Negative Media

[aido_b]

Just been checking through some past articles written on the Eircom League and I've noticed how negative most of them are.

I'll give an example. An article one week says that "Richmond Park wasn't looking very well, no wonder fans stayed away". 2 weeks later the same Journalist started giving out about Eircom League fans loyalty.

My argument is why do Journalists complain about bad attendances at games if they're partly to blame? I know its their job to give out in some occasions but surely its time for them to start writing about positives in the league. I know this may sound stupid but whilst I was reading through these articles I didn't see one single mention of hot food at matches or friendly atmospheres.If this was reported on then it would attract families and more fans.

Just wondering if a mod can turn this into a poll!?!??!

Do the Irish media focus too much on the negaive aspects of the Eircom League? Yes/No

[Anto McC]

Compleatly agree with you aido b your spot on in everything you said.I remember one national publication and the coverage they gave an incident between fu*king sh*theads calling themselves Bohs and Rovers last season.The way they made it sound was every single fan at the game was involved and that it happens at every game and every club in the league.One of the Journalists involved has since i must admit been very positive in his reports but the rest are still as negative as ever.

[Slash/ED]

It's a joke. Anything bad happens and it's front page news, anything positive and it's rarely mentioned, meanwhile they continue to hype the bejaysus out of what has turned into one of the most boring seasons in premiership history.

[TonyD]

Paul Hyland of the Herald is a particularly bad offender. He only writes about the League when he is concentrating on off the field problems. The most recent example being Rovers current difficulties. I'm not saying such things should be swept under the carpet, but for Crissakes, I can't remember that particular "journalist" ever actually writing about on the field matters. The main problem with the Media here as far as I can see is that they just aren't interested in football in this country. They seem to cover it out of a sense of duty, or with the idea that they are doing someone a favour.

[CollegeTillIDie]

aido b

Spot on and one of the most negative is David Kelly in the Irish Indo.
A self confessed St. Pat's fan!

[hamish]

Guys, couldn't agree more with all the above posts. Sometime I just despair at all the negativity or apathy from the press with the odd exception. Didn't Cork City get a crowd a few weeks back that matched and, in most cases, BETTERED ALL other codes?

[mypost]

If you read Hyland's last articles about Rovers carefully, you would have noticed that he's still convinced that Rovers wear green and white "stripes".

[A face]

For phuck sake ... will these guys ever get a life !!

My take is that alot of these guys get bouts of writers block and try and using an eL bashing article as a means of filling the space. Alot of their articles, for the most part, dont show the full facts and alot of the time are largely inaccurate and misleading. It is just a means of glossing over their own inability to practice good journalism with articles that are hoodwinking the punter. It is a classic textbook “get yourself out of the shíte” measure that a lot of them use as a crutch. These type of articles, alot of the time are so glaringly bad, they just serve to highlight their own failings to any reader that has the slightest idea about what these guys are trying to write on.

A good measure to practice is boycott, if you know it shít .... then DONT buy it.

[aido_b]

For phuck sake ... will these guys ever get a life !!

My take is that alot of these guys get bouts of writers block and try and using an eL bashing article as a means of filling the space. Alot of their articles, for the most part, dont show the full facts and alot of the time are largely inaccurate and misleading. It is just a means of glossing over their own inability to practice good journalism with articles that are hoodwinking the punter. It is a classic textbook “get yourself out of the shíte” measure that a lot of them use as a crutch. These type of articles, alot of the time are so glaringly bad, they just serve to highlight their own failings to any reader that has the slightest idea about what these guys are trying to write on.

A good measure to practice is boycott, if you know it shít .... then DONT buy it.

And may I say very well put a face. I must agree with you on the above. I think its high time that Journalists covering the Eircom League began focusing on the positives. I wait with baited breath for this weeks match reports,

Lets see if any of them have learned how to report positively on The Eircom League!

[A face]

Evening Herald

I dont get much of an opportunity to read the Herald down this way, what is it like overall on eircom League coverage ?? Would it be regarded as good / comprehensive ?

