Are You Watching Mr Barber?

[brakespear]

What an absolutely idiotic idea - Ashley has obviously forgotten he has a product to sell and free press helps. What a moron.

this.

 

[The Sock of Poskett]

First of all, let me say that the Albion are exceptionally helpful to the media and I can't believe they would consider following this unbelievably short-sighted example.

Okay, Newcastle are a basket case in so many ways that it's not terribly surprising that they would be the first to make such an idiotic move. It's one more step towards total control of all output, with only the club's official outlets allowed to talk to players - completely uncritical, with no difficult questions. Perhaps that's what some fans want, but if they think about it, they probably don't.

NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball teams all regard British football's relations with the media with disbelief and can't understand why our clubs turn away free publicity. The US media grants almost unfettered media access, with every training ground having a dedicated media room that's in use every day except game day. There's locker-room access before and after games - the sort of thing that would give media directors here heart failure. And yet somehow the NFL and the rest have limped along ... oh no, wait, they make fabulous profits, don't they? Without charging the print media a penny for access - in fact, the reverse: they lay on great facilities.

The media, willingly or not, are part of the promotional machine that helps to make Premier League clubs and players rich. Asking them to pay for the privilege is insane.

Spot on.

 

[BadFish]

Useful, yes, I agree. But they would not have done it out of the kindness of their hearts they would have done it to sell papers. If they would have made more money by being on the other side they would have done that and helped us go out of business.
If they get a sniff of a good story to sell a paper they will do anything to get it so I don't think it would effect how useful they would have been in the Archer and Falmer campaignes.

the worry is that, if they fear that their contracts will not get renewed if they don't kowtow to the club. Will the media be reporting accurately and fairly or will they make sure that those in charge of the contracts are seen in the best light possible.

This could have been a disaster for us in the dark days.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

Because in times of need they can be quite useful to have on side. How would our campaigns against Archer and the Falmer saga have gone with no, or negative coverage even, from the Argus? How much was the Argus publicity worth to BHAFC during the dark days? Again this is probably aimed more at smaller clubs rather than the Premier League clubs and national papers.

Beat me too it Leigull....What sells the Argus more than any other factor are reports on the Albion...which is good free publicity for the club and paper sales. You scratch my back syndrome...keep it as it is...it's not broken...

 

[luge]

First of all, let me say that the Albion are exceptionally helpful to the media and I can't believe they would consider following this unbelievably short-sighted example.

Okay, Newcastle are a basket case in so many ways that it's not terribly surprising that they would be the first to make such an idiotic move. It's one more step towards total control of all output, with only the club's official outlets allowed to talk to players - completely uncritical, with no difficult questions. Perhaps that's what some fans want, but if they think about it, they probably don't.

NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball teams all regard British football's relations with the media with disbelief and can't understand why our clubs turn away free publicity. The US media grants almost unfettered media access, with every training ground having a dedicated media room that's in use every day except game day. There's locker-room access before and after games - the sort of thing that would give media directors here heart failure. And yet somehow the NFL and the rest have limped along ... oh no, wait, they make fabulous profits, don't they? Without charging the print media a penny for access - in fact, the reverse: they lay on great facilities.

The media, willingly or not, are part of the promotional machine that helps to make Premier League clubs and players rich. Asking them to pay for the privilege is insane.

On the TV side, of course, we have been paying for years for access (although we would actually get the between matches stuff for free). However what you do get tends to be pretty poor - a player infront of a curtain, mumbling his way through half arsed sentances. The better clubs - and Albion fall into that bracket - are responsive to trying out different things, but it remains a rarity.

When I do other things, such as F1, the access is much, much greater and as a result the publicity is enormous. Sadly (some) Olympic sports seem to now be following football's route. A mistake.

In terms of charging media, it has happened before: but it does not lead to open and honest journalism. Monetising access shifts the paradigm. If you paid alot of money for access, you need it. If you need it, then you might just happen not to report something.

In any case, people will still leak stories to us hacks.

