Background: Honda exits Formula One

Honda's 2007 'Earth Car'. Image courtesy Red Cyan, licensed under creative commons

The World Motorsport Council, the decision making body of the FIA, approved a series of radical cost-cutting measures following the shock exit of Honda from F1.

On 5 December, Japan’s second largest car maker announced plans to withdraw from the 2009 season because of the difficult conditions in the global auto market, brought on by the financial situation.

This put around 1000 jobs at Honda Racing F1 team and engine supplier Honda Racing Development at risk.

With most teams having already finalised their driver line up for next year, Honda’s racers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello could be left without a seat in 2009.

The immediate prospects for Bruno Senna are also in doubt. The 25 year-old nephew of legendary racer Ayrton Senna had earlier tested for the team and was being considered as a replacement for fellow Brazilian Barrichello.

“Difficult Decision”

In a statement, Honda President and CEO Takeo Fukui said that the “difficult decision” had been taken by Honda to “protect its core business activities and secure the long term.”

Honda was one of the highest spenders in F1 with an estimated budget of £300m in 2008. Racing success was Mr. Fukui’s personal ambition.

However, Honda had failed to see results. At the end of the 2008 season, the team placed ninth out of ten teams, having scored only 14 points from 18 races.

With Bloomberg reporting Honda sales down by around 30% in the US market, it was only expected that Honda’s interests in motorsport would be the first to be cut back.

The move brought the focus back onto the financial viability of running a Formula One racing team.

According to the BBC, teams like Williams and Toyota remain “vulnerable” due to losses and high budgets.

Earlier during the 2008 season, Japan based Super Aguri too withdrew from racing due to financial difficulties.

What next?

But the team may still be on the grid in time for the first race in Australia on 29 March 2009.

The company’s statement confirms that the team has been put up for sale.

Chief Executive of Honda Racing F1, Nick Fry said on the team’s official website that they had already been approached by “potentially suitable” investors.

Reuters reports that the Formula One Teams Association has been given till Christmas to find a buyer.

BBC’s sports correspondent Adam Parsons estimates that the team could go for a nominal price of £1. However, the costs of running the team in the expensive sport of Formula One would be at least £40m.

Honda had been in racing since the 1960s. The team had earlier pulled out in 1968 before returning as an engine supplier in the 80s and team owner in 2004.

Since 2006, the team has been exclusively owned and run by Honda Motor Co., Ltd., when it finished fourth in the Constructors championship.

Click here for original article – F1: End of the era of extravagance?

F1: End of extravagance

F1 pit stops will no longer be the same. Pic courtesy: Varlen. Licensed under creative commons

Anyone who thought that Formula One with all its billions could weather the financial storm was on the wrong track.

The economic crisis has hit the car manufacturers hard and massive budgets of motorsport’s elite could well be a thing of the past.

On Friday, the FIA approved a series of radical changes that are expected to cut costs by one third of present levels and alter the experience of F1.

The new regulations, detailed in a statement available on the official Formula One website, include a ban on in-season testing except during race weekend and scheduled practice next year.

Engines will now have to last three races.  Teams are limited to eight engines per driver, with an additional four engines for testing.

A ban on tyre warmers and refuelling during races will be introduced in 2010.

Standardised transmission and shorter races could be brought in following market research.

As for the engine, a low cost power-train from Cosworth will be made available to all independent teams from 2010, at a fraction of present costs.

End of F1 as we know it?

Their elegies for the sport have already begun.

Fan complaints mention the three most visible aspects of change – standardised engines, ban on refuelling and the prospect of shorter races.

Viewers are concerned about F1 turning into A1 racing.

“We must wait and see what it will be like with a more equal field for the drivers to test their talents. I’ll be a different kind of racing,” says Vaishali D., motor sport journalist in India.

And how many times will all-out racing be sacrificed in favour of saving the engine for the demands of two more races?

Also, the ban on refuelling during races will mean that pit stops will be over in the three seconds it takes to change the tyres.

No more pit lane poker, splash-and-dash, or Fort Knoxesque  guarding of fuel-load secrets.

No more sitting on the edge of your seat chewing your nails out while waiting to see how the minutely thought out strategies behind varying fuel loads unfold.

And we still wait to see the implications of this rule on qualifying.

As for shorter races…the mere suggestion leaves most fans incredulous.

Cutting-edge technology

FIA President Max Moseley insists that these changes will not affect how fans watch the sport.

“The only people who can really appreciate a 10m euros gearbox are the people who build it and take it apart,” he said to the BBC. 

But motorsport purists argue that Formula One is as much an acknowledgement of smart engineering as it is about driving to win.

