Full disclosure: I'm a contributing editor under contract for this project.
As the bloggerati continue to mull the future of grassroots journalism, bloggers vs. journalists and credibility, I'd like to raise a question about editorial quality.
Can a media property credibly cover the experience of mass-televised events without fan bloggers or "citizen journalists" at this point? Case en pointe: NASCAR?
Answer: No. Not as well.
Not when there are at least 100 television viewers for every one person who gets a ticket to the track. And that's a very conservative estimate: Last year, NASCAR claimed TV ratings higher than every major-league sport except the NFL, according to this article from Delaware's News Journal. And NASCAR won in a head-to-head competition with the Olympics for viewers in August.
Fortunately, the team behind Knight Ridder's ThatsRacin.com knows it--and now the quality of their Web site shows it. Earlier this week, Thatsracin.com launched a blogging team that General Manager Dick Van Halsema calls "unique in motorsports".
The line-up boasts a terrific combination of writers--a pit crewman, two experienced bloggers and a veteran reporter/editor, all fans:
- Kathy's PIt Stop, a blog by a self-described Rusty Wallace/Ryan Newman fan who manages to fit in her passion for racing while raising three kids
- Rantville, a blog by an Air Force vet/brat "Mayor Jimmy", who has plenty to say about Junior (Dale Earnhardt, that is) and everything else
- Over The Wall, blogged by pit crewman Trent Cherry, whose passion for mullet-watching is exceeded only by his love of poker and racing
- Checkered Past, a blog by Editor/Columnist Bob Henry, known for his expertise in covering motorsports
It's newsworthy that Bob Henry is the only "professional journalist" in this line-up--unless one counts the hand of seasoned Creative Director Robert Torres, who gave the blogs and ThatsRacin.com's new homepage their new, live feel (a serious departure from RealCities.com).
How did this happen? When Dick Van Halsema described his vision for the project, he told me, "There's an entire culture of NASCAR participation that's missing, the fan point of view. We need to celebrate that. It's a content strategy as well, to tap into the consciousness and the culture of the fans." Update: TR.com GM Van Halsema speaks for himself here.
In other words--and in my experience--Thatsracin.com's leadership is committed to being irresistible to its users, old and new. Being irresistible requires they deliver quality, relevant coverage of everything NASCAR. Blogging is ThatsRacin.com's last frontier in delivering users with everything NASCAR--in this case recruits
Kathy's Pit Stop and
Rantville, as well as seasoned columnist Henry and insider Cherry. I took this job because Van Halsema
et al. appreciate that fact.
There's more: As with Legal Blog Watch, ThatsRacin.com is invested in the true voices of these bloggers and protecting their editorial integrity. So they have the real, blogging deal on their site.
Of course, I expect ThatsRacin.com, as a 360-degree news site, will never stop upholding the same tenets of exceptional journalism in motorsports coverage that (former Knight Ridder blogger turned grassroots advocate) Dan Gillmor describes so well--the values of thoroughness, accuracy, fairness and transparency.
What the team has gained, however, is an injection of "passionate" media, as Wired editor Chris Anderson describes it:
"...the writer's voice is louder than in traditional journalism, and his/her own observations and reactions are less suppressed. I see both of these as part of the fall of "dispassionate media" and rise of what, by contrast, one might call "passionate media". I think passionate media is the only kind that will cut through the blur of commodification in the years to come. And I think that we, as readers (and writers!) can handle the lack of quasi-impartial hand-holding just fine."
It's a project I'm proud of.
