The Mission – should they choose to accept it …. The recent
news that the weekly (fortnightly?) newspaper ‘Motorsport News’ has been sold
has sparked interest, particularly among rally fans and followers. Of course,
the new owner will face a tough task to restore the publication to its rightful
place on the nation’s newsstands, and one thing for sure he knows that only too
well himself - otherwise he wouldn’t have taken the chance.
It’s not just declining circulation that will have to be
halted but advertisers will have to be re-attracted and a new network of
regional correspondents engaged. The fact that the current editor (a racing
man) and deputy editor will still be in charge should be good as they both have
long experience in the business and their ‘contacts books’ should still be
pretty comprehensive.
But what they face is a public apathy for print. We’ve lost
countless magazines over the years from ‘Motor World’ in the 1960s to ‘Cars and
Car Conversions’, ‘Competition Car’, the much-loved ‘Rally Sport’, ‘Rally Car’,
‘Road Sport North’, ‘UK Rally Scene’ and more recently ‘Pace Notes’ magazine amongst
others.
Which prompts the question, if ‘Rally Sport’ was so widely
loved why did it fail? Dwindling circulation and advertising revenue. But there
was another reason, the rise of the internet and social media.
If you look at the current state of play, the people who are
welcoming the possibility of a revitalised ‘Motorsport News’ are mostly of a
certain generation. Folk who have memories of ‘the good old days’ and still retain
an interest, but what we don’t have is a current generation who are invested in
print. The ‘smart’ phone is the biggest killer, and even worse, it is encouraging
shorter attention spans. It seems that modern youngsters just want short snappy
comments and answers and of course photos and video clips.
But here’s the thing, whilst all us auld gits have ‘memory
boxes’ and decorated garage walls full of photographs, rally programmes, press clippings,
ticket stubs, lanyards and stickers, what will future generations have? It will
all be in their bluidy phones.
And just how permanent will that be? When it comes to
looking back and passing on to future generations, much of this memorabilia
will be lost. Grandpa will be sitting there with a toddler on his knee trying
to describe the sight and sound of a BDA in full flight in the forest – because
he’s lost his phone, or the internet is down, or the host site didn’t pay its
subscription and all the stored material has been lost – forever!
And once the digital memories are gone there’s no way of getting
them back. Print is still more permanent than pixels and digits. After all, the
ancient Egyptians left their readable scrolls behind but not a single USB
stick!
Which means that the new owner of ‘Motorsport News’ will
have a fight on his hands. And to those who wonder what Jonathan Palmer and his
MSV Group knows about publishing, think on this, as the owner of six successful
motor racing circuits which have to produce a programme for each race meeting,
he will know all about generating interesting content for its readers and
attracting advertising to help pay the costs.
With that experience, the move into ‘news’ publishing is
just another step forward and if JP retains the current MSN Editor and Deputy
Editor he’s got a head start. As long as they write insightful and interesting
reports and articles they stand a chance. They will also need to re-engage with
a network of regional correspondents who can attend events and file reports and
keep providing the editorial team with ‘news leads’. They will also need to
source experts in their respective fields and star columnists to provide
additional opinion, insight and information. And they will all need to be able
to write in an interesting, informative, entertaining and sometimes provocative
manner! No easy task – but do-able!
Lastly they will need an enthusiastic advertising sales team,
but if the editorial team can come up with an attractive publication then that
will be a big help.
The MSV Group also knows about advertising and promotion and
across six circuits they can help launch and push the new-look publication,
maybe even incorporating their event programmes in certain issues or giving away
copies of the new-look newspaper with event programmes.
Overall, the one big thing they really need is a readership
and a following, and that’s down to the fans. If the new publication is
attractive, then it stands a chance.
The sport needs a recognisable authoritative voice and
whilst the internet is full of ‘authoritative voices’ we don’t have a bluidy
clue who or how reliable most of them are.
Buyers may well moan about the price, and that’s fair
comment, but how much is a pint of beer these days – and how long does it last?
A decent sized mag will last much longer – and it’s easier to smuggle into the
cubicle for a loo-break than a pint!
A new look ‘Motorsport News’ should merit our support at
least until it proves it is worth it and earns our respect. If not it will go the
way of the others. It’s as much in our hands as it is in the new owners’ but it
will have to deserve and justify our support.
