Fascinating Read

[LittleAlguy]

As an IndyCar fan, it's always interesting reading about this sport. While there is plenty to be optimistic about, I still feel that a certain attitude has to change in order for real change to occur. I happened to read this blog by Michael Knight early this morning and it was so thought provoking that I stayed up way past my admittedly late bedtime. :P

http://spindoctor500blog.blogspot.com/

[ÜberDoober]

It seems that one of this guy's major beefs is that the print journalists aren't getting the same treatment that the other media folks. It does give some insight into the shortcomings of the PR machine and he makes some good points though.

Back before cable TV and the Internet, reading about racing was about the best a fan could do to keep up outside of some infrequent Wild World of Sports broadcasts. The world was a much more genteel place in many ways and professionalism and integrity the norm, however, in today's times of 15 second sound bytes and people that just don't give a crap (think kid at the drive-in window), nothing is like it was in the good old days.

Mr. Knight must also realize that sadly, print media is a dieing industry and that in another x years, "real" journalists like himself will be a thing of the past. His blog did offer some interesting comments and he's got a thing for Danica. :)

Thanks for the link. I had a few minutes to kill and that's were I spent it. Can you clarify exactly what it was that you found so thought provoking?

[LittleAlguy]

I think the way in which he describes the good, bad, and ugly of the relation between the leagues, its constituents, and those covering the sport. It's one of those things that as a fan you may take for granted but after perusing through it really opened my eyes a bit. Some of the other things like the obsession over celebrity and the decreased standards of journalism and editing are things that I've come to realize long before reading this particular blog.

As far as the blog vs. MSM issue, I think that while it's understandable that magazine and newspaper writers are concerned about their livelihood given that there are some really crummy blogs and the reaction time (no pun intended) between viewing a story and getting it out there is so much shorter, I do think that the blog medium gets a bad rap. When used in the best possible manner for journalistic purposes, blogs are a great way to balance reporting of the news with well-thought out analysis of said news.