On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 19:01:07 -0000, "David Starer"
wrote:

....snippage....

Given that British pilots have been spectacularly successful in
international competition over the last few years, either our world-famous
national TV news service is deliberately ignoring us, or our governing body
is failing miserably in getting the message across.

We all know the press love a good disaster but when a few Brits kick a ball
into a net they all get gongs and the papers go wild for weeks. Why can't
gliding get so much as a mention, even when we produce a world champion? I
know ours is a minority sport but the British media are not usually shy
about trumpeting British successes.

The BBC is actually extremely parochial and very selective in its
sports coverage and I wish I knew why.

Parochial: Listen to Olympic coverage: a number of times I've heard
reportage about some Brit winning a bronze but not a hint of who
actually won the event.

Selective: IMO the Beeb's soccer coverage has been excessive for 30
years (yes, even before it became fashionable for yuppies it got too
disproportionate attention). Apart from that, horse racing, cricket
and tennis everything else is minor league. Unless its golf,
field&track or rugby it tends only to be mentioned if a disaster
happens. Any connection between horse racing and sport totally eludes
me: its pure gambling and not sport.

My current theory is that the Beeb really only reports financial news
and events that might affect the financial world. When you come to
sport the only really big money is in soccer, tennis and horse racing,
so that's what mostly gets covered.


--
martin@ : Martin Gregorie
gregorie : Harlow, UK
demon :
co : Zappa fan & glider pilot
uk :