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media
Totalitarian media
By Will 2 years ago, mid-November, 5 Comments »
A considered, accurate, and bloody good piece by David Hopps at The Guardian on the problems facing cricket’s media. You might think that the likes of us (Cricinfo) and newspapers are nothing more than freeloading loafers with inflated egos and an unhealthy appetite for free lunches. You’d be right for the most part, too, but this particular industry is in a state of flux.
CricInfo has endured this treatment for years. One of the most popular websites in the world is persistently refused accreditation by the BCCI because it does not fit in with their grand design. It has learned to scramble for accreditation where it can. Established newspapers, who feared CricInfo’s pioneering of free internet cricket news as much as the BCCI did, were not about to run to help. Had they done so, sports journalism in the independent, mainstream media might not be facing the threat that it is today.
Dozens of sports journalists were laid off at the end of the summer. Some were from the nationals, who have been covering cricket for two decades or more. Others were from regional newspapers who quite often have a cricket desk of one person. Quite what these people will do next year is anyone’s guess, but it’s a worrying time for cricket journalism as a whole.
As you’ll know, Reuters refused to cover Australia’s tour of Australia, and there were more difficulties with contractual terms in regard to Getty Images. And a few days ago, Reuters boycotted New Zealand’s tour of Australia. BCCI and Cricket Australia – and others in the future? – want editorial control over the photographs taken. They want to know who is using them and for what purpose. For the BCCI, they simply can’t cope with the idea that, for example, Cricinfo has been online since 1996 yet they only launched their website a few weeks ago. We had nearly three million people watch the last Test between India and Australia, and none of them had to pay. Apart from Australians. They had to pay in self respect.
So, public – watch out. These greedy boards are soiling themselves about the internet like it’s 1990 all over again, and instead of working with it, they’re fighting it. Dangerous times for all.
5 Comments »The day there was no news
By Will 2 years ago, mid-May, 2 Comments »
We can but dream (video):
2 Comments »It’s what the fans want. Or is it?
By Will 2 years ago, mid-May, 6 Comments »
Thoughtful piece from The Guardian’s Andy Bull on the mundane, line-toeing crap which make up the majority of sportsmen’s quotes.
Quotations command space, but rarely interest. If it wasn’t enough to know that a player was injured, we now also have to know that the manager and a selection of former players think he is a “huge loss to the side”, and we will be told all of this in print, on the radio and 24 hours a day by Sky Sports News. These quotes come in three forms: the interesting, the mundane and the untrue. The volume of lineage and airtime spent relaying other peoples’ words means that the majority fall into the last two categories.
Is it what people want? On the whole, I think it is. In an ideal world, the quotation-supplying cricketer would have Ian Botham’s candour, Steve Waugh’s miserable honesty, Stephen Fleming’s wisdom and Matthew Hoggard’s wit and general affable madness. In reality, sportsmen are best left on the pitch to do what they know best. The rise of “media training” for sportsmen has created several monstrous, inhuman creatures. Normal and likeable on the pitch, in front of a microphone they are reduced to a list of five or six safe phrases which answer (or nearly answer) a multitude of questions. Monty Panesar and his “right areas”. Duncan Fletcher’s obsession with players “putting their hands up” and “coming to the party”. I suppose the frequency of press conferences has understandably dulled their enthusiasm, but is it too much to expect an honest answer? Talking of cliches, Lawrence Booth wrote a superb piece on just this.
I know David Gower’s not a fan of the post-match quote (he famously cut short a press conference in 1989 saying he was late for the theatre. What a legend), but the players are the product and the public want to hear from them. Even if it’s mundane bullshit.
Or do you?
6 Comments »Cricinfo banned from IPL
By Will 2 years ago, mid-April, 5 Comments »
I’ve been in Southampton covering Hampshire’s first game of the season against the champions, Sussex, so have a few things to get off my chest or note down here. Yes, The Rose Bowl – comfortably England’s most characterless cricket ground is a world away from the razamatazz of the Indian Premier League. It won’t have escaped your notice that we, Cricinfo, are effectively banned from the IPL. That is, the organisers won’t give us accreditation so none of our staff are permitted entry (I believe), and nor are we allowed to use any of the photos that come from the agencies (some of whom are boycotting the event).
This is baloney, and a ridiculous own goal by Lalit Modi that smacks of arrogance and a clueless understanding of what the public want and how they consume their cricket news. Cricinfo has upwards of 10 million users, a large portion of whom – for an event of this scale – would be logged in to follow our IPL scorecards. Cut Cricinfo out, and the IPL shoot themselves in the foot.