It’s about the barely noticeable cutting edge technology that can add one hundredths of a second and thus ten places on the grid for a car.

F1 advancements addressing the need for speed, safety and efficiency has found its way to road cars.

A changing sport

The new cost cutting measures follow the shock exit of car manufacturer Honda from F1 due to the financial situation.

Earlier during the season Japanese based Super Aguiri had pulled out, and many teams including Williams are operating with huge losses.

But this is not the first time F1 rules have been changed.

Since 1950 when the sport became official, new rules have been implemented almost every year. This included a ban on refuelling during races from 1984 to 1994.

The new F1 season, with 18 cars confirmed to race, will begin on 27 March with the Australian Grand Prix.

Click here for background: Honda exits Formula One

Website critique: The Hindu

The Hindu was the first Indian newspaper to go online, way back in 1995. Sadly, the website hasn’t changed since.

The Hindu is one of India’s most widely read and reputable English dailies, known for its strict adherence to journalistic values of truth and objectivity.

But the website plays no role in representing or indeed creating public opinion as has come to be expected of the publication.

The site can be accessed as www.hindu.com, www.thehindu.com, or www.hinduonnet.com.

But any which way, the website is unappealing, confusing and detached.

Screenshot of The Hindu home page, Dec 14

First impression: Unattractive

At first click, the Hindu website is unattractive.

Nothing on the home page will capture a first-time visitor’s attention. Very little will bring on a second visit.

The site has white space, yet seems cluttered, disorganised and intimidating. A far cry from the neat, clean and understated style of the print edition.

In terms of readability, the site has some positives:

• Text is clearly visible.
• It is not hindered by mouse roll-overs or blinking text.
• Font size remains consistent.
• It does have satisfactory white space.

However, with standard monitor settings, the font size is too small. This makes skim-reading inconvenient.

With regards to design, the website has a simple, four column layout. This may be functional, but is no longer the conventional web design standard for news.

Other aspects of design are as weak.

Most strikingly, the colour is limited to blue. Dark blue text is used on light blue banners and for headlines. That’s surely a D on design 101.

This colour choice is hard to justify considering blue was never associated with The Hindu brand identity.

Further, the design does not draw attention to the most important aspects of the site. Indeed, there is no design aspect to indicate relative importance of items on the page.

Even the header or top banner of the webpage carrying the name of the publication is left-aligned and not made prominent.

Surprising humility for a media organisation or just ignorance of how web users read?

A ticker running across the top of the central column and carrying the headlines is the only attempt at making the site engaging and current.

Also, the site does not include audio or video, and the home page does not carry any multimedia features.

Instead, it is text heavy. Images when accompanying news stories are thumbnail sized. The only other elements are the distracting flash banners.

Some hope amid the clutter – the lack of graphics allows the site to download fast, and the site doesn’t demand endless scrolling down to read material.

Content: Detatched

The explorer who actually braved the home page to venture deeper into the site is immediately hit by another issue – the growing suspicion that they didn’t start off in the home page in the first place.

For The Hindu online has no clearly defined homepage.

News update page, Dec 14

While the 3 web addresses lead to the ‘Front page’ carrying the main news from the print edition, a prominently displayed link on the page (‘Breaking news and alerts’) takes the visitor to the ‘News updates‘ area of the website.

The two function independently, and it is the ‘News updates’ section that carries the topical, frequently updated news as expected of an online news site.

As mentioned earlier, the website does not carry video, audio or allow for extensive use of multimedia. Evidently The Hindu has chosen to ignore web 2.0.

Most significantly, the content is highly non-interactive. The “architecture of participation” that Tim O’Reilly considers essential for modern websites is completely absent.

The Hindu still only offers information, without any space for users to create information or at least participate in information exchange.

Pages carry no comments. Unlike most news websites today, The Hindu online does not allow for stories to be blogged, posted on social networking sites, or discussed in user forums. At most, there is a link to make emailing the article easier.

Standard convention today is to carry information on most emailed or most viewed articles. This is another way to acknowledge the user’s proactive role in news creation, but is lacking in this website.

However, in parts, the Hindu has embraced blogs. Special pages for certain issues and events use blog templates from wordpress and contain posts, comments and opinions from users.

Also, it appears that the Hindu does provide entertainment content for mobiles. News feeds have also been made available.

Writing: Saving grace?

The writing is the website’s greatest strength, in terms of the issues and extent of information covered. This is because the articles are the same ones printed in the paper, all of which follow high journalistic standards.

However, these have clearly not been written for the web. Instead, they are examples of print journalism reproduced with minor modifications, if at all, for a different medium.

Most articles do not follow the guidelines for web writing as set forth by Jakob Neilson.

