Indy reverses course

By: David Noack and David Jackson Pressure from papers brings credentials victory

In the face of mounting media pressure over the banning of a Sports Illustrated reporter from the Indianapolis 500, the top official of the premiere racing event reversed course and said the journalist can now cover the race.
The quick turnaround came after several major national newspapers late last week decided not to send staff reporters to cover the race, which will take place May 30.
The controversy was sparked when speedway president Tony George refused to give press credentials to S.I.'s senior racing writer Ed Hinton. George was upset with a story Hinton did for the May 10th issue of S.I. about a May 1 accident at the Vision Aire 500 race in Concord, N.C. The article, headlined "Fatal Attractions," says that such racing accidents, in which three fans were killed and several injured, are avoidable.
The magazine also ran a graphic Associated Press photo of two bodies covered with white sheets in a blood-soaked grandstand.
Newspapers covering the Indianapolis 500, such as the Chicago Tribune and The Boston Globe, were prepared to keep away or withdraw their staffers and rely on wire service coverage. Other newspapers, such the Los Angles Times, were mulling what action to take before the decision to reinstate Hinton's press credentials.
While not specifically backing S.I., the paper's felt a stand had to be taken over the issue of linking press credentials to editorial coverage.
In reversing the ban on Hinton, George says the controversy was detracting attention from the race.
"It's not right to allow Ed Hinton to have a forum that takes away from what's really important here. I still think he's dangerous to himself and the sport he's been assigned to cover," says George.
Dan McGrath, sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, says he is sending a writer and photographer to the 83rd Annual race and may possibly send a columnist to supplement the Tribune's coverage, which will resume with Saturday's paper.
"I hope our readers will benefit," McGrath says. "We never wanted to deprive our readers or boycott the race, but we wanted to make a statement against what we saw as a form of censorship."
When asked what sparked the reversal of Hinton's ban, Indianapolis Racing League (IRL) spokesman Fred Nation says, "This issue has dominated the media center for the last two days. It was a diversion [from] what we are here about."
He says the IRL "felt the only solution was to reinstate the credentials and move forward. We made our point about the problems of the tabloid-style coverage we received in Sports Illustrated and their fascination with death and tragedy."
Joe Assad, senior publicist for S.I., says, "? we felt they [Hinton's press credentials] never should have been revoked in the first place and [we] are planning on sending Ed to Indy."
Assad continued, saying "not one facet of our coverage has changed and Ed now has access to the pits."
As far as the use of the photo, Assad says the magazine firmly stands behind the use of the photo in the story.
In addition to the press credential controversy, opposite Hinton's story on racing fans being killed, ran an ad for Valvoline that shows five men looking under a car hood, with the caption
"You're born. You die. In between you work on cars. We should all be so lucky."
Assad says the magazine takes full responsibility for the placement of the ad and "that it was a gross mistake on our part."
Indianpolis Racing League officials obejected to this S.I. story on fan fatalities.

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