Media Review
I've been looking round the web for digital activity associated with the World Rowing Champs and not finding too much. But that's because I started off in my usual places...like blogs..and it is not a sprt that appears to get too much coverage via that medium, with Technorati only listing 38 blogs that list the sport as one of their topics. But that is because the RSS feed has become my default mechanism but there's still a lot out there that does not use it.
The coverage of the sport in the UK is not too large, it does get mentions in the papers but not as much as it could givent he success of the British athletes. As this letter in The Times suggests, despite the medal haul, it is never going to be a top priority to the media. But the BBC are here (with their miles of cables) and the sport is broadcast in many other countries. It is popular enough to merit selling the rights and therefore having prominant notices up about what non-authorised broadcasters can and cannot do.
I'm going to working a lot of time in the media centre, which is pretty large. A lot of the IT infrastructure has been set up to support this - everyone has net access, there are dedicated lines to the broadcast media and a large volunteer team to support them. ALthough the official website has an online diary from Debbie Flood, the rest of the news coming out of the team is all very 'official', by which I mean it has that particular tone only associated with press releases. And they are cranking them out today - 6 already and counting. At least they have not put them up there are pdfs.
Almost all of the accredited media would be regarded as mainstream. A potential exception to this would be Rachel Quarrell, who has been running her Rowing Service site for 12 years. Seen as the most comprehensive list of links to all types of rowing resources, the site provides links to news around the world. I've always enjoyed the live updates of the events. But for a slightly different look at the world of UK rowing, the Tideway Slug always has the gossip.