Re: Re:
samhocking said:
DFA123 said:
samhocking said:
You really don't get how the news media and sports media work do you?
I think you don't understand that times are changing. Your view of the situation is stuck in the past. Some sports journalists now are prepared to forego some access and controlled PR statements, in order to present the full picture to their readers. They are showing that the results and the alleged corruption and cheating are inextricably linked.
Obviously this terrifies the likes of Brailsford, who rely on the separation of the 'news' and 'sport' spheres in order to peddle the 'marginal gains' nonsense on the one hand, and the 'we don't keep medical records' on the other hand. Hence the aggressive outburst.
This is great, but that is not changing how the media relationships work is it. Cyclingnews can do a Kimmaage on Sky if they want to, brilliant, good luck to them. Where they've misjudged the situation, is to also expect the same access to the team afterwards. As I keep saying, lay out your stall and see what you have Cyclingnews Ryan.
Brailsford basically confirmed last week that Dan Benson was blackballed in his response to him so in fairness it was likely Ryan would have his access withdrawn anyway. Remember, it was Benson who Brailsford literally ran away from when he asked about the investigation into Leinders which was promised at the Tour in 2012 but had seemingly vanished into thin air come the Worlds that year.
The thing is, in Ryan's response about comparing Brailsford to Bruyneel, he refers only to his treatment of the press, ostracizing and excluding those who question him and surrounding himself with those who are malleable and those he knows are on his side. In that, there is nothing libelous at all. It was Brailsford - likely because of the previous article from Ryan and its connotations - that brought up the idea that this was directly accusing him of running a doping program. Not everything Johan Bruyneel said and did is connected to the fact he ran a doping regime. And considering during 2010-11 Sky themselves made many wilful comparisons to USPS and Discovery in discussion of their professionalism and approach, they have to be fully aware that now, people are going to take those comparisons - that way back when, they invited not just implicitly in their behaviour, but explicitly - and run with them all the way to the less savoury side of that team. And while, sure, you can argue that it is inevitable that those who write favourably, producing generic sports stories are going to get better access than those who probe into closets for skeletons, the fact remains that no team manager in the intervening period between Bruyneel and Brailsford has been quite so blatant about it. Hell, at least Johan held the press conferences in the first place rather than a select soundbite show directed solely to the loyalists, like the fading dictator trying to persuade the country he's still in control by broadcasting a rally to his strongest supporters while the country crumbles around him. Only, if we look at racing only, Brailsford really is still in control. He's still winning the Tour de France. But he's lost many of the hearts and minds that he once had in his hand. It's slowly dawning on him, it seems, that his PR is becoming toxic, otherwise why would he be ducking the press all year? The team is his baby, is associated primarily with him, but for Team Sky to survive with what remains of its reputation intact, he can't palm the questions off with management speak and appease the wolves by sacrificing a Mick Rogers or a Geert Leinders this time.
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