Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I agree with you and Diane about the notice of the horses. Definitely, without any doubt, horses for most riders in the Arab world (and sadly I have to include Egypt there) are warm-blooded assets rather than beings that cooperate in a venture with the rider. But then consider the type of rides that they have...what sensible horse could really get into those anyway? No scenery at all, no water except in buckets and no grass. Jeez, honestly.

Now if you want to have some really good coverage of the endurance in the US just get the son of the CEO of the Washington Post or the offspring of the President of the US to start riding. That's the best analogy to the coverage in the Gulf press. Not only are they 
heavily sponsored by the ruling families, they are also heavily censored by the ruling families. Likewise, most of the press in the Middle East is heavily influenced by extremely expensive advertising by Emirates Air and other Dubai-based economic heavy-hitters so that they are more than happy to follow suit.  

As for the importance of the Gulf press, I think that the analogy to the Idaho press is much more appropriate, though on a good day they might make the San Francisco Chronicle or the LA Times...but only on a good day and a rare one at that. Washington Post, Globe and Mail, New York Times?  A totally different league.

Maryanne
resident ME cynic

On 9/7/07, John Teeter <johnt@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

FYI: another example of reporting from the GCC region (in the context
of Diane's comment):

   http://www.enduranceeurope.net/channels/bulletin/2007/09/european-
championship-bahrain-ready.html

2) Diane, your observation about the lack of attention to the equine
partner in the GCC press is indeed the case. Note the article above
re: Bahrain. But also note that Gulf News and The Gulf Daily News are
two of the primary print publications in the Middle East. This is
like the NYT or Washington Post sports sections running (almost
daily) articles on the sport of endurance. It just does not happen in
Europe or North America that the sport is raised to that level of
visibility.  We can attempt to encourage these publications to focus
on the horse as well, but I think they are driven by their
readership.  The "stars" are not the horses, it is the riders that
have year2year continuity and name recognition. (note also that FEI
global standings (http://www.enduranceeurope.net/events/
FEIResults.html#ranking) have two categories (riders only and
"combination") - saddly, it is the former that has the most notoriety.

But look at the US view in that context as well. Heraldic is a star -
so is John Crandell - depending on the story, the focus will be on
one or the other (or both).

Look at the above Gulf Daily News article. It basically says that
it's a 4 way race for the Open Team competition: Bahrain, UAE, Qatar,
Saudi Araibia - no mention of the French (who are likely to take it
all) or any of the other 16 countries in the competition. It's very
much like reading the Idaho Daily Statesman for which Idaho basically
stops at McCall (i.e. norther Idaho does not exist in the southern
Idaho Press) - or LA doesn't REALLY exist if you're from San Francisco:)

Finally, in the US context - do you know of ANY news articles (or
even press releases from USEF) which highlight the US participation
at the European Championship?  When we look at promotion of the sport
in the US, it is simply missing! there were no AERC press releases
re: the recent AERC National Championship; there have been no USEF
press releases re: the European Championship; and there is/was no
general US press presence at either event. About the only time we see
anything in the US is when the Auburn Journal runs its 5 stories
around the Tevis.

Anyway, IMO, Diane's observation was right on. Don's was a stretch to
bridge it into a cause:)

food for thought (also keep watching the Santa Fee ride - we're
seeing Laura's report  from the pack - but nothing re: the front
runners) where's the press??

jt