04/10/2006
NEWS STORY
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We all know that on the internet, certainly as far as Formula One is concerned, the 'usual suspects' will pounce on a rumour, add some spin and a sensational headline, and present it as fact.
Although there remain only a handful of reliable F1 news websites, hardly a day passes without a new F1 related site making its debut, relying on the same cut & paste reportage, the same spin, the same sensational headlines... but few facts.
When one talks to teams, or virtually any F1 insider, its the same old story, where do they get this rubbish from?
Last week, a couple of readers sent e-mails asking if it was true that Kimi Raikkonen was to miss the last three races of the season having injured himself in a non-sport activity. A very brief chat with McLaren, purely in order that we could kill the story before it got out of hand, revealed that Kimi was alive, fit and well, and was on the point of leaving Dubai for China. Clare Robertson, McLaren's communications officer at Woking assured us that Kimi was fine and accompanied by communications manager Ellen Kolby. "But have they been playing tennis?" we joked.
A short while later, Ellen got in touch to thank us for alerting her to the rumour, and to ask the obvious question; "where does it come from?"
The answer is that with so many F1 news websites, and only a handful that create stories, far less check facts with those concerned, competition is fierce. Therefore, what better way to attract readers than with a sensational headline, a hodgepodge of regurgitated gossip?
Sadly, such sensationalism isn't restricted to the web, far from it. TV broadcasters, radio and the print media all know that what really sells is bad news. What really gets the people buying the latest issue, or switching on and tuning in for the latest "shock", "horror", "exclusive".
OK, we admit that yesterday (Tuesday), we ran a story whose headline claimed that "F1 needs more tits", accompanying it with a picture of a voluptuous young woman. However, anyone who read the story will have seen that it was a play on words, in what - we hope - was an informative article. We were attempting to make a point, yet at the same time have a little fun... we all remember fun don't we?
However, on the web, in newspapers, TV and radio, the sensational headline is usually done with just one purpose, to attract the punter, be it a reader, a listener or a viewer. Punters please the advertisers, which means money.
It would be entirely wrong to suppose that the mainstream media is more honourable than its distant cousin on the ether, but at least the mainstream media has a whole raft of people who vet a story before it appears, rather than Mr Angry bashing out his story on his ageing PC, whilst stuffing another slice of pizza into his mouth. Then again, the mainstream media, unlike matey at redhotf1gossip.com, is in business to make money, serious money, and as we said bad news sells.
One would think that sensationalism is restricted to the media in Britain and the USA, the bastions of freedom of speech, such as it is, but in reality, almost every country has its Sun its News of the World, eager to make money by appealing to the lowest common denominator, no matter what depths it has to plumb.
Sex, scandal, corruption, they all sell, but so too does sport and national pride.
In Britain, the media builds up the hopes of the nation ahead of almost every international sporting event, and though we invented most of them, we're really not much good, not any longer. Oh yes, we pay our sportsmen tons of money, we fete them as "heroes", and cry with joy when they occasionally win something. But on the whole, they're not very good, certainly not on a consistent basis. They're young and rich, chased by beautiful women, so who needs trophies in the cabinet?
The media plays a clever game, building up the 'star', then, at a chosen point in their career, deciding "time's up", let's knock them down again.
Sometimes its hard to keep up with it all, one minute a soccer star is a "hero", next he's a thug. One minute he's a role model, with his down to earth girlfriend, next he's a pervert visiting massage parlours, while girlfriend, a former junior on the Pick 'n' Mix at Woolworths, has a modelling contract and is about to launch her first CD.
As part of its quest to sell its product, the media enjoys a love-hate relationship with certain people, be they politicians, sports stars, actors or musicians, nobody is safe.
It's not just in the UK however, check out the Italian media, the French, the German... the Spanish.
With the Formula One World Championship reaching a critical stage, the media is getting up to some of its oldest - and best - tricks, stirring up a storm based on very little at all.
A couple of weeks ago, sections of the media suggested that Renault had banned Fernando Alonso from testing - the French team's final test of the season - for fear that he would take secret info to McLaren.
Now, following the Chinese Grand Prix, the Spanish media, followed by everyone else that likes a good scandal, a sensational headline and the opportunity to appeal to the lowest common denominator, is claiming that Alonso believes the French team is sabotaging his title fight in fear of him taking the "coveted" number 1 - as opposed to secret info - to McLaren next season.
"My team is against me", reads one head line in the UK, while another claims "Some at Renault support Schummy".
Much like a survey (sorry Richard), a journalist can ask a question which virtually forces the interviewee to give the desired answer. A racing driver, no matter how many languages he speaks, no matter how intelligent he might appear, is no match for a hungry journalist out for a scoop.
Renault is well aware that it got it wrong at Shanghai, Pat Symonds doesn't need any journalist to tell him that.
However, with Fernando having signed to McLaren long before the start of the 2006 season, are we really to believe that Renault would wait until now - having already given him 6 wins this season - before deliberately killing off his title hopes?
Does anyone really believe that having committed itself to Formula One for the foreseeable future, having spent hundreds of millions of pounds getting its cars on the grid, that the French team would throw it all away simply because of a number, albeit the number one?
No doubt Fernando is frustrated, and there will be times when he must feel that the whole world is against him, not just Renault. However, anyone who believes that the French team would put a spanner in the works at any stage of the championship clearly has the media they deserve.