Monday 14th April 2014

PH needs a BTCC reporter!

Watch the BTCC for free and get your name on PH; all the details here

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We've been talking a lot about the PH-BTCC media alliance without having too much to show for it recently. Now there is something of interest as we can offer media passes to PHers for every round of the 2014 Dunlop MSA BTCC.

From Knockhill to Thruxton and Snetterton to Croft, we need PHers at every event. Moreover, we want your views on each round, a PHers-eye view of what the BTCC is really like. A race report from a roving reporter if you will, detailing the weekend. We would need the words by the Monday lunchtime after the race.

If that sounds like something you would be interested in, let us know! The list of rounds and dates is below. Send me a direct message through PH with your name and the round you wish to attend in the subject line and the winner will be randomly selected from those entered. We'll chuck all the names in a hat.

We appreciate it is a little late for this Easter weekend but, if there's nothing planned (or you want to get out of those plans!), a pair of tickets for Donington is ready to be given away. Please note they are not separate tickets so the prize will be given to one winner who can then take someone with them.

Meetings here:

Donington - Apr 19-20
Thruxton - May 3-4
Oulton Park - June 7-8
Croft - Jun 28-29
Snetterton - Aug 2-3
Knockhill - Aug 23-24
Rockingham - Sep 6-7
Silverstone - Sep 27-28
Brands Hatch GP - Oct 11-12

 

[zebedee]

For the sake of the readers of PH, surely you can ask them to write up a couple of paragraphs first to make sure they can bring back something worth reading? Do they really need full media centre access to do what you suggest?

Its a bit demeaning to those trying to make a living out of reportng too.

[zebedee]

Garlick said:

We can make it legible, and it's nice to see readers (who are the enthusiasts after all) be able to tell us how the race was in layman's terms. Full access means they can meet their heroes, listen to briefings and see the cars up close. A great expereince for the true fan.

Demeaning? Not really, we've been doing this sort of thing (on and off) for years and these days bloggers carry as much weight as a trained journo. Have you seen press trips? 50/50 split now.

Sometimes it does seem we can't win

Its a reasonable initiative, but I thought as you were partners you would want to make the most of the relationship by putting someone in who could really understand what was going on and why and express that to your readers.

I agree that you don't have to be trained to write a good report but if someone is blogging, for me that means no weight is attached at all, if it is on a reputable website and claims to be reporting, then I expect it to be actual reporting. You also have to be aware that there is a great deal of sniping about the articles PH puts up, so if the person writing the race reports doesn't know his stuff, there will be far worse comments to come!

What I mean by demeaning is that some taleneted people work really hard to try and secure a media pass from race organisers but don't succeed, and yet a partner website to a high-profile race series intends to get its coverage by handing someone drawn out of a hat a free pass.

A good halfway house would (IMHO) have been to make it a competition based on merit - make them write a commentary based on a youtube highlights link or something and choose the best.

[zebedee]

Garlick said:

We can cope with that, it's the way we've done things for years and I love the fact we open the doors to enthusiasts to write. Motorsport articles can be dull, these will offer something new. If those on 'social media' want to get involved they can, if they want to read a 'normal' report they can choose from hundreds (including the titles you identify)

I just don't think you are opening the door to enthusiasts, you are opening the door to anyone with a name to put into a hat. You could end up giving a pass to someone who just wants a free way in to meet up with his mates, have a few beers and have his picture taken with Plato.

Or, you could have some kind of scholarship thing and make people work a little harder to get this frankly really rather good opportunity, which will also serve to almost inevitably increase the product that you get back and people like me will be reading.

[zebedee]

I WISH said:

I think it's a really good idea.

This is not necessarily about about saving the three pounds fifty that PH would otherwise have paid a "proper" hack. A fan of the sport could give an alternative view to that of a jaded journo .... a fresh different perspective perhaps. Or just a different take to the usual stuff.

You never know .... it could be fun ..... and produce something of real interest.

Bring it on!

They usually just get it wrong though, or are so worried about getting it wrong they don't offer any opinion at all.

[zebedee]

storminnorman said:

Anyway, I digress - this is a great opportunity and I'll throw my name into the mix. The only thing I think PH has done wrong is be a bit scant on the details - when will you make the draw for Donington?

I'm interested to know: would you have preferred, as someone who considers you have something useful to add, to have been able to demonstrate that you are a more meritorious choice than others, to increase your chances or are you happy with names out of a hat and you'll read whatever comes back?

[zebedee]

I think if the title said PH needs a BTCC blogger it would be a lot clearer. It makes it look as though reporting is trivial and easy which it is not. Several people have said that proper race reports are boring, I would just suggest they are looking in the wrong place. But then again I don't really want to read about how warm the beer in one of several kiosks around the circuit is either...

Another point for the lucky winners to note - it isn't as easy as you think to go up to one of your heroes and start to interview them in an engaging and coherent way that will yield interesting results. I think someone who is a complete newbie is far more likely to get the 'identikit' responses that were feared by at least one earlier poster. To get beyond the standard flannel usually takes some work and indeed some trust from the driver concerned. Indeed, for many drivers, whose time commitments are extremely stretched in a series like BTCC, if they feel someone is asking rather inane questions then they are likely to disappear into the trailer or motorhome fairly sharpish.

[zebedee]

People do care, you only have to look at the comments on just about every motor racing thread where PH get lambasted for incorrect/poor reporting. And people even pay to read about such things in magazines and websites. If that all gets undermined (and I think this sort of thing does undermine it) then members of the public will have lower quality material to inform them of something they might follow passionately. That is a bad thing.

And the reality is that most people in the media room won't necessarily be making a great deal of money from it, or even contributing towards their earnings, but they will at least be looking to recover expenses from attending and following the circus, getting something back from the hours and hours of work pacing the paddock, the stress and intensity of watching the race and noting down all key facts and then the many hours trying to put it all into concise but entertaining words.

Again, if a series partner like PH doesn't even do the series justice with a proper reporter, it really does undermine all of that too.

[zebedee]

DJRC said:

But we all know ph has st reporting and journalism. Nobody comes here for that anyway!

But you do realise that if everyone gives up or is forced to give up (due to media avoiding paying them), then you won't have anywhere to go to read about it, so you do care really? Or don't you care about reading about motorsport at all?

[zebedee]

DJRC said:

I care very little these days. I read Motorsport very rarely these days to be honest. I cant remember the last time I read Autosport. But there will always be motorsport reporting just as there always has been. Paid or unpaid.

there will, but what will be the point of it if no-one reads it as is so crap? Your comment about Autosport is probably a case in point. And that isn't to criticise all of its journos, some of which are really good, but their whole ethos of 'nothing matters outside of F1' renders such work pointless, because no-one buys it to read two paragraphs about the FIA WEC or half a page on the BTCC.