Posts
2786
Joined
6/13/2018
Location
Tokyo
JP
I wish there was a solid media source that would give us the real juicy breaking stories and rumours etc.
I understand these people have friends in the industry and sponsors etc so they have to be careful, but it pains me that Cooksey was on the money with this Deegan thing, for sure everyone else knew but didn’t talk.
This isn’t a stab at Vital, I know ML was trying to get the scoop, and was as suprised by that interview as we were..
To be clear, I’m Pulp nation (I even listen to the wrap up show sometimes) But it sux to not be able to hear these juicy stories from them.. #blucru I guess..
I understand these people have friends in the industry and sponsors etc so they have to be careful, but it pains me that Cooksey was on the money with this Deegan thing, for sure everyone else knew but didn’t talk.
This isn’t a stab at Vital, I know ML was trying to get the scoop, and was as suprised by that interview as we were..
To be clear, I’m Pulp nation (I even listen to the wrap up show sometimes) But it sux to not be able to hear these juicy stories from them.. #blucru I guess..
Same goes for private businesses that take in advertising dollars from companies, and have joint venture partnerships with other business entities. Once a “journalist” partners with the promoter and magazine/media company - would anyone expect that to remain partial? I sure hope not. It’s not even protecting anyone else, it’s protecting self and investment risk. All involved there are null and void in any media capacity if the story pertains to MxSports, AMA, RacerX et al.
Michael has that here too to be fair. He has people he answers to at the end of the day…he doesn’t write his own check. I wouldn’t expect Michael to report every gory detail of something that directly involved his bosses and the owners of this website. Everyone has lines, some are just self inflictedly close.
The only way we’ll ever get what you’re talking about is a SubStack / Patreon style subscription funded model. This would take all influence, conflicts of interest, and own sunken cost out of the decision to report or burry facts.
Let alone any travel costs to go to events or another staff member to help with any editing work, etc.
The Shop
Free shipping: VITALMX
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
So, uh…where’s this Patreon “Moto-Truth-Media” channel…?
The problem is there are no real journalist covering MX. To the best of my knowledge I don't know a single person covering the sport that actually studied or graduated with a degree in journalism. They're all ex-mechanics or industry insiders moonlighting as "journalists".
To be clear there are definitely some good people out there that i certainly appreciate and are good for the sport(e.g.. ML, Weege, etc) but as a whole there's a complete dearth of investigative journalists covering the sport that are willing and able to ask the tough questions and at times, even the easy ones.
Just a few recent examples that come to mind...
1) One of the top riders(BB4) in the sport leaves seemingly overnight. MX media= crickets.
2) Arguably the greatest rider of the current generation(ET3) signs a SX only deal signaling his retirement/impending end to HOF career? MX media= crickets for months and even today we still have no insight into what led to the decision.
3) Herlings(arguably best rider on planet) publically challenges ET3(arguably 2nd best rider on planet) to a 1:1 race? MX Media= crickets
If any of the above happened in any other sport you could google them 5min after they happened and find 1,000 articles examining them ad nauseoum in painstaking detail. MX? Literally nothing.
2- Tomac already said that it's the travel that has him going SX only.
Would you be kind enough to point me to the article/video where ET3 was asked about his retirement decision? I know after 4 months of crickets(even ET3 mentioned he was surprised it wasn't more widely reported) someine finally asked(thank you ML!) him if it was going to be his last year racing the nationals but i haven't seen/heard anyone ask the next logical follow-up inquiring into his thought process/what led to the decision.
You guys can thumbs down all you want and while it will undoubtedly hurt me deeply on a personal level and cost me countless hours of lost sleep and anxiety, it still won't make my statements regarding the dearth of investigative journalism in the sport any less factually accurate.
Im not sure the sport of MX would benefit tremendously from having all its dirtiest secrets uncovered. Tho it might be fun for a moment as a fan and we might envision a moral house cleaning doing the sport good, it also might kill the sport.
Maybe Im wrong. But I think we’re a bit crazy to expect more from our moto journalism than we do the media that covers our politicians.
Their schtick is corny. If it was pure journalism nobody would have anything to complain about.
Pit Row
Most people hate their bosses and companies they work for. Yet still let those bosses coerce them into doing all sortsa stuff NOT in their best interest. Im not sure the general public has any moral high ground here.
Not just MX , but EVERYTHING.. its all to generate clicks and money.
MXVice have tried to do it in GP's and they are getting heat for it.
While some were absolutely complicit. Weege played neutral about as good as anyone could ask. He knew how to be a journalist, a human, keep it from getting personal, and protect his relationship with the team at the same time. That's part of journalism is relationship building. It's why a guy like Weege is trusted by Bobby Regan with "on the record" info and probably some significant off the record stuff.
Weege a rare dude. Never heard a bad thing about him from anyone. He does owe me lunch tho from about 11 years ago.
Journalism in motocross is hard because you keep bumping in the same riders and names. I had one rider and we got mutual respect and friendship but he never helped me with a scoop or anything just to keep me unbiased.
The industry is too small for that kind of reporting unless you had some non-industry big mainstream sponsors.
Imagine bad mouthing any major OEM and a handful of other companies in the industry and then expecting them to advertise on your platform. Or any sponsor in the industry for that matter.
Even if you got the reporting spot on accurate everytime they would still be pissed off and view you as harmful to their business once the juicy details portrayed them in a bad way.
Post a reply to: Journalists / Media..