I have seen some hoardings for the Herald but are they a good sponsor for clubs in Dublin ??

[aido_b]

Aidan Fitzmaurice a writer for the Herald is in my opinion one of the best sports Journalists in Ireland. He reports on every aspect of the Eircom League no matter whether its Monaghan or god forbid Cork . I think he used to write for the Title. But overall the Herald is very good for Eircom League coverage.

Just wondering what everyone elses take is on Neil O Riordan and Stephen Finn in the Irish Sun, I think the Sun has some of the best Eircom League Coverage at the moment.

[Slash/ED]

I have seen some hoardings for the Herald but are they a good sponsor for clubs in Dublin ??

No. In fact Rovers fans are still boycotting the paper afaik after the absolute farce of an article they printed calling the Ultras neo nazis and claiming they had links with all sorts of nazi groups worldwide. Incredible stuff.

With the Herald, if it's bad news for the EL, it's all over the paper like a rash. If anything positive happens, you get around half a page, most of it taken up with a picture.

[Éanna]

Just wondering what everyone elses take is on Neil O Riordan and Stephen Finn in the Irish Sun, I think the Sun has some of the best Eircom League Coverage at the moment.

Agreed. I think the Sun is very good.

[soccerc]

I recently read an article on the current problems Rovers are having in the Herald written by Paul Hyland and it was ****e. It was blindingly obvious that the whole article was written from information given to him on a press release.

Again, far from the truth.
What Press Release? Do you think Rovers board actually sent out info to the media?

I assume you are all in favour of Aidan Fitz because like you he is a Bohs fan.

One of the problems with Irish football is that complicity exists between all those with a vested interest NOT to report the failings.

[anto eile]

With the Herald, if it's bad news for the EL, it's all over the paper like a rash. If anything positive happens, you get around half a page, most of it taken up with a picture.

a picture of a ball in the air and two players jumping to head it.i reckon most EL photos in the papers involve a "ball is in the air" picture

[gael353]

our biggest enemy locally is the press and not other sports as a lot of people say. In the biggest paper the limerick leader, thay often dedicate three/four/five/six pages to rugby of the provincial team and one more to the local teams. then the hire a GAA fanatic who pushes pages of ****e about our non compeditive teams, then theres the soccer (senior) guy making cheap swipes at the team and slagging off anyone and anything as well as writing in the most childish ways eg" there was a lot of ooohhs and then there was a lot of aaahhhsss." this hardly encourages anyone to come to see a football match if they think its a pantomine. the yes to being totally biased and unfair the the league gets my vote.

[crc]

Overall, yes; but it varies a lot. The two papers I read most are the Irish Times and the Examiner, which are normally fairly good for eL. What really annoys me is that none of the Sunday broadsheets give a sh*te. Most of them don't even carry the league table, but normally have a syndicated results page which includes the Irish League. No disrespect to the IL (which I try to follow aswell), but this is essentially a big two-fingers to eL football - its as big an insult as the narrow-minded bigoted sports editors of these papers can give us. The worst offender IMO is the Sunday Indo, which I would never buy (but someone else in the house does buy).

[Anto McC]

I assume you are all in favour of Aidan Fitz because like you he is a Bohs fan.

I agree with aido b about Aidan Fitzmaurice i think he is one of the best journalists in regard to Eircom league,I also think the The Sun newspaper has good coverage of the Eircom league.

What do cork fans think of The Echo's(think thats the name) coverage of the league and is their any offenders writing for that publication.

[Éanna]

What do cork fans think of The Echo's(think thats the name) coverage of the league and is their any offenders writing for that publication.

in fairness to the Echo, the amount of coverage has been pretty good for the last 2 years or so, since we signed a sponsorship deal with them. The quality is another matter entirely Chief football writer there is Noel Spillane, who's record includes the following:
- misquoting players
- using quotes from players long after he was given them
- accusing the Shed of racism for booing Mbabazi about 2 years ago.

[Sonic]

in fairness what about the irish mirror on fridays and mondays excellent coverage