An editor has defended his newspaper’s football coverage after a manager accused the media of being negative about his team to get a reaction on social media.
Norwich City FC boss Alex Neil, left, claimed journalists write “what they think fans want to hear”, instead of expressing their real opinions, in order to get “retweets and likes” on Twitter and Facebook.
In response, Norwich Evening News editor David Powles said the NEN had “no such agenda” and that it would be against the paper’s “best interests” to take that stance.
In an editorial, he said the idea that negative stories sell more papers is a misconception – and that the opposite is actually true.
Speaking at the club’s annual general meeting, Mr Neil had said: “I think the one thing that happens now is media and certain aspects write what they think is what fans want to hear, rather than what their own opinion is, because I think people want retweets and likes and all the rest of it.”
Although the Canaries boss did not mention the NEN by name, David said it was a good opportunity to address the issue.
He wrote: “While I cannot comment on the county’s other media outlets, I want to make it clear that as far as Norwich City is concerned this newspaper has no such agenda to push. And if we did it wouldn’t be in our best interests.
“Football sells newspapers and gathers website clicks. However, there’s a common misconception that negative, critical stories do this more effectively than the rest. The opposite is actually true.
“When Norwich City does well, it has a positive impact on our success. People want to read about the club’s achievements and they flock to us to do so.
“When things are going badly, there’s less of a desire to rush out and buy Monday’s Pink Un and read all about it. This means that if we are being negative, it’s with a heavy heart.”
He added: “Our sports reporters are given the freedom to provide an independent, balanced and, where need be, constructively critical eye on what happens at (City’s home ground) Carrow Road.
“Sometimes that will necessitate being negative, other times positive – but always fair. And fair is what I’d like to think they are.”
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Blimey, here we go again on the self-publicity bandwagon. It’s a good job Peter Barron has retired!
And, based on everything we read on HTFP and know about the current parlous state of regional newspapers, Facebook likes, Tweet likes and shares are top of the agenda.
I remember being told that ‘journalist does job’ was good enough back in the 1980s. It’s what we get paid for. Now we seem to want a round of applause.
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Perhaps the coverage would have been more positive had the team not lost five league games in a row….
In all seriousness this does show the value of an independent media. Some clubs (insert police forces or councils if you wish) believe they don’t need to accommodate national or local media because they have their own departments. I guess Norwich FC’s PR team did not provide much critical analysis of the team’s slump???
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Meaningless debate. Waste of time. The football manager (generally) has the intellectual capacity of a Pokemon Go character. The nature of the beast is that he cannot be objective and think beyond his own narrow definitions. What this particular manager says is barely formed and not thought through but it’s useless arguing with him. He won’t understand and you will only make things worse. He’ll be gone soon, anyway.
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When Neil gets sacked (they all do eventually) let us test the editor’s theory that bad news does not sell papers. I think the Titanic helped shift a few copies, and I seem to recall that was quite bad news at the time.
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Yet another opportunity for self promotion and bandwagon jumping in a desperate attempt to flog a few papers
With around 10,000 copies of the paper sold , the days of people “flocking” to the evening news have long gone.
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Don’t think Mr Neil needs to worry overmuch about the NEN message board however – it’s one of the funniest things in football, enjoyed by football fans across the land, they don’t even need to poke it with a stick after a defeat, the gift that keeps giving.
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