• The titles do not always make the stories immediately clear and are not written for search engine optimisation.
• The introductory paragraphs are often too lengthy.
• The articles are composed of long paragraphs that make it inconvenient to skim read.
• The layout has not been modified to the F-shaped reading pattern of users.
• Many stories, especially the ones in the news update area are not broken down by sub-headings.

In some sections, the reporters have provided a short summary of the story in a couple of points, after the headline. However, the formatting of this, in italics and with a blue highlighted background, defeats its purpose.

Screenshot of an article on the website, Dec 10

None of the articles contain links within them. Further, they aren’t even linked to earlier stories from the Hindu on similar subjects. This results in a very linear, close ended method of information gathering.

The articles have not been written for search engine optimisation. Breaking stories from the Hindu rank comparatively lower on Google.

Navigation: Confused

Making this badly designed site worse is the confusing navigation.

The website is like being given a map with too many unmarked roads that all happen to be dead ends.

Little or no difference in text sizes between headers, titles and content, and lack of page names makes it hard for users to know where they are.

There is only a single navigation bar on the left column. There is no main horizontal navigation bar to identify the page.

The site also lacks a meta navigation tab with options for help, contacts or user account log-ins.

Such information remains hidden in the footer. However this section is duplicated to act as a header as well in some pages.

The home page of course remains a mystery.

It was only after many visits that one realises that ‘index’ links to the apparent home page. This link was hidden in the side navigation bar, between sections for agriculture, commodities and the photo gallery.

Significantly, the main head or logo does not link to the home page either.

The user quickly realises that the navigation is not consistent. In some inner sections of the website, the navigation bar shifts to the right.

The navigation hierarchy is disorganised. Although most pages will be available within three clicks, the sections are not clearly defined.

There are no dropdown menus. Subsections within sections are simply indicated by bullet points.

It is this inconsistency and disengagement that takes away the credibility so essential for any news website.

The Hindu online: the Verdict

When compared to award-winning news websites of The Guardian, New York Times and the BBC, or even other Indian news sites, the Hindu is a far way behind.

A simplistic design may be excused – after all The Hindu never needed glitz to attract readers.

But The Hindu online needs to be more relevant, readable and convenient if it wants to attract visitors at all.

With basic changes to the website, there is no reason why it can’t be an influential source of news online as well.

The dangers of being a journalist: A background

Recent reports have once again put the focus on the significant number of journalists whose profession puts their lives in danger.

86 journalists and media staff have been killed till December 3 this year, figures held by the International News Safety Institute have revealed.

According to Reporters Without Borders 127 journalists have also been imprisoned around the world and many more have gone missing.

The highest number of deaths has been recorded in Iraq. 15 media persons have lost their lives while covering the war in Iraq in 2008. This takes the total number of casualties to 252 since March 2003 when the war started in Iraq.

The statistics also show that Asia accounts for 34 deaths in 2008, while 4 deaths have been reported from Africa.

“Every job has its risks, and journalists, whose job is to bring into the open what someone wants hidden, are at greater risk than most,” says the IFJ.

Tracking the numbers

The International News Safety Institute is a non-political organisation of news organisations and journalist support groups that is concerned with the safety of media persons working in hostile environments.

These statistics released by INSI include all people involved in the assignment, including journalists, camerapersons, technicians, security staff and translators, “put in harm’s way as a result of media activity.”

According to the Institute, the danger to the journalist’s life was most likely where the journalist covered war, conflict, corruption, crime, and human rights issues.

However, the Committee to Protect the Journalists puts the number of journalist deaths a lot lower at 33 this year. These figures reflect only “confirmed” journalist deaths as a result of following a dangerous story.

Promoting safety

The safety of journalists on high-risk assignments is not currently assured by any separate law.

Governments are encouraged to help create an environment that promotes free expression of opinion and sharing of information. Press freedom can protect journalists from political and personal persecution.

Codes of practices proposed by news organisations and international journalist support groups have also been adopted for the safety of media workers.

The International Federation of Journalists calls for organisations to provide adequate safety equipment, preparation, training, and social protection to those on risky beats.

“Media organisations must guard against risk-taking for competitive advantage,” says the IFJ code.

Despite the rising statistics, journalism still remains a relatively safe profession, and is not considered by governments and insurance companies as one of the top most dangerous jobs.

The numbers for this year are still below the 171 deaths recorded in 2007 by INSI.

Click here for original story

Drinking to Get More Expensive

Special offers on drink, especially for women are on the way out

New laws to be unveiled by the government will make it harder to buy cheap alcohol, and will give the police more power to deal with underage drinking, The Daily Telegraph has reported.

