously untapped campaign zeal among Scots, but the evidence is everywhere. More than 3,000 people have backed a protest after a popular lollipop man was banned by West Dunbartonshire council from high-fiving children as they crossed the road. Think global, act local.