My belief, or lack thereof, in most media is driven by the reports I read about things about which I know the details. These are usually aviation stories where I have solid first- or second-hand knowledge, yet the stories have so many mistakes or misinterpretations of details.
In addition, I was interviewed for a union piece by a world famous American newspaper and watched my words get chopped up, reformatted and “reinterpreted” for the story the writer wanted to write. I had actually previously read many things by the reporter, and even the union gave the green light (they were the ones that asked me to speak to her), but it came out as snippets of things, many of which she’d prompted me to say or agree with.
I would advise no-one without any media training to ever talk to the press, and I have much more respect for people who appear so guarded when they’re interviewed. The agenda/story they’re after is the only thing they care about. Hanging it around the neck of an “expert” or someone known in the industry is like gold dust to them!
Football writers are at the very base of that totem pole!
