UK
I'd like to think coverage of F1 has moved on considerably from the days of Imola 1994.
Well it has. I think 1994 was back in the days when the 'local' broadcaster provided the bulk of the actual pictures for the world feed, and some were more 'sensitive' than others. Today F1 are in total editorial control.
It was the mid to late 2000s before FOM took over all host broadcast responsibilities (it happened gradually over several seasons). Although from the late 90s until the end of the 2002 season they had their own host broadcast operation for the Digital PPV coverage. (Only seen in the UK on Sky in its final season as ‘F1 Digital+‘)
It wasn’t just the way accidents that covered that differed. The poorer local broadcasters would either just follow the leader and / or the driver(s) of local interest, missing everything else. Some - RTL in Germany, Fuji TV in Japan, the BBC and ITV - were some of the best.
When Michael Schumacher had a big accident at the British Grand Prix in 1999 ITV kept the helicopter well back. They were helped by the fact that Schumacher’s extraction from the car was covered up by a large sheet that was held up.
As Neil Jones has said the approach now is not to show any replays until it’s clear the driver is OK.
The BBC were very fortunate - if that’s the right term to use - at Imola in 1994. It was one of the first overseas races they’d sent a presentation team to. They hadn’t been taking qualifying live, but saw the graphic pictures RAI had shown after Roland Ratzenburger’s accident. Steve Rider has said that, after what they saw, there was a discussion on what they should do if there was an incident during the race. When Senna crashed they were ready to cut away to their camera in the pit lane and did so to avoid the most graphic images being broadcast. (I believe some of them did end up getting shown, but not to the extent that viewers of other broadcasters saw them.
RAI were - and still are - notorious for dwelling on graphic images of incidents. A few years after Senna died there was an incident at another Grand Prix in Italy. A marshal was hit - and very sadly killed - by a tyre that came loose after a car went off. RAI stayed on graphic images from the helicopter of the marshal being treated. I think that by that point the broadcast contracts stipulated you couldn’t - commercial breaks aside - cut away from coverage between the FOM sting and the end of the podium ceremony. So those pictures did get shown live on ITV.
It’s also happened more recently, with graphic images being shown by the host broadcaster when a rider was killed at the Giro d’Italia.
I'd like to think coverage of F1 has moved on considerably from the days of Imola 1994.
Well it has. I think 1994 was back in the days when the 'local' broadcaster provided the bulk of the actual pictures for the world feed, and some were more 'sensitive' than others. Today F1 are in total editorial control.
It was the mid to late 2000s before FOM took over all host broadcast responsibilities (it happened gradually over several seasons). Although from the late 90s until the end of the 2002 season they had their own host broadcast operation for the Digital PPV coverage. (Only seen in the UK on Sky in its final season as ‘F1 Digital+‘)
It wasn’t just the way accidents that covered that differed. The poorer local broadcasters would either just follow the leader and / or the driver(s) of local interest, missing everything else. Some - RTL in Germany, Fuji TV in Japan, the BBC and ITV - were some of the best.
When Michael Schumacher had a big accident at the British Grand Prix in 1999 ITV kept the helicopter well back. They were helped by the fact that Schumacher’s extraction from the car was covered up by a large sheet that was held up.
As Neil Jones has said the approach now is not to show any replays until it’s clear the driver is OK.
The BBC were very fortunate - if that’s the right term to use - at Imola in 1994. It was one of the first overseas races they’d sent a presentation team to. They hadn’t been taking qualifying live, but saw the graphic pictures RAI had shown after Roland Ratzenburger’s accident. Steve Rider has said that, after what they saw, there was a discussion on what they should do if there was an incident during the race. When Senna crashed they were ready to cut away to their camera in the pit lane and did so to avoid the most graphic images being broadcast. (I believe some of them did end up getting shown, but not to the extent that viewers of other broadcasters saw them.
RAI were - and still are - notorious for dwelling on graphic images of incidents. A few years after Senna died there was an incident at another Grand Prix in Italy. A marshal was hit - and very sadly killed - by a tyre that came loose after a car went off. RAI stayed on graphic images from the helicopter of the marshal being treated. I think that by that point the broadcast contracts stipulated you couldn’t - commercial breaks aside - cut away from coverage between the FOM sting and the end of the podium ceremony. So those pictures did get shown live on ITV.
It’s also happened more recently, with graphic images being shown by the host broadcaster when a rider was killed at the Giro d’Italia.
Last edited by UKnews on 29 November 2020 9:17pm - 2 times in total
