Fixed-Gear Article in the Observer 9th March

velocity boy
Journalists have forever mid-understood, mis-represented and simply not got subcultures.

I dont know. I think there are plenty examples of great journalists documenting subcultures. Hunter S. Thompsons Hells angels book, for example. But they all come from writers taking time and making an effort to understand that culture.
I do take your point. This is a frickin' newspaper. On a Sunday. Its easy like sunday morning entertainment for people who got wasted on saturday but want to prove they didnt quite destroy all their brain cells. What were we expecting?
As bikesnob said:
If you're unfamiliar with the [new york] Times, it's sort of an obituary for subcultures, in that once yours appears there then it's already dead.

I'm sure Ms.F. is a perfectly nice person. She seems to be. And I like journalists. I used to be one. I still live with one. I just have no interest in collaborating with media I have no editorial control over. Media whos primary aim is to sell their brand/product on the back of my culture and (mis)represent it according to the percieved values of their readers. I'm glad you mentioned the Mail. I like to hope it'd have been an easier call to just hang up if they'd called instead of the Observer.

Incidentally, over on MovingTarget, theyre debating the ethics of messengers appearing in a McDonalds commercial...