Loeb in the press

[AndyRAC]

I'm starting feel very priviledged as a Finn because here the media follows WRC. Of course it's NOTHING compared to F1 when it starts but still, reasonably good coverage.

it doesn't make me happy though as I read your comments from different countries. The situation is worse than I thought. Something has to be done to lift the profile of our favourite sport since the cold fact is that only the rich and beautifulls survive in this world

That does surprise me, I thought Finland was the only country were F1 came second to WRC. Must say I'm disappointed by this. Don't get me wrong I quite like F1, but it's not a patch on WRC. I feel the F1A could do more to help. Media passes given to reporters, they have to cover both sports, if not, no pass. Personally, it's that drastic that needs to be done. There's no excuse not to cover the WRC, I mean a weekend in Monaco in January, you'd think the press would be rushing to cover it.

[Josti]

Only rally related news in 2007 that hit the papers overhere was Colin's death in September. Kind of says it all...

I was surprised to see a little article about a Dutch JRC entry for this year, even though it was small. Then again, it was only in a local newspaper. Just like Dakar, which mostly get's it's attention overhere because of the high rate of Dutch entries. There's hardly any focus on the rest.

[J4MIE]

I'm sure it's the same all over the world, probably the little exposure rallying gets is when the WRC is in the country.

What can you do?

[Fiorio]

Same in Portugal...

[A.F.F.]

I'm sure it's the same all over the world, probably the little exposure rallying gets is when the WRC is in the country.

What can you do?

I don't think if anything can be done. I think the main problem is the fear that nothing is enough. Another cold fact is that never is WRC going to be media sexy as F1.

F1 is so media sexy that it survived through the most boring seasons ever in motorsport history. Schumi, Schumi, Schumi... etc. I actually it's not about the racing anymore. The institute F1 represent is bigger than the sport itself. Let's face it, F1 haven't been thrilling for a looooong time. I enjoyed much better when Cart or what was it called was kicking and live. They had races on narrow streets where the leader could change many times per lap If you compare that to modern F1, I personally feel watching the paint dry on my wall is more exciting. But it's hip, it's sexy, it's green and not in very enviromental way but the other.


WRC is what it is and our only hope is that we get manufacturers who don't think they get a half of the kingdom from it back. Rallying is smaller scale motorsport and if it's changed, it's not rallying anymore.

[A.F.F.]

That does surprise me, I thought Finland was the only country were F1 came second to WRC.

Now that there are two Finns in F1 ?

Sorry, WRC won't come even close

[AndyRAC]

Well if nothing is written in most countries, were are all the Rally journalists from then? As far as I know there isn't a WRC correspondent on any of the UK papers, so how many journalists follow the WRC?

[Tomi]

its more a cultural thing i think, in some countries they write about golf, cricket, etc. in other countries about what ever sports.

[Josti]

I don't think if anything can be done. I think the main problem is the fear that nothing is enough. Another cold fact is that never is WRC going to be media sexy as F1.

WRC is what it is and our only hope is that we get manufacturers who don't think they get a half of the kingdom from it back. Rallying is smaller scale motorsport and if it's changed, it's not rallying anymore.

Totally agree! Rally should never be compared with F1, unlike what a certain David Richards had in mind. It's just a totally different form of motorsport and I'm glad it's not (yet) infected with the F1 media parade (nor do I think it will ever happen). It would be smart to just avoid a mass audience who do not own any knowledge of real Rallying.

[WRXedUSA]

The biggest swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet, has once again noticed that there is a sport called rally. As usual though, it is not the high level of competition in general, or the amazing battles between drivers like Loeb and Grönholm which is of interest. How much was written about the 2007 NZ-rally in Sweden...nothing.
But when there is something which is potentially dangerous or if someone dies, then the press reacts. I am fed up with it(as Bosse would have nicely put it )!

The reason for Aftonbladets reaction this time is of course Loebs close encounter with an officer/marshall in MC. Do they even know who Loeb is? Do they know how brilliant he is as a driver? Do they know of all the records he has broken? Naturally not. But if Loeb had hit the guy, he would have been famous amongst "ordinary" people, and he would have had a lot of dark head-lines. People would think of rallying as something bad, and of Loeb as a moroon.

Will it ever stop? Probably not. But what can we do to promote our sport when we have main-stream media targeting at us, totally ignorant for all the fascinating aspects of rallying? When will they ever write anything good about rallying?

SVT, Afton and Expressen are notoriously bad with rally coverage. I don't blame your anger. They would go out of the way to report the grendmarie incident, because it makes a good headline, and exploit the incident to bolster thier agenda if they have one. And, in Swedish society, they knew they could draw ire from the public safety standpoint.

SVT is probably the least-content filled newscast I have ever seen, even when the Swedish Rally is going on. Afton and Expressen are regarded as "tabloid" papers in the US.

Tabloids, are like "trash" papers that follow gossip, hollywood and aliens coming down out of the sky and eating Maria's babies and stuff.