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Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Reporters are not the enemy
By Michael Gallagher
THE comparisons between the World Cup and Ireland’s GAA scene continue to stack up.
I was very interested in an article filed by a well-respected journalist during the week. In his well-structured piece he contrasted the aftermatch attitude of the English and American players.
He explained that after America’s narrow extra-time defeat to Ghana he was in the mixed-zone when the players came out of their dressingroom and walked back to the team bus. All but one of them stopped to have a few words with the reporters explaining that they were devastated and heartbroken, before heading for the bus and the plane home.
The following day, after England were hammered by Germany the vast majority of the players walked past the reporters as if they were a piece of dirt on their shoe. They hadn’t the class or the intelligence to say a few words utter a few sentences they were the only ones hurting after all!
The American players knew that if they stopped for a few seconds and uttered a few sentences they were doing their fans a service. It didn’t have to be mind-blowing stuff; it didn’t have to reveal their innermost thoughts. All they had to do was take 40 seconds out of their existence to answer a question posed by a professional journalist. The US players had the self-confidence to do so, but the majority of the English players were above all that.
They strode through the mixed zone with paranoia dripping from their shoulders. Every journalist was out to get them; every journalist would destroy them if a few sentences were uttered. Who were these guys with the dictaphones anyway they were nobodys, they hadn’t been important enough, talented enough, lucky enough to have played at the top level, so their opinion didn’t matter. They didn’t even deserve courtesy.
One or two of the more down to earth, intelligent players stopped for a few moments and spoke to the press and amazingly they didn’t combust on the spot, they survived the experience and moved on unscathed after answering a few questions.
The man who wrote the article comparing the reaction of both teams argued the point that a lot of sportspeople treat the press with disdain and show great discourtesy towards journalists, but this emanates from a lack of communication between both professions.
Some teams, but not near enough, have undertaken media training recently. In a short time they come to realise that the press is not an enemy but can be a very useful tool. They come to realise that the vast majority of journalists aren’t interested in finding out the interviewees most intimate secrets, all they’re interested in is an opinion on sporting matters and their thoughts on an upcoming match, fight, race etc.
Some of the most successful teams use the media very well. They see it as part of the bigger picture and not as some ogre waiting in the long grass to jump out and devour some innocent footballer. Those who use the media well use it to put out a message or a spin that suits their objective.
England, obviously are too important to bother about such matters. Maybe we should all learn something from their arrogance.
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THERE are days when the madness of the GAA really astounds me. On Saturday last the local journalists were kept out of the pressbox in Markievicz Park. Hopefully I’ll have gathered my thoughts sufficiently by next week to write about it calmly and correctly, but the way we were treated in the Sligo venue says a lot about the way local journalists are viewed by some.
All we needed was a table and a plug in any area of the ground where we could see the pitch, but that was deemed out of the question by the powers-that-be. Maybe, they don’t understand but a journalist cannot sit in an ordinary seat and rest his lap-top and notebook on the back of the person in front of him while plugging it into a cigarette lighter.
We were left standing outside the press-box while national journalists were accommodated. I thought the day of doffing the cap to the boys from the east coast was gone, but obviously not everyone thinks the way I do.
All I can ask the Connacht Council is where are these Dublin journalists on a wet, windy day in November when the province’s college matches are being played? I know that the Western People will be on the sideline reporting on the matches but obviously that 365 days a year service isn’t good enough. We just don’t matter, The fact that we’re deemed worthy of carrying national media passes was irrelevant in Markievicz Park we’re just the local boys, not really professionals or so they think! Incorrectly, may I add!
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Returning to the World Cup theme, I knew my goose was cooked when I looked at the office noticeboard on Thursday morning. The World Cup sweep had been updated overnight and my team, Ghana, had been crossed out.
The fact that the Africans had still to play Uruguay in the quarter-final might have been lost on the biro-wielding fiend but I had to admit they were only signalling the inevitable. Ghana will not win the 2010 World Cup, despite the fact that I could badly do with the slight cash injection their victory would bring me.
On almost all occasions reality outweighs fantasy and in all honesty I could have put a line through Ghana the very day my name was stuck beside them on the WP World Cup Sweepstake. It was fun keeping an eye on their progress and I have to admit that I was luckier than some of my colleagues who drew North Korea, Nigeria, Honduras etc. The fact that there was no prize for the worst team in the competition meant they were gone before the first ball was kicked.
Ghana, on the other hand, have tried their best and were the last African team standing but the person who put a line through their name on Wednesday wasn’t particularly farseeing just realistic.
That said, they could and should have got to the semi-final, but the width of a crossbar will haunt them for the rest of their days.
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