BBC Paris-Nice Headline. SPOILER

BdeB
BdeB Posts: 110
edited March 2010 in Pro race
'Greg Henderson gives Team Sky first win in Europe ' Apparently Belguim no longer counts as Europe. Poor Flecha.

Comments

  • sing_for_absolution
    sing_for_absolution Posts: 1,908
    BdeB wrote:
    'Greg Henderson gives Team Sky first win in Europe ' Apparently Belguim no longer counts as Europe. Poor Flecha.

    Maybe Nigel Farage wrote that.
  • fastercyclist
    fastercyclist Posts: 396
    sing_for_absolution wrote:
    BdeB wrote:
    'Greg Henderson gives Team Sky first win in Europe ' Apparently Belguim no longer counts as Europe. Poor Flecha.

    Maybe Nigel Farage wrote that.
    :lol:
    Legend :D

    I think the BBC are just trying to spit in the eye of their rivals, how many people reading it are going to know otherwise?
    The British Empire never died, it just moved to the Velodrome
  • csp
    csp Posts: 777
    I don't know if it has been changed, but it says "first major win in Europe"
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    csp wrote:
    I don't know if it has been changed, but it says "first major win in Europe"

    Still wrong, though. Het Nieuwsblad is bigger than a stage of Paris-Nice.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    So they changed it and confirmed it wasn't a simple mistake, but that they really don't know a thing about cycling.
  • sing_for_absolution
    sing_for_absolution Posts: 1,908
    FJS wrote:
    So they changed it and confirmed it wasn't a simple mistake, but that they really don't know a thing about cycling.
    Ah we knew that years ago :lol:. They'll never learn.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    Who goes to the BBC to get their cycling news anyway? I don't go to cyclingnews to find out what time Newsnight is on.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Abdoujaparov
    Abdoujaparov Posts: 642
    This is clearly just bias from BBC Online against rival publication Het Nieuwsblad...clearly... :wink:
  • fungus_the_muffin_man
    fungus_the_muffin_man Posts: 1,608
    Unless its footie or rugby union the bbc are terrible at all types of reporting. The amount of rugby league cock ups they do is disgraceful as a follower of that sport. I'm sure they treat all their other minority sports in a similar patch it up together it doesn't really matter manner. Its just lazy journalism and makes you wonder why we have to buy a licence :roll:
    Bianchi. There are no alternatives only compromises!
    I RIDE A KONA CADABRA -would you like to come and have a play with my magic link?
  • scwxx77
    scwxx77 Posts: 1,469
    RichN95 wrote:
    Who goes to the BBC to get their cycling news anyway?
    Eurosport2 News?

    Maybe it came from an agency as it was in the Eurosport2 News script through the night too.
    Winner: PTP Vuelta 2007 :wink:
  • curium
    curium Posts: 815
    I contacted the BBC to dispute the accuracy of the headline and received the following reply:
    Thank you for your email. I wrote the report, and mentioned Juan Antonio
    Flecha's win. However, I would say a stage win in the Paris-Nice is
    significantly more important and worth celebrating as such.

    The Team Sky story is a big one for us this season - a TV crew followed
    them during the trecent Tour of Andalucia and you will be able to watch
    their "a day in the life" in the next week or so. I hope you agree it is
    worth our while covering cycling.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    What's the name of the reporter? Garth Crooks :wink:
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    If the reporter honestly thinks that a stage of Paris-Nice outranks Het Volk (as was) then he should be fired as he clearly knows nothing about the sport. :roll:
  • csp
    csp Posts: 777
    For a hardcore cycling fan Het Volk is more important, but publicity-wise Paris-Nice probably ranks higher
  • guinea
    guinea Posts: 1,177
    How many 100% cycling dedicated journalists do you think the BBC have?

    I would suggest that more cycling fans have heard of Paris-Nice than Het Volk.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    guinea wrote:
    I would suggest that more cycling fans have heard of Paris-Nice than Het Volk.

    Any fan would know both surely?
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    andyp wrote:
    If the reporter honestly thinks that a stage of Paris-Nice outranks Het Volk (as was) then he should be fired as he clearly knows nothing about the sport. :roll:

    Technically, it does though. Paris-Nice is a ProTour/Historical event and Het Volk is a mere 1.HC

    But, of course, in the eyes of any follower of the sport, it doesn't.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    You can argue all day about whether Het Nieuwsblad or a stage in Paris-Nice is a bigger deal, personally I'd take the Het Nieuwsblad or the final stage of Paris-Nice.

    Regardless, the win in Contres wasn't the first major win, the headline was poor and the reporter has yet to grasp the subtleties of the pro cycling calendar and the rich history of the sport.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    csp wrote:
    For a hardcore cycling fan Het Volk is more important, but publicity-wise Paris-Nice probably ranks higher
    Only because outlets like the BBC make it that way.

    Completely disagree. Will Bonnet's stage win gain more publicity worldwide than Flecha's Omloop win? I don't believe that for a second, neither among 'hardcore cycling fans' or casual followers.
  • Abdoujaparov
    Abdoujaparov Posts: 642
    Interesting discussion that leads into the subtleties of what gives a story news value.

    What's clear is that the importance of an event in the world of professional cycling is not the same as the importance of an event for BBC Online's cycling coverage.

    That could be to do with a number of factors as wide-ranging as:

    "Het Nieuwsblad" sounding parochial and unimportant
    BBC Online being more interested in Australian readers than Spanish
    The general conception that cycling is about stage races like the TdF and Giro

    Who knows...anyway, the Beeb has it's own agenda and clearly Het Nieuwsblad does feature very high on that!
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    curium wrote:
    I contacted the BBC to dispute the accuracy of the headline and received the following reply:
    Thank you for your email. I wrote the report, and mentioned Juan Antonio
    Flecha's win. However, I would say a stage win in the Paris-Nice is
    significantly more important and worth celebrating as such.
    The Team Sky story is a big one for us this season - a TV crew followed
    them during the trecent Tour of Andalucia and you will be able to watch
    their "a day in the life" in the next week or so. I hope you agree it is
    worth our while covering cycling.

    A stage win in Paris-Nice 'important' and 'worth celebrating'? Well, not so much that it's worth mentioning anything at all on any stage Sky doesn't win. Nothing on the BBC website on either yesterday's or today's stage.
    It's clear, also from that email, that the BBC is covering 'Team Sky', not covering 'cycling'. The BBC Cycling front page really is all about Sky. A backwards move?
    I did a quick search, and from at least 2003 up till 2007 the BBC website covered every stage of Paris-Nice, even if - heaven forbid - a foreigner won a stage, with headlines like 'Mattan takes prologue glory' and 'Boonen impresses in opening stage'. In 2009 the only two stories where on how Wiggins did until he pulled out halfway, and it seems this year the only stories will be on Sky wins. Team Sky is good for cycling in the UK. Discuss.

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