A quick precis of The Scotsman website provides you with an interesting look at how newspapers and media organisations are chasing cash at the expense of quality reporting.
I hate to single out one particular outlet at a time when the entire Scottish sporting press is engaged in one of the most dishonest campaigns of ignorance, obfuscation and distortion that it has ever been my displeasure to see, but The Scotsman offers us a grim look at the future which you have to hope quality sites like The Herald and The Guardian don’t embrace.
There was once a time when The Scotsman was considered a serious broadsheet; we’re way past that now.
Its political articles are so derided that on the left and in the independence movement it’s now referred to as The Hootsman. But its sports pages retained some measure of quality until recently, and it’s been going downhill ever since.
Yesterday was a case in point; a quick look at its headlines reveals some stuff right out of the bottom drawer. In fact, strike that, this was the crumbs, the old wrappers and the dust balls that you find when you lift the drawers up to clean what’s underneath them.
Celtic Fear Partial Ground Closure Over Pitch Invasion.
Really? Who told them that? Celtic insiders? Read the article. It’s guesswork on the part of the hack writing it, desperate guesswork with a leading headline slapped on the top.
French Paper L’equipe Slam Celtic With Rating Of 3.2 Out Of 10
That “article” is about 200 words long, and holds no interest for anyone except gloating Sevconuts who’ve forgotten what Proges looks like. I have never known our media to care what the press in another country was writing unless it reflected negatively on us, and there’s really no need to publish an article that skewed unless it’s to attract flies.
Celtic 0 – 5 Hearts 1895: The Last Time Celtic Lost 5-0 At Home
Another miserable piece, less than 200 words long, consisting mainly of a screengrab of an old newspaper article from the 1880’s. There’s no context presented, no examination of the PSG forward line or what it cost … just a dig. Just a snide little dig.
Celtic’s Uefa Charge Sheet – £237k Paid In Fines In 10 Years
Not an article with the slightest merit; less than 200 words long, if you discount the laundry list that it decides to put forward, most of which was made up of flares and banners. Hardly rioting in the stadium and sadly for the hacks not enough to have closed the ground.
Why Jozo Simunovic Could Have Been Shown A Red Card For Psg Penalty
Seriously? This? An article with two by-lines at that, one the ex ref Craig Anderson. Remember him? He was the guy who co-wrote the ridiculously convoluted, contradictory and nonsensical article on why Steven McLean’s punch at Kieran Tierney earlier in the season didn’t merit a red card. In the last year he also argued that Jayden Stockley didn’t deserve one for his vicious elbowing incident and that the Motherwell thug Ryan Bowman didn’t deserve one … all of these offences were made against the same player, by the way, Scotland’s best prospect in years. None of them, in Anderson’s opinion, merited a red … but Jozo Simunovic’s foul on Tuesday could have been. But it wasn’t, and the rulebook is quite clear on why. Pure clickbait.
Uefa Charge Celtic Over ‘Fan Invasion’ During PSG Clash
Fan invasion? One guy constitutes an invasion? This, incredibly, is actually the wording of the UEFA charge sheet. Ridiculous in the extreme, but to see it splattered on a headline could give a casual observer completely the wrong idea and think a riot had been in progress.
Rangers’ Bruno Alves Rated Higher Than Any Celtic Player In Fifa 18
I don’t know what’s most troubling about that headline; that someone checked all that out, that someone thought this was a news story or that someone thought a living soul who the term “sad life” was not coined specifically for would even give a toss. News? Less than 200 words of utter, utter, utter garbage masquerading as an article.
And this is where The Scotsman is headed, down the long slide towards utter irrelevance and tabloid mediocrity.
Which is dreadful, as it has some outstanding writers on the team and those headlines were grouped around one particular piece, by Stephen Halliday, which was fine work and actually manages to say something, and something worthwhile, amidst the white noise.
You can read his excellent article by clicking here.