Article in Sunday's Washington Post

There's such a genre divide in media reporting on soaring isn't there?
Most reporting seems to be of the "the reporter overcomes fear of
dying (or vomiting, in the case of this story) and bravely flies in a
tiny airplane with no engine! Reporter reflects afterwards on how
courageous he/she is and plans never to do it again" variety. Very few
are of the "what a wonderful/lyrical experience I had in this niche,
practically unknown sport, you really should try it" variety.

This one's not so bad and it does have some nice references to the
view from aloft and a bit about thermalling, but its bookended by
negatives (not looking forward to flying after the long drive and big
lunch; and reflecting on barely keeping down her sandwich as she
drives away) - so the fear of flying and nausea are the starting and
finishing messages.

I wonder whether its possible to encourage the latter type of more
positive story by the way the reporter is handled by clubs? I wonder
do most clubs give the journo the basic trial flight experience, or
whether there's an opportunity to tailor something more towards
positive stories that focus on the experience and craft of soaring,
the beauty of the aircraft and what an accessible means of flying
soaring is?

One thought I've had is that most stories I've seen of the "weatherman
or travel writer experiences something new" variety are that they are
mostly lightweight puff-pieces of the quirky spot-filling kind -
"colour" pieces. The articles I have been most impressed with are by
more technical writers (like the Subaru magazine one), so I wonder
whether automotive journalists might be a better mainstream source for
good stories?

Any thoughts?

smith

On Sep 29, 7:16*am, Tom wrote:
See

*http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20
09/09/25/AR2009092501910.html?referrer=emailarticle

The sport of soaring is very easy to get major publicity to a very
hungry media.

Tom Knauff