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The Roar

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Is it the media's responsibility to only report good news stories?

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13th September, 2018
22

Wasn’t that an exciting 24 hours when we all thought Andrea Pirlo might turn out for Victorian state league side Avondale FC in the FFA Cup?

I happily watched one of those video highlights packages that showed Pirlo curling home a free-kick for Juventus and strolling around the Italy midfield like a bearded hipster in search of his next caffeine hit.

I even allowed myself, just for a second, to imagine what it would really be like to see one of the finest Italian players of his generation run very slow rings around defending FFA Cup champions Sydney FC at a packed ABD Stadium in Broadmeadows.

But that’s about as far as I got.

It’s not because I doubted Fox Sports – who first broke the story and who are generally on the money with this kind of thing – that I didn’t bother to get my hopes up.

It’s just because until the news was confirmed, I couldn’t see the point of getting too excited.

But I feel like I might be in the minority. And it left me wondering about the nature of these sort of stories and the impact they have on our game.

It’s been a topic this week because Josh Dugan – the Cronulla Sharks centre who was sacked by one NRL club, walked out on another, was accused of a boozy bender before a State of Origin decider and who was just involved in an expletive-laden podcast targeting a veteran rugby league journalist – blamed the media for the public’s negative perception of him.

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And while it would be easy to laugh, anyone who saw the footage and heard his voice crack with emotion was left in no doubt that Dugan – if not anyone else – actually believes that.

Josh Dugan Sharks.

(AAP Image/Daniel Munoz)

But here’s the problem – and this counts just as much for the A-League as any other sport.

The stuff I just mentioned isn’t made up. It happened. We know because it was investigated, confirmed and reported by the media.

It’s not my problem if Josh Dugan thinks he gets a raw deal from journos, it’s literally his.

Nor is it my concern when an organisation like Football Federation Australia cops a backlash for its National Club Identity Policy it says will be dealt with following a review to be completed “by early next year”.

I’m not sitting here making the rules, I’m simply writing about them.

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Yet I often hear from readers of The Roar that if only the A-League received some positive news stories, it would skyrocket in popularity.

And a few of you have made it clear that you don’t always appreciate my critical tone.

But the idea that positive stories will gain more traction doesn’t necessarily ring true either.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a positive story about the quality of the A-League’s latest imports and it only generated 20 comments.

I’m not pointing this out to lecture anyone. As someone who simply calls things as I see them, for me good news stories and bad news stories are pretty much all the same.

But I think there are some misconceptions around A-League coverage that might be worth discussing.

One is the idea that it’s easy to write good news stories. It’s not, because many A-League clubs make it difficult to talk to them and their players.

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Why wouldn’t they? If you’re a coach who only cares about what happens on the pitch, why worry about what happens off it?

Usain Bolt. Andrea Pirlo. We’re often left with these sorts of stories to generate clicks and sell a few more match day tickets.

And there’s an irony in the fact that Avondale were chasing a player who played 60 games for New York City FC.

No point wondering if Pirlo might have been tempted to switch to Melbourne City, however, since The World Game reports they’re likely to fill their final visa spot by signing Ritchie De Laet.

The last line speaks for itself.

“Melbourne City declined to comment when contacted by The World Game.”

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