As part of my local news reporting, I have now published two stories about media coverage of the Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit.
The first, “Trust in local news shaken over racetrack controversy in B.C.’s Cowichan Valley,” provides an overview of the story, and outlines my investigation into allegations that Black Press’s Cowichan Valley Citizen hasn’t been reporting fairly on the track for fear of upsetting the motorsport circuit’s owners, who are prominent advertisers in Black Press newspapers.
The second, “Did Black Press papers quit covering racetrack noise because of cancelled advertisements? You decide,” is a detailed timeline of relevant events and documents that support the main article, and that I hope will be of interest to people interested in digging into the details of what my investigation has uncovered.
Please read them both and share them with others who might be interested. When you share on social media, be sure to tag @thediscourse so that we can follow the online response to this work.
As for me, I leave tomorrow for a 10-day hiking trip in the Yukon wilderness. I will be completely off-grid from July 14-24 — a much-needed break from online life. I look forward to responding to your feedback, and updating you on the future of this project and my work with The Discourse on my return. [end]
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