It's annoying, it's frustrating, it's not what accurate journalistic reporting should be about, but in the modern age of the media, it's completely understandable from a business perspective, that City get a fairly rough deal.
Ignoring football for the time being, the media should have one aim, and one aim only, to accurately report the news, giving an unbiased view on what's happening. Yes, there can be opinion pieces, but in the main the media's job should be to present the key facts to the public. I say should as that's what the media is supposed to do, however it's not what the media does. The media's main aim is to create profits, to bring in revenue, to make money for the Rupert Murdocks of this world, and for their shareholders. This aim is often in direct conflict with the provision of unbiased facts. The media need people to engage with their products. They need the public to buy their newspapers, to click on their websites, to watch their TV channels. More viewers/users equates to more revenue, it's really very simply. The way they achieve this is to give the public what they want. If enough members of the public want to see a dwarf being thrown then someone, somewhere, will be showing it.
The way this, at least currently, relates to Manchester City is fairly clear. We are viewed by many in the footballing public as the embodiment of all that is wrong with the modern game. We, in their opinion, spend extortionate sums of money trying to buy success we haven't earned. Success their clubs should have, or at least success they wish their club could achieve but can't due to a lack of their own money. It's a mix of jealousy, fear and anger. The media are aware of this groundswell of opinion and, as they want to attract as many viewers/users as possible, they tailor the news towards a narrative that shows Manchester City to be everything the public have assumed we are. Negativity towards City generates interest from your average football fan as it supports their flawed viewpoint, "see, I was right, City are awful, the Daily Mail says so". The only way this will change is if public opinion changes. Time will help, City's wealth, and position within World Football, are comparatively new, as time passes we'll become a more accepted, more "regular" member of football's elite, and the public will "forget" quite why they disliked us. It's happening with Chelsea more and more, they are still where they are due to Abramovich's investment, however they have more or less become an accepted member of England's establishment these days.
Media bias is just something we're going to have to live with for the time being. We don't have the support of enough neutrals yet for us not to be a simple, easy, lazy target for journalists when it comes to "clickbait" reporting.
Fuck em' I say. They can whimper and complain, they can take shots at us from the safety of their fleet street offices, or more accurately, from behind the screen of their laptop in their bedsit, it won't halt the City juggernaut, we won't even feel it as we plough straight through them. Manchester City, despite the constant attempts to derail our progress, will be on of World footballs top sides for years to come, if we have to put up with a bit of negativity from the jealous throngs then so be it.
