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July 01, 2009
Strong Words From NASCAR's Jim Hunter About Mike Mulhern
More than once I've questioned in this space how Mike Hulhern, who covered NASCAR for years for the Winston Salem Journal and is now an independent blogger, has been able to get away with publishing stories containing rumors and speculation with very little sourcing or accuracy. While a lot of fans including myself almost immediately dismiss any rumor that comes from Mulhern, there are just as many fans who feel that he's a legitimate source of news and information - scary.Mulhern recently wrote a story on his website that stated that the situation in the Truck Series is so dire that NASCAR may fold the series after this season, a story which apparently doesn't have any truth to it according to Jim Hunter, NASCAR's Vice President of Communications, who had strong words about Mulhern, "There's no truth to it whatsoever," Hunter said.
"It's total B.S. The demise of the truck series is the figment of one person's imagination. (Mulhern) has a history of fabricating false stories and this is another example of it. We're very aware that (the Camping World Truck Series) is affected the hardest during this economic recession. We're currently looking at options. We've never given up on a series and we're not going to start now."
Good for Hunter for finally doing what was long overdue - calling Mulhern on the carpet for frequently publishing stories that appear to have very little truth to them. That rumor if taken seriously has the potential to be extremely damaging to a series already suffering due to the economy and sponsorship woes because it may cause sponsors and fans to be leery of spending money on the series if they think NASCAR is on the verge of shutting it down. That doesn't mean that the problems that the series - or the sport - is facing should be ignored but it's essential that a reporter strive for accuracy.
My biggest problem with Mulhern besides how inaccurate a lot of what he writes often seems to be is that he usually doesn't have much sourcing or quotes in his stories. I give him credit in the story about the Truck Series because he actually included a quote from Ramsey Poston, NASCAR's spokesperson, who says that the series won't be cut next season. But he has nothing to support the idea that the amount of races will be reduced next season or that the series will disappear all together. Yes, it's often difficult for a reporter because they are often working with sources who won't speak on the record. But there are ways to handle anonymous sources so that readers can put things in context and feel like information is coming from somewhere legitimate instead of being pulled out of thin air.
What's most unfortunate about Mulhern is that I think fans don't trust what other media members who cover NASCAR write because they think a lot of the reporters are as unreliable as he is. But there are many reporters who regularly cover this sport who take great pains to get things right even if it means they aren't the first to report a story - Bob Pockrass from scenedaily.com, Jim Utter from thatsracin.com and The Charlotte Observer, Nate Ryan from USA Today, Marty Smith from espn.com and Jenna Fryer from the Associated Press are a few that come to mind. These are the journalists who fans can depend on for accurate information about the sport and the people who are in it.
As someone else wondered on Facebook, now that NASCAR has called Mulhern out publicly for reporting false stories whether they'll continue to let him have a hard card and media access especially now that he's an independent and isn't working for a newspaper.
Posted by silverdsl at July 1, 2009 12:52 PM