Lantern Rouge is getting attention for not properly disclosing vested interests. Summary: at the tour they announced near the end in a tweet (since deleted) that they were consulting for team Jumbo Visma as analysts and thanked themselves for the role in the team success.
Issues raised in their media content included things like encouraging fans voting for / against certain riders through to their team consulting work where of press access to interview riders and get insights when vested interest not declared.
Many media people working with media/teams have various interests, some prioritise photography for specific teams or some journalists who are associated with teams / brands… but it is always known / upfront. Same in my case.
This is a tweet I saw that first highlighted it (I don’t follow / watch Lantern Rouge). It’s a long one with different viewpoints.
all i will say on this as a journalist is that people who perform as media outlets and get designated press access at events (whether they label themselves as journalists or not) should disclose conflicts of interest before not after the fact. that's basic ethics, sorry.
source & twitter thread
I am sure this is the kind of story that Ian Treloar of CyclingTips is interested in and would create an interesting story.