Timing is everything. The news cycle is such that it can be easily manipulated, used to bury or promote stories depending on precisely when they are released.
Press releases sent out after 5pm on a Friday usually contain news that the sender wants buried, as the next opportunity to see that story in print will come on Monday, when much of the world has moved on. The internet has changed this slightly, in that stories can miss the weekend papers yet still gain traction online, but the timing of releases is still key.
Bernie Ecclestone has long been aware of how to time his media interactions to ensure maximum coverage, and he is also no stranger to using controversial comments to make sure his quotes appear around the world, in both mainstream and specialist media.
This morning, as has become a traditional part of Formula One's pre-season, Ecclestone used a Daily Mail interview to bemoan the state of the sport that made him a billionaire. "Formula One is the worst it has ever been," the 85-year-old F1 supremo told the paper. "I wouldn't spend my money to take my family to watch a race. No way."
In addition to the Ratner-ing that has formed part and parcel of Ecclestone's pre-season since the 2014 introduction of the new hybrid power units - which the F1 czar criticised publicly before having heard or seen them run - a gauntlet was thrown at the feet of FIA president Jean Todt.
"Jean, unfortunately, has become a diplomat," Ecclestone told the Mail. "He wants everyone to be happy. It's a nice way for a president to think but it doesn't work like that. You can't make everyone happy.
"Jean is doing a very good job for road safety. He makes a big effort. He travels the world meeting people. But his interest in Formula One is purely a result of being president of the FIA and the fact that he is expected to be there for Formula One. He doesn't look to do anything that might destabilise what he really wants to do in the UN. He should carry on with the other stuff, but hand over responsibility for Formula One to someone else. I am going to speak to him about it."
While Ecclestone did not name a favoured replacement, telling the Mail that it was up to the FIA, he underscored his remarks with an example of what he saw as Todt's diplomatic weakness.
"At the last World Council one of the vice-presidents put forward a motion that Mr Ecclestone and Mr Todt could do whatever they needed to do to sort out Formula One, and that was passed," Ecclestone recalled. "I said, 'Jean, we can now do what we want'. 'Ohhhh,' he said. 'We'll get sued'. I told him not to worry. If people sued us, we would pay the costs of everything. If there were damages to pay, we would pay the damages. So we had a loaded gun. But he said he didn't want that sort of problem on his watch."
Ecclestone's favoured style of leadership is rather more autocratic than Todt's, and it is hardly surprising that the man who has previously cited both Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin as examples of effective leadership would find it hard to enthuse about the democratic process. Unilateral decision-making is certainly more efficient than seeking consensus, but efficiency is far from the only measure of effectiveness.
Simmering away in the background of Ecclestone's comments is the sense that the F1 kingpin is looking to exert as much pressure as he can on both Todt as an individual representative of the FIA and on the Federation as a whole with a view to reshaping the relationship between the regulator and the commercial rights holder (CRH) so that changes to Formula One can be driven through more effectively than is currently the case.
Ecclestone acknowledges that part of the problem currently facing the sport he made so profitable lies in the decision to create the F1 Strategy Group in 2013. While the decision to give certain 'legacy' teams additional influence on the regulations was proposed by the FIA and the CRH, with Ecclestone saying at the time that the group would improve the process, he has since changed his tune.
Ferrari and Mercedes now have enough influence in the F1 Commission - the body with all teams represented, and which rubber-stamps or rejects proposed regulations - that if the two engine suppliers cooperate they can effectively torpedo any decisions they think potentially prejudicial to their interests.
"This sort of thing is what is commonly known as a cartel," Ecclestone told the Mail. "And cartels are illegal. We are running something that is illegal. On top of all that it is anti-competitive."
Be careful what you wish for - it might come true...