It won’t actually affect how we operate – we are still doing ball-by-ball commentary, whose traffic must have been extraordinary for tonight’s crazy opening one-dayer – as Cricinfo’s editor, Sambit Bal, explains:
Sambit Bal, the editor of Cricinfo, described the restrictions as discriminatory and unjust. “We are a legitimate cricket media organisation with unmatched global credibility and we are asking no special favours,” he said. “We cover cricket with journalistic rigour and integrity. We are being denied our basic rights to cover a cricket event in a professional manner.”
However, Bal said Cricinfo’s editorial commitment to the tournament would not be affected. “Boycotting the IPL is not an option for us. Our commitment to cover cricket is absolute, as is our obligation to the reader. We are not blind to the significance of the IPL, which could be a seminal event in cricket. We will try to cover every game with the same rigour and depth expected of us.”
5 Comments »
Prince Harry at war
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of February, 3 Comments »
What does it say about the modern world that Prince Harry can lead a “relatively normal life” as a soldier in Afghanistan, arguably more normal than his life in this country? Judging by the interview he gave to the BBC yesterday, his few weeks out there were probably the highlight of his life so far. Just let him get on with it; all this nonsense about him being a sitting target for the Taliban is ridiculous. He’s not strolling the wadis on his own. He’s part of the army and attached to the Gurkhas.
On the other hand, Mick Smith – whose always enjoyable blog often gives snippets of defence news that might otherwise slip by unnoticed – suggests we might have made Harry a marked man for the rest of his life. Isn’t he already? If the Taliban or an Islamic extremist in the UK wanted to take a pot shot at him, they could – regardless of his involvement in Afghanistan. He and the Royals are sitting ducks every day of their lives, so why not just let them try and lead a normal life – even if that is at war?
3 Comments »Hard work never actually killed anyone
By Scott 3 years ago, at the end of December, 3 Comments »
The often readable but sometimes whiny Scyld Berry has had one of his whiny days, complaining in the Daily Telegraph about England’s workload as part of the reason for the declining fortunes of the English Test team.
England are not going to be the best team in the world, in any form of cricket, under the current system. There is no way they will be No 1 because there is no official will. The ECB’s objective is to make as much money as possible out of cricket, primarily for the first-class counties to spend, not for England to be excellent, let alone the best.The ECB say that England is the first item on their agenda, but no action of significance is taken. The Schofield report made two major recommendations: the England team, who play too much, should have their schedule reduced; and county cricketers, who play too much, should have their schedule reduced, for then they can rest, practise, play and analyse properly. But nothing has happened, only tinkering of the management structure by adding a couple more ’suits’.
I thought this was a pretty poor effort from Berry because it is a typically insular English point of view- it seems to have not occurred to him that other teams have a lot on their plate as well. If you look at the 2008 international program, you will see that Australia, for example, will be in action every month in 2008. It is a pretty onerous agenda, and leading into the 2009 Ashes, for example, Australia will be due to play in South Africa as well.
Increasing pressures on players through a more demanding fixtures schedule is a problem that every team has to cope with. To use it as an excuse for a poor performance strikes me as a cop-out. England don’t lose because they play too much cricket- they lose because they play too much poor cricket.
3 Comments »I only sing when we’re winning
By Scott 3 years ago, at the end of December, 11 Comments »
Australia have wrapped up their 15th win in a row, and they have a chance of equaling their own world record for the most consecutive victories in the Second Test against India starting next week. It is interesting that the team is talking the record down.
Believe it or not, I’m not particularly fussed if they get the record either- I just don’t want the team to lose. Speaking as a fan, I really, really hate losing Test matches. But there’s quite a trend in the Australian media to talk up our hosts, and to bemoan the continuing domination of the Australian team. It is true that the Aussies continue to do well overseas, but at home, the side is nearly invulnerable- Australia have only lost two Tests at home this decade.
