Mark Hughes has done a nice piece on Lewis and his current tussle with the media. I think Mark accurately describes the situation and offers some good advice as well.Mark says the role of the media is to report what is happening and while I agree with him to a point; I think this is an over simplification of what the media have done over Lewis’s short career. They have opined, praised, exalted, sucked-up-to, waxed poetic, compared, contrasted and profited from Lewis’s rise to stardom.
They have created a hype that has overshadowed the fact that Lewis is a young man in F1 for only 15 months and has a lot to learn. I have said from the very beginning (Oz 2007) that Lewis is a special talent but he has a long ways to go before receiving the praise and adulation the media are affording him. He is no Schumacher, Senna, Hill, Prost or Stewart…yet. Give him time and let’s not ascribe the title before it has been won. For those views, I have been labeled anti-Hamilton. That’s, perhaps, more indicative of the power of the media than their negative comments regarding his performance in Canada. Comes a doubter and he is labeled anti-Hamilton in the face of what is assuredly the second coming of Senna according to the papers and the Kool-aid drinkers who buy them.
Many “news” stories have been nothing short of Op-Ed pieces in disguise as “news” and most all of them have an agenda. To this point, however, I suggest that Mark is correct in saying that the media are not to blame. While they have been sycophants from day one; they also can be a worst enemy when the chips are down. Lewis and his father should not be shocked by this. In the end game, I am not one to say “I told you so” but I told you so!
You can read Mark’s story here and comment below.
