A polemic with Yanek Sterzel.
On Saturday afternoon I have read a column in the Italian TKART titled “Caso South Garda Karting. Perché TKART non ne parla? “ Exactly 13 days after the events in Lonato, one of the largest Italian karting media, in the pen of Yanek Sterzel, commented on what we all saw, what the whole world was talking about, and some have even forgotten. TKART goes back to the case of Luca and Marco Corberi.
Yanek Sterzel, one of the most recognized Italian karting journalists in my opinion, extremely nice, whom I appreciate and like a lot, tries in a strange way to convince the karting audience of the reasons and lines of his newspaper. I am surprised. And I can not accept arguments to which both the columnist and the Italian newspaper have a sacred right. I have them similarly to express my opinion on Yanek’s text.
I read in TKART: “TKART si occupa di karting. Strano a dirsi ma è così. Da circa 15 anni, per altro. Quello che è successo nell’ultimo mondiale KZ al South Garda di Lonato (lancio del musetto e rissa a parco chiuso) non è stato karting. And further: “Noi, dal canto nostro, che parliamo 365 giorni l’anno di karting, abbiamo evitato di affrontare gli episodi accennati sopra. (…) Ma la domanda corretta da porsi forse è: perché ne avremmo dovuto parlare?“
Yanek sums up his newspaper’s position by playing with “options”, which TKART might have done (and did nothing) and immediately gives an answer to each of them. Apparently, the Italian newspaper got a lot of questions, as we can also read in Yanek’s text, why such a reputable medium did not take a position on this matter. Sincerely? I am not surprised by these questions and those expressed a bit later. But let’s get back to Yanek’s column.
„Opzione 1: semplicemente per darne notizia
Risposta: Beh, certo, perché senza TKART il mondo non sarebbe venuto a conoscenza di quanto accaduto… Dopo 3 minuti che i fatti erano avvenuti erano già virali sui social. Che cosa avrebbe aggiunto una nostra news?
Opzione 2: per dichiarare il nostro disgusto e prendere le distanze dai fatti accaduti
Risposta: Cerchiamo di dare notizie, quindi informazioni che abbiano un reale rilievo e interesse. Credo che non sia uno scoop o una “notizia” il fatto che TKART condanni gesti di questo genere. Non credo ci voglia un genio a capire che non siamo favorevoli a questo tipo di comportamenti, è un’ovvietà. E le ovvietà, mi hanno insegnato, non sono notizie, non serve scriverle. Diverso sarebbe stato se fossimo stati coinvolti direttamente nell’accaduto, allora sì che avremmo preso le distanze nel caso ci fosse stato il dubbio che l’episodio ci potesse vedere coinvolti. Se qualcuno si aspettava uno “statement” da TKART… Beh, è rimasto e rimarrà deluso. Ovvietà cerchiamo di non scriverne, le lasciamo ad altri.”
I was amazed to read this text. What must have happened at TKART, that the newspaper waited two weeks for Yanek Sterzel’s column to comment on the whole matter in a rather ironic way, and above all to present his point of view in a way completely incomprehensible to me, downplaying these events?
Have you not noticed, gentlemen, that the FIA, the Italian Federation, the Sports Tribunal and the public prosecutor’s office were referring to the case? Is this really your attitude towards the most important events on the karting track and paddock, even if they are not sporty and fair? This is how you treat the journalistic obligation to inform readers and express your opinions as one of the main karting media in Italy and the world?
Yanek wrote that the whole world was talking about it from “CNN to Amazon Prime Sport”, so what would “their information about it bring”. With your column, you want to announce to all of us that you just gave your opinion on these events to journalists who have no idea about karting, have not been in it for 15 years like you … Well, you have the right to do so.
My point of view on this is as follows. Paraphrasing Yanek’s words, I answer. For those who do not know or have not noticed: Polski Karting deals with karting. Strange but it is. For about 10 years. Well, what happened at the last KZ World Championship at South Garda in Lonato (bumper throwing and park fight) was not karting. It was banditry. But speaking of karting 365 days a year, I do not avoid confronting even such episodes. The real question is why talk about it at all? The answer is simple. In order not to be silent like TKART, not to give opinions on this subject to people who do not deal with karting and, above all, to inform karting fans about the development of the situation.
Because the duty of a journalist is not only to report on the results on the karting track, but above all to give opinions on all events in the karting world, as beautiful as the first ever victory of the French in the KZ Championship and as fatal as the bandit behavior of two Italians during these championships, threatening the health and life of others participants of karting struggles.
You have failed me, and probably many of your readers. Me and a whole lot of karting fans looked at TKART in anticipation of the opinion about the events in Lonato, the assessment of the attitudes of their main characters, also negative ones. We all felt disappointed …
But for me it is even more disappointing to read the clear message that flows from the Saturday text in your website. TKART deals only with “news” and topics that do not require difficult judgments and confrontation with negative developments in karting.
Paweł Surynowicz
Link to Yanek’s Sterzel text in TKART.it
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