To some in the media, this is almost treated as a ‘bad thing’. I find it curious myself, this urge to see Australia lose, coming from nominally Australian fans. I don’t see fans from other cricket nations hope to see their national teams be challenged. Do you suppose in the late 1980s that the press in the West Indies were hoping for more ‘competitive’ cricket, or do you think that they wanted West Indies to continue to dominate? I don’t think if you asked fans of Manchester United at Old Trafford whether or not they’d like more ‘competitive’ football they’d answer ‘yes’ either. I’m almost certain that they would want to see their sides win and win well.So I’m afraid to say that I don’t buy the media’s story at all- the Australian public turned out in record numbers last season, helped by the Barmy Army to be sure, but they wanted to see the English thrashed; and they got it. Hopefully by the time the Adelaide Test rolls around next month, I’ll be watching Australia’s 18th Test win in a row. But I won’t be that upset if they aren’t- just as long as we don’t lose! I really hate losing!
11 Comments »Football nil, cricket…one?
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of November, No Comments; be the first!
Oh, any excuse to belittle football – my least favourite sport. I’d rather watch curling, or darts – or both at the same time (now there’s an idea; darts on ice skates).
Anyway, England have lost, Steve McLaren has stolen his £2.5m (“wally with the lolly”) and everyone’s wondering what the hell’s going on. But spare a thought for the journalists and managing editors whose 2008 summer now looks a little bleak. Peter Preston:
But – for newspapers especially – there is a countervailing point. Football writers are dead keen. Sports editors are dead keen. Marketing departments are keen, because young, affluent lads are also prime reader targets. (Watch literally thousands of entries slamming the departed big drip flood on to the Guardian’s blog comment site). Yet does the experience of football championships past quite justify all the hype and expense? That’s a much more difficult call.
So with our national football side knocked off the radar next summer, let’s hope that English cricket can gain the high ground. We’ll have three Tests against New Zealand followed by four against South Africa, so there’s no better time to showcase England’s true summer sport.
We need a bowling attack first, though…
No Comments »Fans warned: ‘Do not disturb’
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of November, No Comments; be the first!
I have to admit this piece from Christopher Martin-Jenkins completely passed me by yesterday, so I’m indebted to Patrick for pointing it out.
How crass it was, therefore, for the team’s permanent travelling security officer, the mustachioed Australian Reg Dickason, genial and popular figure around the team though he may be, to take it on himself to justify his presence by building barriers between the open dressing-room area on the grass in front of the intimate little mahogany panelled pavilion at the Colombo Cricket Club and the tiny smattering of spectators who had come to watch.
That was not sufficient for the eagle-eyed protector. A block of wood was added to close a gap between one pillar of the gazebo and the boundary fence; a table was placed to bar entrance to further grassed steps directly behind the players and finally, la pièce de résistance, up went a handwritten notice in green ink: “STRICTLY NO AUTOGRAPH PLEASE: It is a disturbance to the players. Please understand.”
This may seem a small matter, but it is an important one. It might conceivably have been excusable had the players shown any sign of being disturbed. In fact, like most professional cricketers, they seemed happy to sign the occasional autograph and they are perfectly capable of courteously refusing one when needing to concentrate on the match.
Good to hear that Andrew Walpole nipped this particular example of ridicularse in the bud. Even judging by photos of the team and interviews, it’s clear there’s a buzz of excitement there which, in the last year of Fletcher’s reign, was waning. Peter Moores and the ECB need to start afresh, and I hope examples like the one above aren’t repeated too often. It’s pathetic.
No Comments »Notes from the pavilion for October 20th
By Will 3 years ago, mid-October, No Comments; be the first!
Links of note from the past 24 hours:
- Trevin Bastiampillai – What a brilliant name
- Howard gives $6.5m for Bradman museum –
- Don and Pup bring cricket history to life – Clarke does the one-stump trick ala Bradman in an Australian TV commercial. Anyone got the video to share?
- Strain tells on Symonds – Victimisation by the media? This is out of control
2007 Cowdrey Lecture
By Will 3 years ago, mid-July, 2 Comments »
Have you read this year’s Cowdrey Lecture, delivered by Christopher Martin-Jenkins’? Hmm, thought as much. Well you really ought to, not least because this year marks the first time in its brief seven years that it hasn’t been delivered by a professional cricketer. And it is fascinating.
I confess not to have read it all, yet, but am working my way through it and finding myself nodding all too frequently. Pleasingly for me and my employers, he mentions Cricinfo (and, revealingly, by name and not “the cricket website Cricinfo” as we are so often called. Clearly the brand hasn’t extended that far yet…) while raising a very good point about the access to, and interest in, county cricket.
