Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
Bloody nice bloke - had the pleasure of briefly meeting him at COTA in 2013. Took this snap of him...
Joined Oct 2006
25K Posts | 4K+
Your Mom's House
Correction: Australian GP not Silverstone.
If you live in a glass house don't throw rocks.
Joined Oct 2006
25K Posts | 4K+
Your Mom's House
He's a decent guy, I was there when Arrabi took that pic, I think he shaved his beard though; but he's becoming increasingly a hack. I think perhaps contamination by association, particularly Matt Oxley and Simon Patterson, both Rossi apologists.
If you live in a glass house don't throw rocks.
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I used to write articles covering regional motorcycle races in my area and it's very hard to do a good job of it, and enjoy yourself.
The racers only want you to mention their sponsors, apart from that they have no use for you.
The series management only wants good publicity, nothing negative about the series or the track and apart from that they have no use for you.
And the magazines want articles tailored to the audience they have.
No one gives a .... about the interesting things you might have to say.
I put up with that because of the thrill of seeing my name in a magazine, but when that wore off there wasn't anything in it for me.
Surely not the money, it took me a week to write an article and I got a hundred bucks.
Sure was fun seeing my name in print though!!
Joined Mar 2015
2K Posts | 337+
Chertsey, Surrey, UK
Joined Mar 2015
2K Posts | 337+
Chertsey, Surrey, UK
Joined Oct 2006
25K Posts | 4K+
Your Mom's House
Thanks for the insight.
I've actually had this conversation with a couple of journalists, and they've said similar. It's a tough gig if you intend to have integrity doing it. That's why the media has to be protected, both hold its subjects accountable and hold the media accountable. I think that's why there has been such an infiltration of its ranks with hacks, because of the power to influence people's perspectives, and now so easy to sit at a keyboard and pretend to be a journalist from a screen. And now with the power to ban indiscriminately. You will recall I posted a screenshot of Kropotkin's advice to Hack Oxley, "Ban early and ban often." So much for exchange and defense of ideas.
I was telling Arrabi, part of the problem is that GP's media is practically a homogeneous entity. They parrot the same talking points. So unique courageous unpopular opinions are practically non existent. You may remember Truckman's take on Rossi. That guy is not a voice of consequence like Kropo (David Emmett) has become via his blog. The Motomatters of 2006 is much different than now, he's become indistinguishable from the rest of GP's media. Since the debacle of 2015 the GP media clearly learned who is boss, and the son of the boss is Rossi.
If you live in a glass house don't throw rocks.
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Joined Oct 2012
3K Posts | 725+
Crab Key
Ya, there's no way to get a mainstream channel if you won't spout their line. And if you just self publish with no access to riders and teams how can you know anything more than the average dude.
Hell, even with access they don't tell you anything except 'polished for public consumption'.
But this making-....-up stuff that Krop is doing (kent hasn't got what it takes, Marquez is spurred on by the jeering) is ......... He's trying to be the wise old sage with inside info.
Anyone with real-world experience can see right thru it. It's not even good speculating.
Joined Mar 2015
2K Posts | 337+
Chertsey, Surrey, UK
If you are trying to feed your family with income from media work related to current GP bike racing, content options and editorial slant are rather limited.
I like David Emmett and think he is a smart and knowledgable guy with a passion for the sport and a sense of humour as he demonstrated when he occasionally posted on this forum.
The Kent stuff is apart from that though and rather puzzling, I wonder if he has offered David some personal offence/slight, the depth of his disdain for a fellow Brit who actually won a moto3 title seemed rather extreme.
Joined Oct 2006
25K Posts | 4K+
Your Mom's House
No, I doubt that. I said decent, not fun.
If you live in a glass house don't throw rocks.
