NUFC and the Sun newspaper link up

M5

Not sure if this was spotted, but NUFC and The Sun have signed an agreement.

It basically means the following

-The Sun Pay for "Platinum access" which gets them exclusive access to the players for interviews, for example they are the only paper with a Cabella interview

-The Sun is not to publish any "negative" stories about the club.

This leads to stories like this being printed:





Its a very worrying development as papers who do not sign up for the packages get 0 access to the club. The ones who do pay are forced to put a positive spin on all stories concerning the club and basically act like a mouthpiece.

I'm pretty sure that other clubs will look at this arrangement and perhaps do something similar. If that happens football journalism will be so sanitized it will be worthless.

CSF

There is definitely a strategic fit there anyway, given the owner and the manager

Frankie Lee

CSF wrote: »

There is definitely a strategic fit there anyway, given the owner and the manager

And their main sponsor, I feel sorry for their fans having to put up with the behaviour of the club. Good transfer window for them though.

5live

It should make interesting reading when Liverpool play Newcastle.

citytillidie

5live wrote: »

It should make interesting reading when Liverpool play Newcastle.

Opps just arranges flights for that game in Newcastle too, could be fun

greendom

Wonga and The Sun. Classy !

mikeym

greendom wrote: »

Wonga and The Sun. Classy !

A payday loan company that fleeces their borrowers and a Rubbish Tabloid.

GLaDOS

Any other newspaper and I'd say fine, but getting any football team getting into bed with The Sun leaves a bad taste.

Blazer

why on earth would any paper pay for a deal like this?
No one really gives a rats ass about NUFC anymore thanks to Ashley and I'd imagine this would actually hamper sales?

gandalf

Just when you thought Mike Ashley couldn't drag Newcastle any lower.

M5

Several if the local papers have been banned for daring to report on a protest against Ashley. Scary stuff.

I reckon that other clubs will go after this revenue stream too.

gandalf

JPA

ugh, this is disgusting.

Richard Hillman

I think Mike Ashley gets an unwarranted rough time from fans and some sections of the media.

M5

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I think Mike Ashley gets an unwarranted rough time from fans and some sections of the media.

please share your insight

The Backwards Man

My membership is up next week.

Guess I won't be renewing it so.

LuckyLloyd

The conflict of interest here is pretty laughable, but football journalism has been pretty irrelevant for a long time. A healthy and vibrant journalistic culture couldn't produce this sort of arrangement. Rather, this deal is a symptom of the way football journalism works, not a cause of the issues.

Lovely Bloke

yeah, I reckon the Sun/Newcastle are just formalising and monetising an arrangement that already exists between clubs and journalists.

I mean didn't the bauld Ferguson ban journos from press conferences if they slighted him, and if anyone is deluded enough to think that bigwigs at their own club weren't at exactly the same carry on, well then, they need to take a look at themselves.

But, but, but Fergie was evil! My club wouldn't possibly be involved in anything like that.

gandalf

Hmmmm we should formalise our "relationship" with the mail and get paid when they post negative stories about Arsenal!!!

Reekwind

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I think Mike Ashley gets an unwarranted rough time from fans and some sections of the media.

Did you read that in the Sun?

That_Guy

Cringey but I don't read newspapers so for me it's easily ignored. Smart move by the Sun in fairness. Disgruntled Newcastle fans will hear about some utter tosh in an article and buy the paper out of curiosity pushing sales up.

If you take any publication as gospel then you're doing football wrong. Granted, there's some decent and insightful articles about but The Sun is and always will be gutter journalism.

DARK-KNIGHT

The sun gave us page 3 ya gotta love that paper

5live

DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »

The sun gave us page 3 ya gotta love that paper

Standard bearer of journalistic integrity for sure...

Corholio

DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »

The sun gave us page 3 ya gotta love that paper

It's a pity Wise wasn't still there. Could definitely have had two tits on there then.

smileyj1987

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

I mean didn't the bauld Ferguson ban journos from press conferences if they slighted him, and if anyone is deluded enough to think that bigwigs at their own club weren't at exactly the same carry on, well then, they need to take a look at themselves.

Some journalists are banned from football clubs completely . I mean if I could ban jeoff shreeves from my club I really would !!!!

LFC won't give the sun the time of day at all . Even the people in the area around Liverpool won't either . Sure they signed a deal with the uk postal service to give out free copies during the World Cup and the postal workers around merseyside refused to deliver the paper .

gandalf

gandalf wrote: »

Hmmmm we should formalise our "relationship" with the mail and get paid when they post negative stories about Arsenal!!!

Ozil will end up paying for himself in no time with the bad press he gets

K-9

Deleted User wrote: »

Ozil will end up paying for himself in no time with the bad press he gets

Arsenal should do a deal with a cigarette company too, him and Wilshere would bring in a fortune!

Gerard could maybe get sponsored by a mobile DJ?

Professional Griefer

Someone set up a company called Gushing Granny(grannies?) and get em to sponser Rooney. :P :pac:

DrumSteve

Doesn't make any difference to my life, never buy the Sun.

