The Bloggers Don’t Have The Resources To Do Major Investigations … Yet
In a perfect world the bloggers would be focussed only on covering their local clubs.
There would be no need for commentary, for breaking news, for correcting and dealing with lies.
All this has come about because the MSM in Scotland is hopelessly compromised and corrupt.
I make no apology for using those particular words; they are an accurate reflection of where we are.
If it wasn’t so, if the media actually did what it was meant to do, if it actually reported the news and went after the facts there would be no need for us to. And in many ways it would be better, by far, for Scottish football if that was the case. Because the media has resources the bloggers simply don’t have.
They have a surface credibility we can’t touch at the present time. A journalist can pick up a phone and call any national organisation for a quote. He or she can email a club to ask to talk to an official or player. They can go “on the record” with a manager or director.
And they can dig. Using sources in various public bodies and with the power of a media organisation’s chequebook behind them they can get information that’s beyond the reach of even the most diligent and dedicated of the Bampots.
This site depends on advertising. Many of you have complained about it, and I’m sympathetic of course. But without it there wouldn’t be a site. Over on Fields I maintain that site on donations. (Feel free to make one if you like the work I do haha; you can do it by clicking on the link at the bottom of the last piece).
I put less time into that one than I’d like, and why?
Because the big pieces, the investigatory ones, they get published over there and I’m not able to devote as much time and attention to them as I’d like.
My resources and time are limited. To do a major investigative piece is a huge undertaking for one person working alone.
There aren’t always enough hours in the day.
Newspapers have multiple journalists working on a big story and they’ve got the money and the influence to back them up. We don’t have that. Yet.
But Fields has been going strong for four years on the back of reader support. I’ve been running this site now for a little over two, and it’s working out. I’ll never have the resources of a national title, but as long as things are going well I’ll be here, doing this.
On top of that, the readers make us credible. The more of you there are the more we look like an alternative to the MSM. That’s opened doors for us; many of us now get access to the kind of information that explodes onto the front page.
People don’t expect payment for it, or credit … many of them hear snippets and think they are worth passing on, but occasionally you get a true insider, someone who knows a story deserves an audience and has the facts to do it justice. Those are little gems, little packets of gold dust, and the more of them there are the better we’ll do.
Finally, it’s not unusual these days for bloggers to work together on a story, and the more successful they are at doing so the more of those close collaborations there will be. That can give us the weight and the clout to really break the can of worms open.