Cricinfo recorded 29 million page views from 7.5 million visits to county cricket alone in 2006 – and has already had 19 million this season so, despite the rain, they expect the figure to be exceeded. Obviously because a great many people want to find out the latest scores. Sadly, if they are on the move in their cars they can listen for them in vain; and when they are given it often seems to be as a breathless afterthought following the big story that Scunthorpe’s millionaire chairman has denied rumours that their controversial manager Bruno Boscovic is going to be sacked. Or, more to the point, some utterly mundane comment by Jose Murinho such as he thinks that Chelsea have the players to win the Premiership. What a surprise. The media has been conned to a dangerous extent – if you value the variety of life – into becoming a sort of spin machine for the all-pervading, all-powerful Premiership. Also into the belief that it can’t be of interest if it’s not on television.
Regular or past readers will know of my near-hatred of football, and it is primarily for this reason: that it consumes so much media attention, undeservingly so. But hey ho (Flint), that’s the way of the world.
The lack of fast bowlers also come under Christopher’s scrutinous gaze – and he reveals that changes are afoot to decrease the boundaries. My boss and I went to The Oval earlier in the season and I was absolutely shocked at the shortness of the boundaries. Cynics argue that they are brought “in” from their original position in order to maximise the chances of sixes, increase the number of runs scored in a day and generally get the game finished as quick as possible. The evidence is damning too.
But there is a tremendous amount to be thankful for in the contemporary game – in many respects the standards are higher than ever. There are some magnificent batsmen in world cricket and some magical spinners too. The fielding is sensationally good. It is the fast bowlers who are in short supply in the current phase of a game that has always evolved. In the eternal struggle to find that essential balance between bat and ball what we need is a determined effort to lengthen boundaries – happily both the MCC World Cricket Committee and the new ICC Cricket committee are agreed on that but there is no evidence yet of boundaries being stretched to the furthest practical limits on all grounds as they should be.
Do give it a read, and offer your thoughts of the points he raises.
2 Comments »Australian media reflect culture of winning
By Will 3 years ago, mid-February, 41 Comments »
I can’t help but enjoy Australia’s slip from grace. I’m British and it’s my absolute right. Most of all though it’s the Australian media which really gets me going.
Australia only need lose once and immediately, without prejudice or loyalty, their champion side is reduced to a bunch of complete losers. When they enter a losing streak, as they have in the past two weeks, the headlines make hilarious reading: “hapless,” “demoralised,” “licking wounds,” “Australia agony”. It goes on and is completely, brilliantly merciless. Until they win, and they’ll once again be hailed as the greatest sporting side in the history of the planet.
I’m probably completely wrong, but the turncoat style of Australia’s papers is in some ways a microcosm of a society which simply cannot accept losing. Ever. In any form, at anything. And this isn’t to say the criticism isn’t valid – Australia have been shoddy, no mistake. It’s just the tabloid turnaround which just astounds me…there is never any balance or reasoned debate as to their fall from grace. “BLOODY LOSERS. SACK THEM ALL” you half expect a headline to read.
I met two great Aussies on safari last week, Shelley and Paul. Both in their thirties, travelled all over the world, they were eager to hear my thoughts of Australia. “Been to Aus then Will?” And I told them I had. Before I could finish Shelley said “Yeah great isn’t it? Awww the beaches, everything’s just great isn’t it? Don’t you think?” And it is, and I love the country. But disliking Australia was not an option!
Billy Connolly observed this in one of his stand-up routines years ago. He’d arrived in Australia for the first time and, at a press conference at Sydney airport, was bombarded with questions about the country. “How are you finding Australia Mr Connolly? Liking it here?” “I’ve only just got off the fucking plane, but the tarmac is indeed terrific!”
Not all Aussies are like this but the positive, must-win vibe runs through the country like a critical artery. Cut it, and there’s blood everywhere. Losing is just not an option and losers should be shamed. Britain is completely, emphatically the opposite. We love to shame the losers too, but we also love to love the losers and the underdogs. Whereas in Australia, a crap league side would be backed to the hilt with a genuine belief their fortunes would turn around, in England we actually enjoy the struggle! Of course we don’t want England to lose, but we just shrug our shoulders, tut, throw a dart at Ricky Ponting and move on. C’est la vie.
I’m not sure what I’m wibbling about now, but do leave your thoughts. Scott’ll be best placed to ridicule this post…
41 Comments »Ghosts in the Machine
By Scott 4 years ago, at the end of December, 2 Comments »
The ghost-written sports column is as old as sports columns. It is where the sportsman talks to a reporter, who converts the players views into a column that is fit for printing. Or so goes the theory.
