If you’re a reader of this week’s County Press, the odds are that you’ve got no idea that the Powerboat P1 is taking place in Cowes this weekend.
The CP gave it a couple of para at the very back of the Weekender supplement. A strong contrast to the Skandia sailing event of a few weeks back, which had its own separate supplement!
Isn’t the CP supposed to be the newspaper for the Island? By not making more of important Island events like this, they’re letting down lots of people – the P1 people who go to a huge effort to bring the P1 to Cowes; the population of Cowes, by not making the most of having the event in town; and the residents of the whole Island. By not telling them it’s on, the CP is effectively robbing them of an enjoyable weekend out – one that doesn’t cost anything to spend time at as well.
The near zero coverage in the CP of the P1 is embarrassingly light compared with the most excellent cowes.co.uk who have covered it extremely professionally and thoroughly.
We’re perplexed at the attitude of the CP? They’re happy enough to take the P1 money for advertising, but when it come to writing about it the event in advance, they get amnesia.
Proof, if it were not already obvious, that depending on one source of news is a dangerous game. No wonder sites like satirical Isle of Wight Can Depress get started (here’s hoping they’ll post more to it soon).
