‘Racquet’ in F1 journalism

A good friend told me yesterday at Monza that he paddock of F1 It’s the closest thing to a town. One neighbor says something to another neighbor, and after some time, all the inhabitants here have heard the rumor or something like it. But add the power of social media, and the result can be terrifying. Hard to believe. Sometimes surreal. That’s what happened in the past Dutch GP, a clear example for all reflect.

A ‘Sky F1’ commentator said last week that he had received a rumour Fernando Alonso’s current partner, Lance Stroll, I was about to leave F1 because of the superiority the Asturian shows against the Canadian for… Devote yourself to professional tennis!. But that’s not all. After a while, the news was in many international media. AND On social networks, where the ‘hoax’ seems to have started, that same rumor spread as if very quickly, at such a rapid pace, that it became ‘news’.

Stop for a moment. Reflect. When a journalist receives a piece of news, the first thing to do is check it against various sources. But in the dictatorship of ‘click’ and immediacy, for some, anything goes. Didn’t those who published the news think it impossible that a 24-year-old driver would never get on the tennis court to play a point on the professional circuit? For this, it is necessary to play from a young age, work hard, without rest, to reach the dream that many pursue and only a few achieve. But let’s move on.

If it is to be believed, those in the paddock can check the rumor by asking Aston Martin or the driver’s physio. They should have heard that what they were proposing was crazy. Impossible. fake. That’s not clicking. On the other hand, There is the reader, who in a world full of rumours, must read everything with a magnifying glass and always with a critical spirit.. doubt and think

Who is this character?

Social media is an incredible speaker for many. Today, the journalists present in the paddock are not the only ones providing the news. Furthermore, they were sometimes imitated by those at home because they did not waste time interviewing the main characters or walking between ‘hospitalities’ in search of information. From the newsroom, without traveling, you can share news with good contacts that you already have face to face. The problem is more related to other people: those at home, without resources, and who, through a good networking and marketing strategy, end up having a community that gives them more weight than journalists who are under the news.

To loop the loop, the example I bring below: has a Twitter profile (now ‘X’) claiming to be a BBC journalist, with years of experience in F1. casual, in the paddock no one saw or remembered him. Your photo looks real, but it is made by Artificial Intelligence. He even sometimes posts AI-generated photos as if he’s on the gridiron. He is in charge of copying information from other media as if it is his own and there are many baseless rumors. He makes a lot of vague tweets to say “I told you so” after the fact, if something is going to happen or the opposite. And it has… almost 13,000 followers! There are people reading your tweets thinking they are real. And when asked for a journalist reference, some say his name without hesitation. And therein lies the problem. The speaker created is dangerous. A machine to create rumors that, one way or another, will reach the paddock.

The above mentioned cheats are very good thanks to an official ‘tick’ on Twitter that confirms him. before, This validation is achieved by sending articles, identity documents and other checks to prevent impersonation and the creation of false identities. The Twitter team has reviewed your request and decided accordingly. However, now this is no longer the case: Elon Musk, since he came to the head of the now famous social network ‘X’, changed it. The only requirement to get that difference is to pay.

Today, anyone can create a fake profile, pay for verification, say they are a journalist and make a career in networks that rely on everyone’s credibility., spreading misinformation that, moreover, reaches the paddock. And F1 teams, faced with that, can’t do anything. Furthermore, they surprised MD with the appearance of these series of profiles and the news they spread. They should even be viewed as profiles that use the name of their own teams and provide news about those teams as if they were official spokespeople. F1 World Cup teams, with their hands tied in front of false profiles, would you believe it?

“I like to think I’m very good, but I don’t think I’m ready to face Djokovic or Alcaraz”, Stroll responded in Zandvoort to the aforementioned unproven ‘hoax’, news that was copied by less media than the previous one, which was about pointless rumours. And yesterday, Mike Krack had to clarify to the international press that “there is no debate” and that “the two drivers will continue in 2024”. He was referring to Stroll and Alonso. That’s all there is to the rumor. Reflect and analyze what you read and consider who is explaining it. Just like when they shop and look at the labels of products and their components. Look closely, especially on Twitter. That’s the key to everything. Also in F1.