UPDATED 9 March 2020

The media industry is a people business and for many years that has meant getting together at key events to meet colleagues, exchange ideas and share experiences. The coronavirus is rapidly putting a stop to this.

High profile events are falling victim to the virus as governments impose restrictions on large-scale gatherings (such as the Swiss did that led to the cancellation of the immense Geneva International Motor Show) and as organisers ask themselves whether bringing large numbers of speakers and delegates from across the world is worth the risk.

Cancellations include the 2020 International Journalism Festival scheduled to take place in the Italian city of Perugia (pictured) in early April, MIPTV in Cannes, scheduled to open on 30 March and the WSIS Forum that was due to open on 5 April in Geneva. The Journalism Festival was due to see 470 speakers gather from across Europe, Africa, North America and Asia. In a statement, the organisers said: “The health and safety of festival speakers, attendees, volunteers, staff, suppliers as well as that of the citizens of Perugia is and must remain our top priority.”

Google and Facebook have also been proactive and cancelled events they had planned, including the Google News Initiative Global Summit and the F8 conference.

We expect to see the cancellation of other events scheduled for March, April and May. The writing’s on the wall for some major trade events as companies pull out of attending to protect their staff from possible contamination. Video equipment supplier AJA has announced that it will no longer attend NAB in Las Vegas in April. Other companies will inevitably follow suit.

The Middle East CABSAT exhibition and conference, scheduled to open in Dubai on 31 March, has also been postponed. The organisers have now said that it will take place between 26 and 28 October 2019. 

ConnectAsia incorporating BroadcastAsia has been postponed from June until 29 September, when it will run until 1 October.

Indian media conclave FICCI-FRAMES has also been postponed from mid-March to an as yet undefined date in the future.

News organisations are starting to restrict travel to conferences and other discretionary trips. CNN issued a memo to staff on 2 March restricting all work travel and limiting events staff to what it describes as “absolutely critical” personnel. According to the New York Times, CNN boss Jeff Zucker has to approve any intercontinental travel by any CNN staffer.

The EBU is cancelling large-scale meetings, such as its Sport Assembly that was due to take place in Malta in mid-March.

The virus presents headaches for media companies large and small. Should news crews be deployed? Can location filming of drama series continue? How can sport coverage continue at large-scale international events? These are challenges that have a real impact on the ability of broadcasters and production companies to operate as normal and serve audiences today and for the rest of 2020.

It is clear that precautions need to be taken to protect staff from infection. Simple steps for anyone in an operational environment can be taken to minimise risk, as we noted in our briefing to AIB Members issued on 2 March. The AIB continues to build a central database of advice that’s being given to staff in a number of large-scale media companies to help ensure that best practice is shared by all AIB Members. Not every organisation has well-resourced occupational health and HR departments, so they welcome practical assistance.

INSI, the International News Safety Institute, has also issued a briefing on coronavirus, available here.

Meanwhile, a glimmer of hope emerges. In February, the Splice Beta conference that brings together journalists, entrepreneurs and others involved in media start-ups in Asia was postponed. Now the organisers have said that it will be going ahead in late September.

The AIB shares their optimism that the situation will normalise over the next few months – at the AIB we’re continuing to plan our events for the second half of 2020.