Sports journalism must do more to battle against the growing tide of novice opinion online and create a new “gold standard” of informed writing, according to the The Times‘ football editor, Tony Evans.
Speaking at Mindshare’s Huddle event on Thursday, the sports writer, who was joined by ex-footballer Ian Wright and other leading sports journalists, said in the next five to six years people will come back to “traditional media” as they seek out “real insight,” suggesting the scale of opinion broadcast over the internet has reached saturation point.
Twitter has made life harder for sports writers it was claimed, with the Sunday Times’ football correspondent Jonathan Northcroft announcing that the flow of information has made keeping something back for the Sunday papers very difficult, but that new challenges have been presented.
“Twitter has made us raise our standards,” he said. “We have to know more; we have to offer the knowledge and insight others can’t,” with Evans adding that it was “only informed opinion, built by having hard-earned contacts,” that marks the content out for special attention and helps sell newspapers, online and offline.
When questioned how the press’s relationship with both clubs and players has changed over the years, Shaun Custis, the chief football writer of The Sun, said “I feel clubs are coming back to us now. If clubs just pour out propaganda then fans will switch off, so the managers and the players are seeing the benefit of what we do.”
In recent weeks the issue of how the press interacts with clubs has hit boiling point after some clubs excluded journalists from matches.
Earlier this month Newcastle’s regional papers – The Journal, The Chronicle and the Sunday Sun – revealed they had been banned from Newcastle United’s press box following their coverage of a fans’ protest march, although the decision was reversed after public outcry.
Similarly, Port Vale chairman Norman Smurthwaite has demanded a financial contribution from the Stoke Sentinel of £10,000 just to gain access to his club.
“The dynamic between the journalists and players has changed a lot,” Custis said. “We used to interact with players, join them on tour […] that was when they didn’t live in gated communities. Players have become more remote, often on the advice of their club press officers.”
