It's the usual battle between print media and on-line media. Companies give the printed press an unfair advantage, even web-savy manufacturers like Ducati. They will give magazines and newspapers advance photos and specifications, but place an embargo on them. I.e., the print media are not allowed to publish anything until a certain date and time. If they do, they'll never receive any information again (at least, that's the theory). Thisn they say, is because it takes a magazine longer to produce and distribute.
But all print media have on-line websites. It means that they get the same advance text and photos, and on the hour that the embargo clears, it's on-line. Usually, the date and time coincides with an official launch. In Ducati's Streetfighter case, on Monday 18:00, we'll all be in the press conference room, getting the details and taking lots of photos. Then we need to rush to wherever we get internet access, write the story, crop the photos and publish them on-line. Several hours later, you, the reader, gets to see our articles. In the mean time, the printed press publishes their story on-line in the comfort of their offices, exactly on that deadline. The only thing we can do is publish photos from our own, not official ones.
What it means is that printed media are still favored by manufacturers, and on-line media needs to fight, often dirty, to get an edge. The manufactures are not making things easy for us. That's why I am happy to announced the HellForLeather  on-line magazine managed to get hold off these official photos. Since they are not on the Ducati distribution list, they are not complied to stick to the embargo dates & times.
The Ducati Streetfighter comes in the now classic Ducati model range, a Streetfighter and a Streetfighter S model. Both use the 155 hp 1099 cc engine. The difference is less weight, Marchesini forged aluminum wheels and Öhlins suspension front and back, traction control and data acquisition.
The Streetfighter has the same 1098 frame and engine, but for the rest looks and feels different. The dual exhaust, different headlights and a slightly longer wheelbase. The riding position is more upright.
So click here to read more about it, and see more photos
Note to the manufacturers: The internet is here to stay! We're not going to go away, and as a group of web publishers, we get more readers than any magazine. It's in your own interest to start treating us like adults. Play the game fair.
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