I agree totally, but a glimmer of hope on the horizon is the fact club and event staff can almost immediately compile results and images which can be mailed directly to media.

Including their contact details means journo's can be directly made aware of events and they then ask the questions to get info they need for good stories. If the journo is worth his/her salt they will want to write their 'unique,' interesting story anyway and not rehash what someone else has written in a release or race results.

I went from 7 pages of facsimile numbers (and a dozen email addresses) for Australian media contacts five years ago to what is now 400 plus email addresses from which I get far faster responses than I ever did from faxing direct to media. At least I know that by having journalists email, my message goes direct and doesn't get swamped in the fax pile.

So there is hope that more cat website editors will go the extra yard to again write and diseminate to media and non sailors.

BTW Mary a top executive at a careers day said he went to a newspaper where he saw harried journalists with ink under their fingers and the went to an advertising agency and saw fast cars, women and lots of cash- a no brainer where to work, he said.

I had years of sleep deprivation/and isolation and no social life working in radio, but hell it was fun (for the first 20 years).

cheers


Qb2