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The local paper needs the football club more than the football club needs the local paper

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by YankeeFan, Aug 4, 2015.

  1. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    So says the owner of a third-tier English soccer club, who has severely restricted press access to the team:

    In recent years, professional sports teams, and even some prominent college programs in the United States, have moved to exploit the shifting media landscape by limiting access and using their own platforms to control — and tailor — messages they then deliver through team-approved media channels.

    Swindon Town, a third-division club that typically plays in front of crowds of fewer than 10,000, has taken some of the most extreme measures yet: In effect, the team has eliminated non-game-day news media access. Reporters, photographers and videographers are largely barred from interviewing any member of the team, the coaching staff or the club’s management, save for a hurried question or two for the manager at a postmatch news conference.

    Lee Power, the Swindon owner, who put the policy in place, acknowledged the irony of giving an interview to explain the decision but defended the policy because, he said, “at the end of the day, the local paper needs the football club more than the football club needs the local paper.”


    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/s...his-one-repels-journalists.html?smid=tw-share
     
  2. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    This should be the extent of the weekly coverage now:

    Podunk Heights 2
    Swindon Town 1
     
    Kayaugstin Kott likes this.
  3. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    That will probably end up proving the club's point.
     
    YankeeFan likes this.
  4. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    The headline is undoubtedly true of any NFL team.
     
  5. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    #dyingmediumburn
     
  6. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    This could also lead to more false reports, since there is little to no access, which may end up biting the team in the ass.

    Tweet: " Jay Cutler limping at practice #ohno!"

    Bears: "No he's not, he's perfectly fine. The report has no merit."

    Reporter: "well, my source told me he was limping, and someone else told me he heard that too, so I reported it. Maybe if you'd let me attend practice, I would have been able to see for myself."

    Bears: "it's ridiculous where we live in this day and age of Twitter."
     
  7. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    Charter members of the Premier League in 1992, gone after one year. That, and winning the League Cup in 1968, are their only claims to any fame whatsoever.

    Perennial third-tier side, much like a Division II college here, and as such shouldn't get much publicity at all. That's what makes this club's stance odd. Sounds like a pissing match with the local rag.
     
  8. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    Probably more of a statement about the status of the newspaper than that of the team.
     
  9. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Are you talking about this particular club, or soccer in general?
     
  10. BDC99

    BDC99 Well-Known Member

    Absolutely. Fuck 'em. Write a brief off the web summary and put your resources into something more noteworthy.
     
  11. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    I wouldn't even do that. Don't put anything in there at all, unless the score happens to be listed among the standings on an agate page.
    They wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts.
    Don't run any wire copy, don't run any briefs on the team. No articles on transactions, games, nothing. Total blackout. Readers might complain, so you run a front page story explaining the situation and why it is the way it is. Don't take the high road. Make it well known that this is because of restrictive policies.
    I doubt it would bankrupt the team or anything like that, but if they don't want what amounts to free publicity then don't give it to them. If all they want is for the paper to cover games and give them free publicity, certainly don't give them that.
     
    SFIND likes this.
  12. BDC99

    BDC99 Well-Known Member

    Agree with you on every point. Was just thinking in terms of keeping the readers informed. We have a third-tier soccer team and an arena team in our coverage area, and we just run a few paragraphs on the games, written off info we cobble together online, and focus on the big leagues. If this team doesn't advertise in the paper, then the paper doesn't need the team one bit. And even if does, it's debatable. The previously mentioned soccer and arena teams have far more advertising than coverage we give them. They need as many ways as they can to build awareness and get people to the games.
     
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