OwlsFan
21/11/2005, 12:49 PM
It's amazing what you can get away these days as a journalist. Here are some extracts from Fanning's article in the Sunday Indo: "one player confided", "it is said by some", "a source close to the player", "as one player put it", "a friend says", "but says the friend", "one director commented", "those close to him" and "it is understood".
A whole article built around anonymous quotes. I could write an article, taking whatever angle I wish quoting anonymous sources to present whatever picture I want of Keane (e.g. one player confided he was sick of Keane's hypocrisy and it is said by some that Keane only returned to play for Ireland as a PR gimmick while a source close to the player said Keane thought Cork is a kip etc etc). What Fanning does is decide what way he wants to go with the story and then attributes anonymous quotes to back those theories.
That's why all these breaking stories about who will be the next manager based upon anonymous quotes should be taken with a pinch of salt. They are journalistic figments of the imagination to fill space.
A whole article built around anonymous quotes. I could write an article, taking whatever angle I wish quoting anonymous sources to present whatever picture I want of Keane (e.g. one player confided he was sick of Keane's hypocrisy and it is said by some that Keane only returned to play for Ireland as a PR gimmick while a source close to the player said Keane thought Cork is a kip etc etc). What Fanning does is decide what way he wants to go with the story and then attributes anonymous quotes to back those theories.
That's why all these breaking stories about who will be the next manager based upon anonymous quotes should be taken with a pinch of salt. They are journalistic figments of the imagination to fill space.