Speaking to Bury the Lead, Constable David James of the Metropolitan Police said he personally supported the proposed regulations.

“This country has a culture of ‘get drunk as quickly as possible,’ and that’s dangerous,” he said.

The changes in legislation could bring a ban on happy hours, ‘drink as much as you can’ offers, and promotions offering free drinks for women.

Students who avail of these offers are worried about the further drain on their expenses.

Valeria Marchetti, 29, is one of the students in London who would now think twice before going for a drink.

“Sometimes students just need the entertainment after a long day at university,” she says. “If drinks become more expensive, then maybe I’ll buy some wine and drink with my friends at home.”

“Little difference”

For others however, regulations would make “little difference”.

“If I’m planning to go out, I’d go anyway. Sometimes, the difference between happy hour prices and normal prices is only 30p or 50p so it doesn’t matter,” says journalism student Javier Duque.

Warren Shread, 22, agrees. “A minimum price on drinks would not affect me. I’d still go out to drink,” he says.

The government decisions will not greatly affect university bars either. Many of them already have regulations in place that encourage responsible drinking.

Jim Chapman, manager of Undercroft, the University of Westminster student union bar says, “We already have a responsible drinking policy in place.”

“We could have dropped our prices to compete with local bars offering special promotions for students, but we chose not to, because we support responsible drinking.”

“Irresponsible” prices

The new regulations are to be detailed in the Queen’s Speech and will put a curb on what the Home Office calls “irresponsible” prices on alcohol.

The move is part of the Government’s attempts to tackle the issue of drunkenness, especially in youngsters.

According to the Daily Telegraph however, the ministers are unwilling to introduce a minimum price for alcohol. They are afraid such a decision would alienate voters in these times of recession.

Supermarkets have been criticised for offering alcohol at lower than cost price, at a loss, to attract customers. However, prices of alcohol at supermarkets and off licenses are not expected to be included in the regulations.

The dangers of being a journalist

By Karunya Keshav

Everyone knows that the world is becoming a dangerous place. And that’s because there’s a journalist at the scene telling you so.

Every now and then, reports in the media remind us just how risky the journalistic profession has become.

The ongoing inquest into the death of BBC producer Kate Peyton, of Beyton, Suffolk, was in the news last week.

Ms. Peyton was shot outside her hotel room in Mogadishu three years ago.  She was on an assignment in the war-torn region of Somalia.

It now emerges that she might have taken up the assignment as she felt pressured to prove her commitment to her job.

The BBC for its part, has some tough questions to answer.

Not least of all, regarding its risk assessment procedures that sent a team into “an extremely dangerous” but “manageable” place.

In the line of fire

Meanwhile, far away in Mumbai, India, armed gunmen launched a series of audacious attacks that has killed 178 so far and injured over 300, according to NDTV.

Armed with automatic weapons and grenades, news agencies report that they took hostages in two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a hospital, but not before shooting indiscriminately at people in and around these hotels, a train station and a popular café.

As this chaos unravelled around them, reporters and camera crews stood – quite literally – in the line of fire as they attempted to be the first to get the images.

An AFP reporter as well as local camerapersons were injured in the shootouts. Others escaped by mere inches.

One Italian journalist and a ‘citizen reporter’ felt the need to sneak past police barricades to capture the best images of the high-risk commando operations in the hotels.

Correspondents stood within the range of fire, ready to duck with every blast of gunfire that broke out. Live reports were punctuated by explosions in the background.

The CNN journalist in the video above not only had to deal with stray bullets and explosions in the background, but also angry crowds.

Rising numbers

But Mogadishu or Mumbai, the issue remains the same.

According to the International News Safety Institute, as of 26 November, 83 journalists and media staff have lost their lives while on their jobs. Many more cases are under investigation.

In truth, journalists today are more ready than ever to take great risks for the sake of their profession. Indeed, no less is expected from them.

“Many journalists are so passionate about what they do that the prospect of risking their lives to cover a major story seems as much a privilege and opportunity as a danger,” says a New York journalist who declined to be named.

The best of the 10 o’clock news comes with threat to life and limb and journalists themselves are reconciled to this fact.

But a more grave danger comes when the journalist becomes a part of the risk assessment.

And a seemingly expendable part at that.

Protecting Human Rights

It is a journalist’s responsibility to fearlessly provide unrestricted access to information to the public. Indeed, it may be their desire to do so. That’s why they became journalists in the first place.

But do journalists feel industry pressure to compromise individual safety and rights for the sake of broader rights of freedom of expression?

Journalists pride themselves on being in the profession often considered to be the protector of human rights.

In the process, are they neglecting to protect their own?

Click here for background information about journalist deaths in 2008