What is up with Velo News ?

[Walter]

VN first lets go of a number of folks who penned some things I liked to read (and who had been on the masthead for a long time), then changes a long time, well known brand by renaming the magazine, and now the website seems to be a shadow of what it was...

Sad to see this happen.

[firerescuefin]

They've replaced seasoned velo journalist with a bunch of kids writing opinion pieces...and infomercial articles for the sponsors that are dropping the most coin. It's close to unreadable.

Cyclingnews and Pez is about all I go to anymore.

[Ramjm_2000]

Originally Posted by firerescuefin

They've replaced seasoned velo journalist with a bunch of kids writing opinion pieces...and infomercial articles for the sponsors that are dropping the most coin. It's close to unreadable.

Cyclingnews and Pez is about all I go to anymore.

Agreed. The VeloNews website is a shell of its former self. IMO they are trying too hard to seperate the two products.

[AgilisMerlin]

they are trying to entice with emails.

/spam folder

[Elefantino]

They passed on a certain candidate for managing editor a few years back.

Big mistake. Huge.

[BumbleBeeDave]

This.

Originally Posted by firerescuefin

They've replaced seasoned velo journalist with a bunch of kids writing opinion pieces...and infomercial articles for the sponsors that are dropping the most coin.

Wilcockson and Pelkey are now at Red Kite Prayer. Their former web editor Steve Frothingham--who I worked with at Mt. Snow and who is a really good, former Associated Press journalist--has gone over to Bicycle Retail and Industry News (BRAIN) as their web editor.

There are almost daily editing mistakes--some of them really embarrassing--on their web site. The currency of the news coverage has also really slipped. Cycling News consistently beats them even on American domestic coverage.

To be fair to the less experienced people now doing the web site, some of the comments are consistently merciless and unfair criticism from a small group of frequent posters. But you can't get around that obvious fact that Competitor fired anybody who was making any kind of decent money and replaced them with whoever would work for the least money. It really shows, too.

This is also, unfortunately, what has happened with many, MANY publications that are now owned by corporations for whom bottom line is the only line. Journalistic quality and integrity is secondary--if it's a consideration at all.

BBD

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by BumbleBeeDave

This.



Wilcockson and Pelkey are now at Red Kite Prayer. Their former web editor Steve Frothingham--who I worked with at Mt. Snow and who is a really good, former Associated Press journalist--has gone over to Bicycle Retail and Industry News (BRAIN) as their web editor.

There are almost daily editing mistakes--some of them really embarrassing--on their web site. The currency of the news coverage has also really slipped. Cycling News consistently beats them even on American domestic coverage.

To be fair to the less experienced people now doing the web site, some of the comments are consistently merciless and unfair criticism from a small group of frequent posters. But you can't get around that obvious fact that Competitor fired anybody who was making any kind of decent money and replaced them with whoever would work for the least money. It really shows, too.

This is also, unfortunately, what has happened with many, MANY publications that are now owned by corporations for whom bottom line is the only line. Journalistic quality and integrity is secondary--if it's a consideration at all.

BBD

'Competitor' in SanDiego is calling the shots, doing the website. The people at Velonews are really under their thumb.

[Gummee]

I'll surf on over, but it seems that there isn't the quality OR the quantity of good info there any more. Useta be a great place to get updates, etc. Now? CN, Pez, Bike Radar, and some other places have take up the slack.

I spend less and less time on the site as the content slips into the category of 'mediocre at best.'

M

[e-RICHIE]

Originally Posted by BumbleBeeDave

To be fair to the less experienced people now doing the web site, some of the comments
are consistently merciless and unfair criticism from a small group of frequent posters.

^ ^ This is a fairly typical phenomenon on the internet.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by BumbleBeeDave

This.



Wilcockson and Pelkey are now at Red Kite Prayer. Their former web editor Steve Frothingham--who I worked with at Mt. Snow and who is a really good, former Associated Press journalist--has gone over to Bicycle Retail and Industry News (BRAIN) as their web editor.

There are almost daily editing mistakes--some of them really embarrassing--on their web site. The currency of the news coverage has also really slipped. Cycling News consistently beats them even on American domestic coverage.

To be fair to the less experienced people now doing the web site, some of the comments are consistently merciless and unfair criticism from a small group of frequent posters. But you can't get around that obvious fact that Competitor fired anybody who was making any kind of decent money and replaced them with whoever would work for the least money. It really shows, too.

This is also, unfortunately, what has happened with many, MANY publications that are now owned by corporations for whom bottom line is the only line. Journalistic quality and integrity is secondary--if it's a consideration at all.

BBD

This is also known as the state of journalism generally these days. (Not that this recently downsized wire reporter is grumpy about it or anything...)

[laupsi]

on a positive note, check out "Procycling Mag". I think this periodical does a much better job of portraying our sport, if only on a pro level.

[Fixed]

i used to get a free subscription with my uscf membership i liked it back then before the net
not as good as winning mag though

[BumbleBeeDave]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

'Competitor' in SanDiego is calling the shots, doing the website. The people at Velonews are really under their thumb.

I would venture to assert there really isn't a "Velo News" publication anymore as a distinct entity.

While the "Velo" magazine does have some good feture stories, I no longer trust anything I see in there any more from a tech standpoint. The practice of magazines selling editorial space without disclusore is fairly widespread. Huge conflict of interest and etihcs violations, but of course the corporate owners seem to care little about those any more. All that matters is $$.

Note that since competitor took over and changed VN to "Velo" there have been quite a few more tech stories--"comparison" bike tests as cover stories, etc. I hate to have to be so cynical, but I have to assume those are not truly objective. And the "profiles" they have run lately about Campagnolo and Santini? Well, I think you get the idea . . .

The days of having a Mavic R-Sys explode under an editor during a race and him actually writing about it are definitely over.

BBD

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by BumbleBeeDave

And the "profiles" they have run lately about Campagnolo and Santini? Well, I think you get the idea . . .


BBD

To be totally fair, Rouleur also has done recent profiles/interviews with Campagnolo and Santini. And Bicycling recently did a big feature on Campagnolo. Looks to be a wider PR effort by Campy to reach out to what's considered influential U.S. cycling press, if I had to put money on it.
How thorough that coverage has been though, for fear of angering a potential advertiser, is certainly up for debate.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

To be totally fair, Rouleur also has done recent profiles/interviews with Campagnolo and Santini. And Bicycling recently did a big feature on Campagnolo. Looks to be a wider PR effort by Campy to reach out to what's considered influential U.S. cycling press, if I had to put money on it.
How thorough that coverage has been though, for fear of angering a potential advertiser, is certainly up for debate.

. . . and such coverage could very well be part of a co-ordinated PR effort by the companies. I guess my point is that with other obvious actions lately by Competitor/VN to maximize profits, nothing they do to increase revenues would surprise me any more, and this compromises their reliability in my eyes as a reader.

If readers don't trust what they read in a publication to be reliably objective, then they will go elsewhere. This is what I have done and what I think many other readers are doing. The overall impression seems to be that VN is but a shadow of its former self, and that includes their editorial objectivity.

BBD