 

[kevo]

As an aside, this is a superb article demonstrating how Ashley has been an absolute financial disaster for Newcastle:

http://www.themag.co.uk/tyne-talk/ggg/

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

What about all the other papers who just report on us when there is something to sell? I can understand letting the Argus in free though.

Features on Championship clubs don't sell many papers on their own. They are part of making a paper a generally interesting product that readers will want to keep buying because they believe that there will be good stuff in it. And if a club has an interesting player or manager or is doing something interesting or worthwhile (teaching Charlie Oatway to read, for example) then any decent journo will want to tell that story - and it also helps the profile of the club. If you don't want Albion players or Oscar to appear in the national papers and would rather read about Barnsley or Plymouth, then by all means encourage the club to follow Newcastle's example.

Somehow I imagine that if Newcastle want publicity for one of their community initiatives, then the charges might miraculously be waived - but they may find that papers might remember the way they've been treated in the past.

 

[edna krabappel]

Features on Championship clubs don't sell many papers on their own. They are part of making a paper a generally interesting product that readers will want to keep buying because they believe that there will be good stuff in it. And if a club has an interesting player or manager or is doing something interesting or worthwhile (teaching Charlie Oatway to read, for example) then any decent journo will want to tell that story - and it also helps the profile of the club. If you don't want Albion players or Oscar to appear in the national papers and would rather read about Barnsley or Plymouth, then by all means encourage the club to follow Newcastle's example.

Somehow I imagine that if Newcastle want publicity for one of their community initiatives, then the charges might miraculously be waived - but they may find that papers might remember the way they've been treated in the past.

The players' agents might find it worrying if their clients suddenly stopped being featured in the media, and they seem to hold all the power these days, so I can't see this particular stunt coming off for Ashley.

 

[Bwian]

Paul Hayward just tweeted this link to an article.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spor...ews/newcastle-united-reveal-plan-make-6394831

First time I clicked on this link Avast blocked it and said there was a virus. Second time today that's happened on NSC today for me.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

What happens if they sign a deal with the Sun and Sunderland sign with the Times...... could neither report on the game as 'exclusive' or both?

Madness

 

[drew]

Don't most people get their info via digital media, whether that be from the official website, other news gatherers, social networks etc. As far as Newcastle are concerned, how many seats do they sell on the back of the local press or, for that matter, the national media? Not many I would suggest. I suspect that what this is about is the a reliance on the 'religious fervour' for Newcastle FC by it's fans and the probability of subscriptions to it's own tv program.

 

[Simon Morgan]

No, I'm not.

 

[super-seagulls]

I knew I should have added a smiley...

A comma would have been a good idea.
I thought you were asking me wether or not I was watching Mr Barber.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

What happens if they sign a deal with the Sun and Sunderland sign with the Times...... could neither report on the game as 'exclusive' or both?

Madness

At the moment they're not talking about restricting match coverage but interviews, access etc between games.

Although access to press boxes is covered by something called DataCo, which insists on organisations such as newspapers having hefty public liability insurance, and freelancers and news agencies the same. You need £10m in public liability insurance to cover Premier League games, less for Football League games. In case you spill tea on someone's laptop, I presume.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Don't most people get their info via digital media, whether that be from the official website, other news gatherers, social networks etc. As far as Newcastle are concerned, how many seats do they sell on the back of the local press or, for that matter, the national media? Not many I would suggest. I suspect that what this is about is the a reliance on the 'religious fervour' for Newcastle FC by it's fans and the probability of subscriptions to it's own tv program.

They would rather, no doubt, supply and/or direct the religious fervour themselves. A press that is free to be critical where necessary is of incalculable value - as has been said here, you wouldn't have wanted most people in the Archer/Bellotti days getting most of their information from official club sources, would you?

 

[Acker79]

A comma would have been a good idea.
I thought you were asking me wether or not I was watching Mr Barber.

Are you? Are you watching him to see if he does something similar?

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Cannot believe there are football fans who think it is not a bad thing for a club to charge newspapers for access to players.