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Is this the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?


Chief Stipe

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Today we have seen the only remaining truly independent racing industry publication "hang the bridle on the wall."  The Informant has ceased to publish.

Why?

In my opinion the blame lies firmly at the feet of the NZRB.  Over the next few days BOAY will be asking some very pertinent questions to those in charge.

For example:

How much is the NZRB funded Best Bets costing the industry?  Does it make a profit?  What is its circulation?  800?  Or more?  Does the Best Bets pay for its form feeds?  Was The Informant given the same deal?

How much does the industry fund the NZ Racing Desk for its banal follow the corporate line journalism?

Why were the "manager's at the door" when Dennis Ryan was talking to Peter Early?

Where are the NZ TAB turnover figures?

The Informant may be gone for the moment but the industry must continue to ask the hard questions.

 

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....... Where do the " Punters" turn to now for the latest info about trials form and trainers thoughts .... Maybe The Bible !!

 

 

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There is a very good posting over on the “other site” by Insider.

He seems in total agreement with you, only different words. 

If the NZ Racing Board through their Chief Excutive John Allen can’t respond immediately, everyone of them must go immediately. 

I for one will be pursuing it until they are. (Gone)

Edited by Dark Beau
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i'm happy too be corrected..........

basically the informant is going broke under its current model and want the tab/nzrb too bail them out???

is this the same tab/nzrb they are consistently putting the boot into???   

i would tell them too get stuffed as well 

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Industry comment/critique as written by contributor B.d L. has not endeared the publication to the NZRB.

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31 minutes ago, Freda said:

Industry comment/critique as written by contributor B.d L. has not endeared the publication to the NZRB.

Industry comment written by B d L has not endeared the publication to many small club committee men either.  Those are the type of people who buy a racing paper not David Ellis' arch typical 'retired schoolteacher who has had shares in three horses and all have been G1 champions' that he is always talking about on his website.

Still sad however

 

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8 hours ago, Reefton said:

Industry comment written by B d L has not endeared the publication to many small club committee men either.  Those are the type of people who buy a racing paper not David Ellis' arch typical 'retired schoolteacher who has had shares in three horses and all have been G1 champions' that he is always talking about on his website.

Still sad however

 

For the record - B.d L. is NOT a proponent of tracks closing - although it may seem so,  given his support for Winston/Messara.

The bottom line is , if something doesn't happen,  we're all down the gurgler.

NZRB reform/removal is the most important part of that strategy,  and has a fair bit to do with the Informant's demise,  given earlier attempts to muzzle the content.

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11 hours ago, shodsie said:

i'm happy too be corrected..........

basically the informant is going broke under its current model and want the tab/nzrb too bail them out???

is this the same tab/nzrb they are consistently putting the boot into???   

i would tell them too get stuffed as well 

To correct you.  How much is the Best Bets subsidised by the NZRB?  Their "alternative" publication to The Informant.  

Do you know that The Informant has to source it's fields information from Australia because the NZRB won't play ball?

As I said in the.blog post one or two wasted salaries at the NZRB would make The Informant profitable.  

Competition is fine when the playing field isn't stacked.

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6 hours ago, Freda said:

For the record - B.d L. is NOT a proponent of tracks closing - although it may seem so,  given his support for Winston/Messara.

The bottom line is , if something doesn't happen,  we're all down the gurgler.

NZRB reform/removal is the most important part of that strategy,  and has a fair bit to do with the Informant's demise,  given earlier attempts to muzzle the content.

After reading a couple of paragraphs of his first two stories after Messara's report came out I abandoned buying or reading the Informant in protest.  There was far  too much 'We have to implement this 100% and right now ' about it for me.  Hence my comment in my Presidents speech in January about 'idiot journalists'.  Costello, McCarthy and co were all in favour of shutting courses 20 years ago and I considered this mob to be the same this time around.  From where I sit these guys were either (1)not prepared to ask the really tough questions about the waste in the industry with the big clubs or (2) too thick to see it.  

Maybe his subsequent columns have moderated but in those initial few days when we were reeling from the tripe contained in that report he and his ilk did not help.

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Yours truly has been pointing out at great length the folly of those notions....either he has changed his opinion ( or is agreeing with me to shut me up )  but hopefully.....however the scope of the MAC is nothing to do with track closures....apparently.

If the RB can get kicked into touch that will be a huge plus on it's own.

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On 4/3/2019 at 9:01 PM, shodsie said:

i'm happy too be corrected..........

basically the informant is going broke under its current model and want the tab/nzrb too bail them out???

is this the same tab/nzrb they are consistently putting the boot into???   

i would tell them too get stuffed as well 

Heard the main thing they want is for TAB to not force them to pay six figures for fields/form access per annum. 
Given any formguide directly boosts TAB turnover, it seems counter-productive to deny them access.

Edited by Jonny Longshot
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jonny my understanding is they have never paid for fields/form access and were never going too....... i heard dennis ryan on the radio the other day crying and blaming everyone else apart from his business model......... him and his partners/journalist have done nothing but put the boot in to the nzrb/tab the middle finger in return i guess was abit of karma   

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hesi

Posted (edited)

Mmmmmmmmm

43 posts on Thomass

1 post  on NZRB Half year

This came out yesterday morning, but no one has posted it, all too busy 'debating' Thommo9_9

The Informant - Latest Update

Yesterday, 07:21 AM
 
informant-header-logo.png
The Informant's Future


Dear subscriber,

Early last week a difficult decision was made to cease publishing The Informant. This included both our print and digital editorial as well as our form guide content.

As many of our subscribers would have read in our pages each week things need to change for our racing industry to survive as evidenced by the Messara report. Unfortunately, like for many others in the industry, that change isn’t coming fast enough.

The response however to our decision has been nothing short of a groundswell with stakeholders at all levels offering their support and belief that we as a publisher still very much have a place in the industry.

As such we are currently working through our options and are optimistic that an industry backed solution can be found.

We ask our subscribers for their patience at this time and will communicate further changes in the short term.

Regards,

Matthew Francis

Racing Media NZ
Edited by hesi
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