 Poster: A snowHead
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You cannot hope to bribe or twist
thank God! The British journalist.
But, seeing what the man will do
unbribed, there's no occasion to.
Humbert Wolfe (1886 - 1940) in The Uncelestial City.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Taken from this article.... http://www.thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2004/07/07/Journalisms_Chronic_Illness/
A high calling? Prestige? When? Where? Journalists have always been maligned, and sometimes with good reason. Hell, even Gandhi took a swipe: "I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers."
Oh sure, there was one brief, shining moment, after Woodstein's Watergate adventures, when J-skool enrolment climbed and images from films like The Front Page and His Girl Friday faded. But it couldn't last. No sooner had some imaginative producers cast Robert Redford as Bob Woodward (did these people never see the average print reporter?) than it was back to business as usual.
And the business hasn't changed much since its origins in the 19th century. Yes, yes, newsrooms are all non-smoking now, many publications offer middle-class salaries, and some hacks even have graduate degrees -- but those changes are superficial. Fundamentally, things are still pretty much as Hunter S. Thompson (1930- ) described them in the '70s: "I have spent half my life trying to get away from journalism, but I am still mired in it -- a low trade and a habit worse than heroin, a strange, seedy world full of misfits and drunkards and failures." And I'd like to add that that is just the editorial board.
Although I'd be inclined to replace "drunkards" with "wingnuts" since drinking is less fashionable than it once was, and there has always been something about journalism that attracted people with personality disorders. As American columnist Anna Quindlen phrased it, "Being a reporter is as much a diagnosis as a job description."
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Scarpa, 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Just to put things into perspective. As Sunday Times Ski Correspondent, Sean Newsom could have access to free accommodation and lift tickets in almost any resort in the world. (Given a certain amount of pre-planning.) So I don't see why he would have any motivation just to "give publicity to resorts that have given him freebies". His whole season, like that of other ski writers, is spent travelling from resort to resort on complimentary press trips. Of course that's why so many people want to break into travel writing.
As DG will confirm, travel journalism is not the best-paid of occupations, so it's a trade-off. All travel writers make use of "freebies" because their newspapers don't want to pick up the costs themselves. (I did hear that The Indie tried it for a while but I'm not sure if they still do.)
I have met Sean Newsom and he is a decent guy, considering he spends most of his time snowboarding 
Rather than "rewarding bungs", his main motivation is probably to be seen as a credible journalist, and I think he has succeeded with this article - most of it seems to make a lot of sense. I particularly like the advice "go off-piste to avoid the crowds"; I would add "where necessary, hike a little"!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I must say I find it a little disappointing and rather disconcerting that when the question of published ski information comes up here on snowHeads, the feeling underlying the response of many people these days seems not to be open mindedness with some healthy scepticism, but rather a cynical discounting of any possible validity. Some of the articles do seem poorly motivated, advertorial and misleading, if not downright inaccurate, but I don't think they all are. Certainly most seem to me to have at least some merit, even when obviously advertorial. We all think we know a fair amount about skiing, and but is there a tendency to too much rely upon our (relatively limited) personal experiences. Am I just hopelessly naive?
Martin Bell, in your experience how much do ski resorts try to apply unfair pressure if the good is presented with the bad?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| slikedges wrote: |
| ... the feeling underlying the response of many people these days seems not to be open mindedness with some healthy scepticism, but rather a cynical discounting of any possible validity. |
Is that any different here on snowHeads to other parts of our society? Doesn't the UK media lead by example in this cynical disbelief?
I try to distinguish between journalists and the journalism process. The (education) journalists that I know seem reasonable people who are trying to do a reasonable job, but somehow the process they are engaged in seems to subvert any good intentions they have. The end result is that I have very little respect for the coverage they produce. I see exactly the same in politics - I have lots of respect for the individual politicians I know, but little respect for the process of politics which just seems to bring out the worst in people.
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I have absolutly no knowledge of journalists and their ethics. Considering the title and the fact it was the lead in the supplement I did find it very lacking in detail and information. Basically go to America or go somewhere smaller in Europe and out of season. No stats, few suggestions and once again a rather poor skiing article.
When was the last time you read a good ski article in a newspaper?
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Frosty the Snowman,
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When was the last time you read a good ski article in a newspaper?
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Some of the posts here leave newspaper articles very lacking! 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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boredsurfin, I could think of a couple of dozen poster here who could have done a far better job. Someone at the Sunday Times would (or is it should) be able to sort out the grammar (or is it grammer)
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I found the article to be a bit of lazy journalism, but then again there's not much to go and investigate at this time of the season.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| slikedges wrote: |
| Martin Bell, in your experience how much do ski resorts try to apply unfair pressure if the good is presented with the bad? |
Same as ski manufacturers, they'll threaten to pull their ads, and in some cases actually do so. I remember DMS&S having a bit of a running battle with Les Menuires a few years ago because someone had written in our pages that it was "the ugliest resort in the world"!
So there's always some pressure - also writers have to meet resort executives at functions and look them in the eye! But any decent ski mag should be able to live with a couple of resorts or companies pulling their ads, and any decent editor should be able to tell the bean counters to stop moaning and tell his writers to get on with telling it like it is. And in the case of a national newspaper I would imagine that ski industry advertisers are much less significant.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Martin Bell, thanks for that 'insider's perspective' 
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Is there a resort more ugly than Les Menuires?
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You know it makes sense.
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Interesting question - start a new thread!
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FAQ
