North American sports have seen an increasing trend of teams trying to find monetary value in media access through expanded content on (and journalists writing for, which can cause conflicts) team websites, but the idea of charging media outlets for their interviews is still relatively verboten.
That's not the case overseas, though, where English businessman Mike Ashley's Newcastle United English Premier League club has recently unveiled a plan to charge media outlets for access. From The Chronicle:
They have told reporters from national titles who are working in the North East that they will no longer be given access to their players between matches this season and will instead give those “privileges” to organisations that pay them.
This has never happened before. They are the first Premier League football club to try to do this and it will be interesting to see what kind of reaction it garners.
At least one national newspaper has delivered an unequivocal ‘no’ but the club seem determined to test the water on an unpopular plan.
The club have rather optimistically graded the packages as bronze, silver and gold with the level of payment determining the level of access.
They say they want a “media partner”, although what this would do for the independence of any organisation that signed up is an entirely different matter.
This is a disappointing trend, but perhaps not an unexpected one. Teams everywhere are realizing that the player and coach interviews traditionally offered to media outlets have monetary value, and that's what's led to a lot of North American teams looking to put those on their own website. Ashley and his team are taking this a step further, though, and while the primary journalistic response would seem to be to tell him to get stuffed, that isn't necessarily going to work. If an outlet is willing to pay for access, they might get stories that competing publications can't match, even if they are crossing an ethical line. However, this sort of move might push competing organizations to discover the value of reporting on an organization without access, which can carry its own merits (particularly in how far you can go).
It's a disappointing move from Newcastle United, to be sure, and whatever organizations do elect to pay the fee should not get off scot-free: paying for stories and access is problematic, even if it's the only way you can do so. However, it may also have an effect Ashley and his confidants did not predict, pushing mainstream media organizations towards the lesser-access model traditionally seen on blogs.
It's quite possible to cover a team fairly and accurately without access, and in fact, access sometimes only allows team personnel to give their side of the story. Ashley and his team may well regret this clampdown going forward, as it may prevent their side from making it into the papers. For now, though, this seems like something that will test the mettle of England's media. Paying for access and getting quotes from players and managers is all well enough, but other organizations may find they can cover Newcastle just as well without paying into the Magpies' coffers.
The news created ripples stateside as Simon Borg asked on the MLS website "how far-fetched is checkbook journalism in soccer, really?" A poll shows readers vehemently against the idea and just asking the question brought prominent soccer journalists in America like Jonathan Tannenwald to fervently speak out against the notion.
Hey @SimonBorg: I already pay to cover Union games on the road out of my own pocket. I know @MLS wants my company to pay it more attention.
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) December 12, 2013
So, @SimonBorg, how exactly are *you* going to convince my company to spend money on soccer that it doesn’t have…
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) December 12, 2013
Is it any wonder, @SimonBorg, that you’ve grossly insulted the people who have played a major role in building the league you work with/for?
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) December 12, 2013
And it’s not an overreaction. I guarantee you that not one person who’s lucky enough to get paid to write about soccer takes it for granted.
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) December 12, 2013
I know some things about doing stuff to gin up traffic on a website. But I certainly try not to insult the people who consume my product.
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) December 12, 2013
This will be interesting to watch going forward, and it may have considerable implications for how teams and maybe even leagues behave elsewhere.
[The Chronicle, H/T Grant Wahl]
