At the start of this month, I marvelled at a decision made by Conservative Central Office’s media team to invite only a select group of journalists to cover the Prime Minister’s visit to Scotland. What was astonishing about it was that those journalists who were on the guest list refused to enter the press area without the rest of their colleagues.
I thought the contrast between what they had done and what our media did when faced with a demand from Ibrox that media outlets pay to attend press conferences was stark and shaming to our sporting hacks.
Because, of course, some of those outlets did pay, and they sat in those press events as “club media partners” compromising their integrity and leaving their colleagues and those outlets which refused to play ball in the lurch.
Those outlets which paid are a disgrace to journalism. They betrayed the principles on which they whole rock of the profession is built. They sold out their colleagues. They made their readers unable to trust a single word that they wrote about that club.
Their political colleagues gave them a proper showing up in that case, and their London colleagues have gone even further.
The Tory Party actually tried the exact same scam as the Ibrox club did, by trying to charge journalists and outlets for attending their annual conference. Every single outlet and journalist has point blank refused to do so.
The idea looks certain to die on the vine.
It will be years before a major UK political party – or indeed any reputable organisation at all – tries that little stunt again.
I don’t know whether Ibrox ditched the policy or if it still continues, but I do know it’s an idea that should have been killed in the crib.
Instead their reaction added to the general sense that they are prisoners of the Ibrox club, unable or unwilling to cover stories or write anything which upsets their relationship with the hierarchy over there.
This is bad for the Scottish game. It leads to all manner of nonsense at Ibrox, including the destabilising of the league’s sponsorship deals and attempts to oust the SPFL and SFA executive boards; not necessarily a negative goal, but one where the objectives have to be right and theirs are based on rabid conspiracy theories and naked hatreds.
The media has helped to build the Ibrox monster.
Had they acted, last season, as their political counterparts have twice in the last few months maybe their profession would have a shred more credibility. Maybe we wouldn’t all treat them like a joke.
Worse than hookers, who only sell their bodies. The Scottish media sold their souls a long time ago.
Soulless unprincipled tarts, all of them.
The disgraceful part of your great piece James is that all of these ‘ business partners ‘ from newspapers ,bloggers, radio , television and all components of the SMSM in general who paid the ‘ cash for questions ‘ to Ibrox , did so either directly or indirectly using public money ultimately ! Either through purchasing of papers , membership subscriptions to whatever agency , or just being a cog in the financial wheel of advertising or goods bought ….Let’s call it reckless consumerism at its most vile !
Brilliant piece James.
The jackson’s, chris jack’s and the assorted other pro-ibrox excuses for journalists, are in their ‘safe zone’ up here and naebody knows it like they do ! Step outside Scotland and their deluded, hysterical, hype and views, would be met with intelligent challenge and scrutiny ! As a result, they would be exposed for the fkn phoney’s they are ! Absolutely nae doubt about that and actually havin tae ‘pay’ for the ‘privelage’ of attendin an ibrox press conference, was and is excruciatingly embarrassin, tho nae big surprise when they actually paid it.
P.S. Challenge by other media outlets. Just tae make that clear.
If only they had refused to promote the Lie/ Myth post 2012 then
the Scottish Football Landscape might have looked completely
different now.
The Scottish so called football journalists are a disgrace to their profession. Journalism both in print and broadcasting in Scotland is very poor and the fault line is jobs for the boys culture.
In the world of Scottish referees there is the same fault line.
Now and again I notice there are one or two Celtic supporters on this site trying to defend this shower of cheats and try to deny the open cheating that 90% of Celtic supporters see with their own eyes.
No penalties conceded in the SPFL since April last year. The only team in the SPFL and EPL not to concede a penalty in season 22/23. The whole of Scottish Football should be asking questions about this statistic but as usual silence will be the name of the game. Even from our own board.