Can you imagine the media outrage if this was a rugby league story

[Parra]

The problem examples being raised all point to one culprit - the Daily Telegraph. The solution is simple - stop buying it.

The Tele doesn't confine it's sensationalism to rugby league. Look at the hysterical articles about the NSW State Government, lebanese crime, P plate drivers, bikie gangs & refugees/illegal immigrants.

Stories like the Matt Johns saga will always be there and will always be overdone in the Telegraph. This one has less to do with league and more to do with the fact that Johns has gone out of his way to build one of the highest media profiles in the sport. I am surprised his team haven't played the tall-poppy-card yet. It will come.

Head one further level down the media ladder and you can see what the woman's mags do to celebrities. It's much worse than any sports reporting - but it obviously sells.


Wishing the same garbage on other sports wont cut it either. Anyone who reads past the headlines knows that AFL has produce more sordid, and serious issues in the recent past that any other Aussie sport. You don't need sensationalism to tell you that.

 

[Gibbo]

Media Watch tip-offs

You can contact Media Watch in the following ways.
Email:
mediawatch@your.abc.net.au
Mail:
Media Watch
GPO Box 9994
In your Capital City
Telephone:
02 8333 4454
Fax:

 

[Brutus]

The problem examples being raised all point to one culprit - the Daily Telegraph. The solution is simple - stop buying it.

It's not just the Telegraph. And I don't need to go into examples because we all know what they are.

You certainly enjoy finding ways not to back RL.

 

[Brutus]

Unfortunately the media reflects what people want to read. It seems that in NSW sensationalist headlines about the main code sells newspapers. In Victoriania sensationalist headlines create a backlash.

A backlash from the AFL - not the general reader.

 

[Edwahu]

7 News during Sunrise actually had the gall to say "Only 10 players tested positive". Kochie did put the boot in afterwards at least.

 

[Parra]

It's not just the Telegraph. And I don't need to go into examples because we all know what they are.

You certainly enjoy finding ways not to back RL.

That's your weird slant on things. You seem to delight in painting the sport as some sort of victim that needs your support. I'm talking it up - you keep making comparisons to AFL and in most cases the examples are irrelevant. Who cares about it or what goes on in Melbourne?

League is the dominant sport in Sydney. Has been for generations and it shows no signs of anything else. The sport thrives on controversy and is a great example of 'any publicity is good publicity'.

Get hold of the '40 Years of RLW' for a great review of league reporting - the good and the bad - since 1970. And that is just from one publication. Talking up stories is nothing new, the practice wont go away and despite the lurid headlines, seems to do no lasting damage.

 

[Parra]

I'm not asking for examples - but it is clear that The Telegraph has significantly lowered the bar for Sydney newspapers, including the off-field incident reporting for rugby league. It's probably what happens in a market where the competition is reduced and then eliminated.

The Tele used to compete as a morning paper with the SMH. The Mirror & Sun were the afternoon tabloids and the Mirror was trash. The Sun disappeared, the Tele merged with the Mirror and despite it's name, it is really the trashy Mirror that survived.

 

[Jason Maher]

Some bad maths in that article: if the number of positive tests this year is 12, and this is a 1% decrease from last year, then that means there were 12.12 positive tests last year, a clear impossibility.

edit: I see the problem. The word "below" should be insrted before "1 percent". They are saying 12 is less than 1% of 1220 (which it is, just).

 

[rabbitohs]

A backlash from the AFL - not the general reader.

That is the fault of the NRL not the AFL or anyone else then.


However I am perturbed but not suprised by the attitude of some of the AFL lot that it only constitutes 2% of the player population in the AFL and comparing that to normal professions like teachers etc....thereby completely missing the point that these guys KNOW they will be tested and are still too stupid and arrogant not to take the stuff!

 

[The Business]

I know how it is in Sydney. I don't read the Melbourne papers.

Comparing them with the Sydney press, and the number of people who follow league, is ridiculous based on population numbers and circulation numbers alone.

League stories are big news because they sell papers in the biggest market in the country. No other sport comes close.

Mate in Melbourne you will get anything between 10 and 20 pages of AFL. We are lucky to get 3 or 4 for rugby league most days.

 

[seanoff]

That is the fault of the NRL not the AFL or anyone else then.


However I am perturbed but not suprised by the attitude of some of the AFL lot that it only constitutes 2% of the player population in the AFL and comparing that to normal professions like teachers etc....thereby completely missing the point that these guys KNOW they will be tested and are still too stupid and arrogant not to take the stuff!

can't legislate for stupidity. any population will have a percentage of idiots. and no matter what you do, they'll still be idiots.

 

[hineyrulz]

Already turned the story into a positive one on SEN tonight.
"We should be thrilled with the results"!!!!!

:lol: f**king unbelievable!!

 

[LESStar58]

There was one of those readers letters in Perth's The Sunday Times newspaper last weekend which the woman wrote something like: 'I had always believed all NRL players to be meatheads. Recent events have only confirmed this.'

My view on people like that is this; they have probably NEVER watched a game of rugby league in their lives.

Those of them that rave on about the off-field stuff are the ones who view the game as "blokes with no necks running into each other" and "putting their heads up each others arses" and thus think they are the same off the field.

I believe unfairly unbalanced reporting plays a part but it's just general ignorance on behalf of most people.

 

[LESStar58]

The problem examples being raised all point to one culprit - the Daily Telegraph. The solution is simple - stop buying it.

I have been looking for an excuse to stop buying the Herald-sUn for years. When they gave Bourbon Becky a space to run her editorial re: MJ and the criticsim she has copped and when she had a go at those who wanted to defend Matty that was the end of that.

2 years ago I gave up Maccas. This year I've cut Pizza Hut, Dominoes, KFC and Hungry Jacks out. The HS should be a piece of piss to do away with!

 

[Brutus]

Stop Press!!

Cooper Cronk and Brett Finch fined $5,000 each for doing wee wees in Byron Bay!! They weren't even intoxicated!!

This story just led the 2UE News. It started with "More scandal in rugby league":lol:

 

[Brutus]

I know how it is in Sydney. I don't read the Melbourne papers.

Comparing them with the Sydney press, and the number of people who follow league, is ridiculous based on population numbers and circulation numbers alone.

League stories are big news because they sell papers in the biggest market in the country. No other sport comes close.

You do know the Herald Sun has the highest circulation of any paper in Australia don't you? Yes the Melbourne paper.

 

[Parra]

You do know the Herald Sun has the highest circulation of any paper in Australia don't you? Yes the Melbourne paper.

Interesting. Serves the state not just the city.

How do the stats for NSW papers stack up?

 

[Parra]

Stop Press!!

Cooper Cronk and Brett Finch fined $5,000 each for doing wee wees in Byron Bay!! They weren't even intoxicated!!

This story just led the 2UE News. It started with "More scandal in rugby league":lol:

This sounded overblown until the bit about the police warning.
Then it just sounded unlucky.

 

[hineyrulz]

Stop Press!!

Cooper Cronk and Brett Finch fined $5,000 each for doing wee wees in Byron Bay!! They weren't even intoxicated!!

This story just led the 2UE News. It started with "More scandal in rugby league":lol:

FFS, imagine if 12 players tested positive for drugs...........

 

[parano1a]

League stories are big news because they sell papers in the biggest market in the country. No other sport comes close.

Melbourne is the biggest market in the country. You'll find the Herald Sun outsells the Daily Telegraph by far.