Michael Atherton lifts the lid on the ghost-writing process. It is quite an eye-opener to see how the process works. He comes out against the practice, and I have to say that I agree with him.
Just by the by, is it not odd that the cricketers who are often the dullest to watch are often the most interesting sort of people off the field, and vice-versa?
2 Comments »England fight back, and some thoughts on coaches
By Scott 4 years ago, at the end of November, 5 Comments »
To the audible relief of South Australian cricket administrators, England provided some much needed resistance on day four, and saved them the prospect of half-empty stands for the Second Test starting on Friday.
England were set an insane target, worked out by Ricky Ponting on the formula of multiplying my overdraft times the speed of light, or some such nonsense, and let his bowlers loose, while retiring to the massage table. He would have dined well as England lost two early wickets, and with Cook playing a range of loose shots, promise of more to come.
However, Pieterson and Collingwood provided stout resistance and some fiery entertainment for another large crowd, stated as being 37,000.
Yet England will surely lose, and they deserve to lose- while there was some magnificent batsmanship today, there was also some shameful episodes. Strauss, Cook, Collingwood, Flintoff and Pieterson were all guilty of some dreadful shot selection at various points in the day, treating an Ashes Test as little more then a knockabout in the park.
Pieterson’s innings was an instructive example. There was some lovely drives, all through the V, yet there were also some grotesque cross-bat swipes. None of these have cost him his wicket (as yet), but what happens if rain comes about three PM tomorrow and England have been bowled out at 2.35?
If England had batted with a slightly more applied approach, they might well have been three wickets down tonight, not five. That’s a big difference.
****
What do readers think about Andrew Flintoff’s dismissal? Shane Warne gave him an ugly serve on his way, and Justin Langer was smiling in delight even before he took the catch; the arrogance of it will grate on English sensibilities.
But it is an arrogance reflective of an Australian team that knows the value of their wickets, and the absolute folly of Flintoff’s shot. I don’t recall Ricky Ponting playing such an agricultural heave during his defensive masterpiece at Old Trafford last year. Duncan Fletcher may or may not remind his charges of that innings between now and the morning.
****
Speaking of coaches, I came across this article on my web-meanderings this evening, asking about the worth of overseas coaches. Given the kvetching about Duncan Fletcher that I’ve read in British media outlets the last few days, I wondered about the role of the coach.
It seems to me that for a coach to be a benefit, rather then a hindrance, there needs to be an absolute understanding between the coach and his captain. In many first class teams, it seems to be the increasing trend that the coach is the top banana and the captain merely his on-field lieutenant, rather in the way a football manager operates. That may work, but there does need to be a clear line driven, and both sides working in tandem.
It’s never been the Australian way. Would you fancy being the coach telling Steve Waugh how he was to arrange his batting order? John Buchanan always knew his place in Waugh’s order of things.
I’m not sure about the inner workings of England’s team, but Michael Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher certainly were working on the same wavelength. It may well be that the relationship between Fletcher and Andrew Flintoff isn’t quite so attune.
5 Comments »
Web versus print
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of July, 2 Comments »
It’s a fascinating time we live in. The emergence of the internet in the 1990s has, a decade later, started to transform news and the way journalists report on it. By and large, certainly in sports journalism, newspapers are starting to lose the battle against the internet’s immediacy and flexibility – but it need not be such a stark, chilling omen for the future of print media, as the following describes:
2 Comments » « Previous EntriesAmerican sports editor Greg Bowers writes on Editor & Publisher of a revelation he had not too long ago concerning how sporting news is transforming because of the Web. One day when he was deciding what the next days layout would be, his wife, not really a sports fan, mentioned the days two top stories. and then it hit Greg; why should I print these stories in tomorrow’s paper if everyone already knows what happened?
“Sports journalism, actually journalism in general, is in a state of paralysis. Two things that have been constant companions in journalism through the years, have split apart.
“The first thing is reporting, getting out the news. The second is telling good stories, interpreting the news. They once went hand in hand — news and writing. Now the first one is out and about before the second one can get its coat off.
“Getting information to consumers has become a race. And it’s a race that newspapers, by definition, are losing.”
So instead of repeating the same news in the next day’s print edition, Bowers realized that newsrooms needed to tell the story behind the news. Journalists must find the information that the public wants to know and give “depth. Perception. Interpretation.”
Said bower, “The truth is, newspapers are in a particularly good position to play this new game. They just haven’t realized it yet.”
