The problem is that many newspapers no longer have dedicated sports sections - they have a rugby reporter and then that person often has to cover everything else as well. If you get a reporter who is interested in motorsports then you will get regular, interesting articles. If you get someone who only likes rugby - then that's what you get.
When I used to work on a weekly newspaper in Wellington we had rally driver Joe McAndrew, motorcycle racer Bruce Anstey, plus several other really good drivers/riders in our circulation area. I loved motorsports and used to go to events every weekend and take photos and I would then interview the competitors and write stories that were worth reading. When I left, the new reporter had no interest in motorsports at all, so the only sports that got covered were rugby and cricket. Oh, and softball.
The best way to get good coverage is to get someone to write a good story for you and for you to send it to the paper with a photograph they can use free of charge. Nine times out of 10 it will be used because they haven't had to do any work themselves. Case in point - sent out a short article on our club's toy run to three local papers just before Christmas last year. I also sent a different photo to each paper. We don't live in the circulation area of any of them, but apparently the story was run in all three papers. It cost them nothing and all they had to do was find space for it.
Get a good writer to write stories for you and it's likely they will be used. Or find someone on a paper who is mad keen on motorsports and cultivate a working relationship with them!
I used to hate rugby so my reports were mostly to do with the fights - easy to cover as everyone had an opinion. Maybe it's the same with motorsports and accidents - the reporters don't have to know anything about the sport, they just have to say someone crashed.
Yes, I am pedantic about spelling and grammar so get used to it!
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Originally Posted by scott411
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