Originally Posted by
Steve Finan
The perception of newspapers is a subject I am very interested in. This is a good, honest discussion.
I won’t, indeed can’t, defend everything written in a newspaper. The editor definitely wouldn’t want me to. Any editor will choose columnists to represent different points of view. But the thoughts and opinions of one columnist can no more be said to be the view of the entire newspaper than can the thoughts and views of one poster be taken as the collective view of Dundee United Mad.
When a team is doing well, there will be column inches in newspapers praising them, vice-versa when doing bad.
For every camera capturing sad emotions, there will be a dozen capturing happy emotions. I managed to produce a book (Arabs Away — that could easily have been double the size) of photos of United supporters celebrating. Some of you are pictured in that book.
The newspapers in this city have a continual line of communication with both city clubs. The more savvy managers use this to their advantage and will provide and even suggest photo opportunities and stories. They know that providing good copy and good photos gets their team reported upon in a positive light. Good publicity engenders interest in the club, and gets supporters through the turnstiles. Jim McLean was very good at this, having discussed it with, and learned from, Jock Stein. In turn, Stein learned it from Shankly and Busby.
The media landscape has changed, of course, with clubs now churning out their own publicity material.
The difference from the official club line is that journalists know they have to be impartial. So if they look back over their past fortnight’s output and reckon they have written a dozen positive stories about a club, they will attempt to balance it by talking very plainly, indeed critically, when there is a negative story. And sometimes there are negative stories, bad performances. They have to convince their editor, their readers, and sometimes themselves, that when called upon they can give an impartial view. They are only human.
Again, Jim (I keep giving Jim McLean as an example because he was so good at this) would tear strips off reporters who he thought had done him or his club a disservice — and would even ban them from Tannadice for a while. But he did this because he deeply understood the nature of his job and its relationship to the reporters’ job. It was all an attempt to steer the coverage of his club. And Dundee United benefited greatly from his media skills. Football club management isn't only what happens on the pitch.
Very few reporters have a one-way, one-team agenda. I have never met such a reporter. And it would be ridiculous in a newspaper that exists in a two-team town. They'd be out of a job inside a week. Different in a city like Aberdeen with one club (although it will be interesting to see how the rise of Cove changes this).
If you put yourself in the shoes of a reporter, who has a job to do, who is sent to cover a Dundee FC game . . . and Dundee play very well and win handsomely, what do you write? I know that opens itself up for jokes but to be serious for a minute, if you’re being professional, what do you write?
Our local papers do a fantastic job covering both clubs, and St Johnstone, Forfar, Brechin, Montrose, Raith Rovers, Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath (remember, The Courier is the Angus, Fife, and Perthshire newspaper, as well as the Dundee paper.) Supporting United would be a diluted, lesser experience without the continual flow of interviews, analysis, and commentary. You don’t have to like every word, or agree with every sentiment — just as you don’t like every word/sentiment uttered on here, or on any other media platform that talks about United.
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Keep up your excellent individual work, I also got your book on Scotland which was also right up there with the Jim one and despite what I may have just said there are still clearly some continuing to fly the journalistic flag down DC’s way.
