NASCAR vs Other Race Coverage in Press

[Andrew Longman]

Good read http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/16112/

Interesting bit most of the way down about DW telling Blake not to "kill the goose" and Blake saying customers have the right to know about the product they buy.

Funny thing about NASCAR, you can hardly find a controversial thing written about them, even in the Charlotte press, (they took ESPNs press credentials they can take anyone's) but in other sports the press is free to blast away.

The Yankees will draw 4 million people at home and nearly as many on the road this year. They will get triple the typical NASCAR ratings for most of their 162 games on TV, yet Mariano Rivera blows a save against the Sox and it beaten to death on sports radio and on the back pages for days. All winter the press beats mercilessly about whether Mets and Yankees management are doing the right thing and MLB itself got mauled in the press and in Congress over steriod use.

My point is none of this negative objective press hurts the sport a bit. I must believe it actually helps build interest. And anything that was seen as the least bit candy coated would be immediately rejected by the fans. All major sports allow a free press. The NFL has how many weekend shows across the networks (including their own channel)? All are pretty blunt about when the NFL or teams mess up and to my knowledge are not under any gag order by the league.

NASCAR on the other hand takes a much tighter squeeze on the unmentionables of the press. How did that happen and why can it continue? Why does it seem to work for them and will it continue?

On the other hand open wheel fans have a comparative free-for-all of free press on the internet, and we have Robin Miller and lots of facts and opinions to go around but it doesn't seem to help us any. ;)

[RichK]

Good post, Andrew!

This article reaffirms my support of Ben Blake. He was raked over the coals here a few weeks ago, with no good reason IMO.

The "candy coated" NASCAR journalism turns me off to NASCAR.

[Racewriter]

No question, Blake is a lemming hero because he always whines about NASCAR. And this column, of course, is written whining about the cancellation of his show:


The official excuse given us for the cancellation was low ratings.

In fact, Pit Bull was consistently the lowest-rated NASCAR show on Speed...

[Skater_36]

Good read http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/16112/



Funny thing about NASCAR, you can hardly find a controversial thing written about them, even in the Charlotte press, (they took ESPNs press credentials they can take anyone's) but in other sports the press is free to blast away.



I think it's one of two things. Either there is nothing controversial about nascar and its drivers, or, there aren't many reporters with the balls or integrity to say anything about it.

There used to be plenty of stories out of nascarland up until the late 80's, early 90's and then everything became sterilized.

[dando]

Frankly, if you listen to the national sports shows, NASCAB is not considered a major sport, outside of Daytona. Few sports reporters even give NASCAB the time of day for the average race. $.02...

-Kevin

[pchall]

There used to be plenty of stories out of nascarland up until the late 80's, early 90's and then everything became sterilized.

NASCAR quashes everything for image and sponsorship bucks. Remember how quickly the sportsdrink wars were stopped, and how much crap Stewart took for tossing a battery of the roof of his ride because it was a major competitor to one of his sponsors?

[Andrew Longman]

NASCAR quashes everything for image and sponsorship bucks. Remember how quickly the sportsdrink wars were stopped, and how much crap Stewart took for tossing a battery of the roof of his ride because it was a major competitor to one of his sponsors?

True. NASCAR is a marketing machine much more than an enterntainment/sports property. Unlike other "major sports" it is largely driven by sponsor dollars. And pchall you're right. No matter what city I'm in, the sports talk radio stations are all stick and ball talk. On my XM radio the only station to consistently mention NASCAR is the NASCAR channel.

Perhaps the real sports journalist won't talk about it because they can't speak freely and so they don't take it seriously. NASCAR instead creates its own media outlets a la SPEED, FOX and NBC.

[pchall]

... And pchall you're right. No matter what city I'm in, the sports talk radio stations are all stick and ball talk. On my XM radio the only station to consistently mention NASCAR is the NASCAR channel.


The sad thing about stick and ball sports squawk radio is how easily and uncritically the yapping heads take to the NASCAR teat when it becomes important to the corporate interests. Fox Sports Radio is cloyingly sick over NASCAR since the races are on the affiliated TV network for this half of the season, while Clear Channel is sucking up to NASCAR as well since they have a lot of 24/7 sports radio stations hooked up with MRN now. They make it look like the local print guys have impeccable integrity... instead of just taking marching orders from sales guy via their editors... :shakehead

[oddlycalm]

Fox Sports Radio is cloyingly sick over NASCAR since the races are on the affiliated TV network for this half of the season, while Clear Channel is sucking up to NASCAR as well since they have a lot of 24/7 sports radio stations hooked up with MRN now. They make it look like the local print guys have impeccable integrity... instead of just taking marching orders from sales guy via their editors... :shakehead You can thank the FCC for this little development. Media consolidation means that there is little candid reporting of any type anymore, either hard news or sports. There are very few outlets left in the US where you can count on what you are hearing or reading being accurate. It's just an organized sellout to the highest bidders or some media moguls ideology. In another 5yrs it'll be a done deal unless reversed, which is about as likely a me going to the moon.

oc

[RTKar]

Excellent article. NASCAR plays well on wall street, with the stick and ball sports plagued by steroids, hip hop gangsta rap images, drugs, DUI's, paternity suits and strikes it doesn't surprise me the "All American" image works well with the masses, with sponsors, and auto mfg's. What scares me is not the control of the media by NASCAR but if anyone else that could seriously affect our lives is watching that sort of control but as far as the world of motorsports go, eventually the true story will be ripped open somewhere, somehow.

[theunions]

Frankly, if you listen to the national sports shows, NASCAB is not considered a major sport, outside of Daytona. Few sports reporters even give NASCAB the time of day for the average race. $.02...

Which it why it continues to horrify me that the Sporting News about 2 years ago suddenly regarded it equal to football, baseball, basketball and hockey, which they traditionally covered at the expense of virtually everything else week in, week out...

[eiregosod]

coming at this from another angle.

NASCAR,religion & marketeers cannot stand to be ridiculed.

current day nascar is a glimpse of the future in so far as religion & Godless consumption is concerned. Its no secret that nascar & its participants are openly religious. Even jeff Go0rdon had to embrace the & thank the good Lord after a win just to fit in with the locals, while simultaneously he was engaging in a little non-christian endeavours of adultery and who knows what else.

I often wondered why religious promramming never attracted advertisers, I guess part of the reason is that religion preaches against over-consumption, which makes religion the bain of the marketeers.

But NASCAR in 2005, is full on embracing religion & commercialisation. If the rumours are true of an increasing gap between the haves nots & the have mores then for a system like that to be sustainable it needs a spiritual justification for it to be so.

religion & marketeers make their assertions about themsleves. "according to us, this is the best product in the history of the world!" no one is there to ball BS on them. Thats the same with NASCAR. Though with NASCAR, non-nascar fans aren't going to flock to TV programs that accuse NASCAR of BS, too much WGAF apathy :gomer: .
as a final point, NASCAR was listed in the top 10 most hated sports