I’m going to begin with a little inside baseball about journalism. The status every reporter worth their salt is trying to reach is the point where juicy tidbits start being sent to you. Tip-offs from contacts you’ve met along the way, or information that is dropped into your lap by someone you don’t know but who is aware of your work and trusts that you’ll do a good job with whatever they’re giving you.
Within cycling media, Dan Benson is obviously at that level. Our Iain Treloar also gets sent oddities for him to dig into. I am not quite there yet but a couple of times have had helpful things land on my desk. It’s very exciting when it happens.
So, when an Instagram DM from an account I don’t recognise arrived overnight on November 9 last year, I opened it as soon as I woke up the next morning, hopeful it was something interesting to keep me occupied during the dark days of the off-season. This is what it said.
The DM
“Hi Jonny. The following email came across my desk. Just looking to verify it's from you. FYI, I've created this burner account for privacy reasons,” the DM read. It’s been sent from an account called @frankthetanklovesmayonnaise, with their name listed as John, who has also chosen to redact certain information.
“I can't send images unfortunately, but the email said (with some information redacted):
Good morning (redacted),
My name is Jonathan Long, I'm a freelance investigative journalist who writes for numerous outlets including Escape Collective, Cycling News and a couple of British sports and media outlets.
I'm currently writing an article on the UCI and the potential for some countries to (redacted) for their own gain. I've been forwarded a letter (redacted) to the UCI (redacted) and I'm hoping that you'd be prepared to comment publicly on some of the areas you raised.
Specifically, areas relating to the (redacted) and the obvious flaws that you've raised.
If you're happy to be interviewed for this important piece please respond to this email directly, there's no immediate deadline for publication but I'd like to have it finalised in the next week or two.
Kind regards,
J. Long”
Then another DM from John immediately after: “If you'd like a photo of the email before you can verify you'll need to follow me on here.”
“Hey, that is super weird! Definitely not from me,” I replied. “Have followed you back, would you mind sending a photo of the email please. What was the email address it was sent from?”
I waited patiently all day for a response that didn’t arrive but then woke up the next morning to a reply.
“Hi Jonny. I appreciate you getting back to me,” read the latest DM from John. “Please see photos above. You can only open them once before they disappear. I reached out on behalf of a concerned friend who received that email. I can ask them which address it came from.”
I replied that yes please could they ask which address it came from as I was going to try and get to the bottom of all this. I then grabbed my laptop, opened up the Photo Booth app for the first time since I was about 14 years old, and balanced it on my lap in order to video the disappearing photos. Here are the photos of what was sent.
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