It's a rag, to call anything that's printed on it either "News" or "Journalism", is an insult to actual journalists.

M5

DrumSteve wrote: »

Doesn't make any difference to my life, never buy the Sun.

It's a rag, to call anything that's printed on it either "News" or "Journalism", is an insult to actual journalists.

It sets a dangerous precedent, clubs refusing to talk to papers who wont pay for access and only print positive stories! It just might!

batistuta9

M5 wrote: »

It sets a dangerous precedent, clubs refusing to talk to papers who wont pay for access and only print positive stories! It just might!

They're contractually obliged to give access anyway by the PL aren't they? Pretty sure they are

Journos have their allegiances anyway already, you'd spot it with your own team. john cross & amy lawerance both cover arsenal and support them, they're never too scathing compared to others on whatever topic but they do criticise them

Ashley and the sun are just monetising it.
Would it be much different to what happens in spain

Traditional media is dying anyway for most football fans and the sun have lost a lot of readers since they implemented the paywall, they're being hammered numbers wise, physical copies way down too. The leveson enquiry hasn't helped either

M5

batistuta9 wrote: »

They're contractually obliged to give access anyway by the PL aren't they? Pretty sure they are

Journos have their allegiances anyway already, you'd spot it with your own team. john cross & amy lawerance both cover arsenal and support them, they're never too scathing compared to others on whatever topic but they do criticise them

Ashley and the sun are just monetising it.
Would it be much different to what happens in spain

Traditional media is dying anyway for most football fans and the sun have lost a lot of readers since they implemented the paywall, they're being hammered numbers wise, physical copies way down too. The leveson enquiry hasn't helped either

They are, and do, but what NUFC have done is cut that to the bare minimum. Also most of the locals are banned from entering the stadium for daring to report on a protest march that actually happened (excuse to not speak with them).

Agreed on traditional Media, but I'm sure the new arrangements can be tailored to fit the new media.

Its hyperbolic to describe it as stasi esque, but that is the closest thing I can think of. The club has been a shambles and now mentioning that gets you a ban?

Another disgusting chapter to the vile Ashley reign at the club.

batistuta9

M5 wrote: »

They are, and do, but what NUFC have done is cut that to the bare minimum. Also most of the locals are banned from entering the stadium for daring to report on a protest march that actually happened (excuse to not speak with them).

Agreed on traditional Media, but I'm sure the new arrangements can be tailored to fit the new media.

Its hyperbolic to describe it as stasi esque, but that is the closest thing I can think of. The club has been a shambles and now mentioning that gets you a ban?

Another disgusting chapter to the vile Ashley reign at the club.

It'll make them and the others more determined to make it known id imagine and dig up any dirt they can.
Some guy left out of the team for a few weeks won't be long calling his agent and getting them to pass stuff to whoever will listen

The first weeks of the season will be interesting, what way will the others approach it

I doubt it, Newcastle fanzines, podcasts whatever will hardly be bought out

M5

batistuta9 wrote: »

It'll make them and the others more determined to make it known id imagine and dig up any dirt they can.
Some guy left out of the team for a few weeks won't be long calling his agent and getting them to pass stuff to whoever will listen

The first weeks of the season will be interesting, what way will the others approach it

I doubt it, Newcastle fanzines, podcasts whatever will hardly be bought out

Yeah, that's true aright. Turning the press against you also has consequences though.

Funilly enough though, our summer recruitment seems to be unaffected!

Paully D

Looks like The Sun have turned after the Mirror and Sky were the only ones given access to the McClaren press conference:



Quite a change from this, this time last year:



It's funny how the papers given access change their tune regarding the issue instantly. The Mirror writers were extremely critical of their Sun counterparts this time last year, now the opposite as they try to defend it :pac:

More on the background behind it:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jun/12/the-sun-criticises-newcastles-reporter-blacklist-with-special-back-page

The Sun has criticised Newcastle Football Club owner Mike Ashley after the paper’s reporters, along with those from many other publications and broadcasters, were barred from interviewing new manager Steve McClaren.

The Sun has published a special edition for the north-east of England with a banner message to Ashley on its back page saying: “We won’t dance to your Toon!”

Inside the sport section, a double-page spread criticises Newcastle for blacklisting newspapers not deemed “friendly”, which meant that only “preferred media partners” the Daily Mirror and Premier League TV rights holders Sky were allowed to interview McClaren on Wednesday.

“The message screaming out of St James’ Park is this is a fresh start, a clean slate from the troubles of last season,” said David Coverdale, the Sun’s football correspondent for the north-east. “But this message is being controlled by Newcastle via their preferred media partners.”

McClaren reportedly told sports journalists barred from the press conference afterwards that he was not allowed to speak to them.

Coverdale goes on to argue that only “independent newspapers – like the Sun – can really be trusted to hold the Toon to account”.

Last year, however, the Sun was accused of a very similar “media partnership” by rival journalists when it was the only newspaper to be invited to a press conference.

The Sun denied the accusations, saying it was not involved in any discussions that gave it “exclusive access to a football club, or prevent other media outlets from having access”.