Manchester Evening News

[Keith Moon]

I understand some of the upset here, but the suggestions that this is one-sided and that we never do stuff like this about United should take note of these:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/revealed-manchester-uniteds-old-trafford-2592078" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... rd-2592078</a>

and

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/police-figures-reveal-five-times-3003108" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... es-3003108</a>

David Lynch's piece was ill-advised, flawed and badly-timed in my opinion, but it was not part of some wider agenda.

So David Lynch is just one unlucky thinker..

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

I understand some of the upset here, but the suggestions that this is one-sided and that we never do stuff like this about United should take note of these:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/revealed-manchester-uniteds-old-trafford-2592078" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... rd-2592078</a>

and

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/police-figures-reveal-five-times-3003108" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... es-3003108</a>

David Lynch's piece was ill-advised, flawed and badly-timed in my opinion, but it was not part of some wider agenda.

While this may be the case, and you clearly disagree with the article, the fact your editor in chief has given public backing for the copy yesterday doesn't really help your cause.
If the reporter concerned and the editor held their hands up and echoed your sentiments then I don't think there would be too much of an issue. Mistakes happen.

But they are still standing by the article despite the criticism, internally and externally, and after the inaccuracies have been pointed out to them. In my opinion that is much more damning than the article itself.

totally agree with this if the editor is standing by this piece of shit he in my opinion is worse than the no brainer that wrote the piece in the first place !!

 

[Pigeonho]

There is no agenda, just ill-conceived and limited scope for them to meet their obligations of being a daily regional, carried out by sub-standard operators (not a dig in any way at Stuart)

The fact is that City's website has impacted not just the local relationship, but the wider newsgathering process, they have cut out the middle man to a large extent.

I started my own career a long way back at the Manchester Evening News and the same accusations were abound 25 years ago.

It was a desk teaming with experienced men with local knowledge, and a budget to match, with no competition to speak of in terms of gaining access to the club.

The financial reality in the media today is that peanuts are being paid out to people with little talent who class themselves as journalists and are simply bloggers at best.

Very good post.

 

[Damocles]

There is no agenda, just ill-conceived and limited scope for them to meet their obligations of being a daily regional, carried out by sub-standard operators (not a dig in any way at Stuart)

The fact is that City's website has impacted not just the local relationship, but the wider newsgathering process, they have cut out the middle man to a large extent.

I started my own career a long way back at the Manchester Evening News and the same accusations were abound 25 years ago.

It was a desk teaming with experienced men with local knowledge, and a budget to match, with no competition to speak of in terms of gaining access to the club.

The financial reality in the media today is that peanuts are being paid out to people with little talent who class themselves as journalists and are simply bloggers at best.

I'm thinking of applying for a job the next time they advertise on the sports desk.

I mean, I have no journalistic experience at all apart from a couple of published articles and have no qualification in either journalism or writing, but I've written long analytical posts on here for a few years. I feel this gives me at least a shot at the MEN.

Sadly, I'm only half joking.

 

[the originalkippaxman]

I didn't manage to get to my seat until 8.25 probably due to the 3 crashes on all my routes from work. I suppose this has already been mentioned on here but cant be bothered to read through 45 pages because the first 2 summed up everything about the MEN.

 

[mcfcphil]

There is no agenda, just ill-conceived and limited scope for them to meet their obligations of being a daily regional, carried out by sub-standard operators (not a dig in any way at Stuart)

The fact is that City's website has impacted not just the local relationship, but the wider newsgathering process, they have cut out the middle man to a large extent.

I started my own career a long way back at the Manchester Evening News and the same accusations were abound 25 years ago.

It was a desk teaming with experienced men with local knowledge, and a budget to match, with no competition to speak of in terms of gaining access to the club.

The financial reality in the media today is that peanuts are being paid out to people with little talent who class themselves as journalists and are simply bloggers at best.

Very good post.

It is. The simple fact is that local newspapers are losing all of their talented journalists because they aren’t prepared to work for peanuts with one hand tied behind their back.
There was a time journalists put up with poor wages because they loved the job – those days have gone.
For example a newspaper group not so far away is about to announce it is shifting its entire sub editing department 300 miles away from the community it serves, with the jobs being carried out by students on a templated system.
It is cost cutting and the quality of the newspaper will suffer.
At the end of the day if the industry loses its talented workforce you are left with jokers like Lynch.
There is no agenda – just very, very poor journalists.
I won’t boycott the MEN, I will just stop reading it because it is so poor. There is a difference.

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

I understand some of the upset here, but the suggestions that this is one-sided and that we never do stuff like this about United should take note of these:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/revealed-manchester-uniteds-old-trafford-2592078" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... rd-2592078</a>

and

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/police-figures-reveal-five-times-3003108" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... es-3003108</a>

David Lynch's piece was ill-advised, flawed and badly-timed in my opinion, but it was not part of some wider agenda.

stu admire you for having the balls to come on here ,but you are trying to defend the undefendable,no interest what your paper writes about the rags,its not even a badly timed article its beyond words .why not copy the link from the guardian and give it to lynch and give him some insight about numbers at matches,? the fact your editor has givern him his backing and alienated half your readership is quite staggering !!

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

There is no agenda, just ill-conceived and limited scope for them to meet their obligations of being a daily regional, carried out by sub-standard operators (not a dig in any way at Stuart)

The fact is that City's website has impacted not just the local relationship, but the wider newsgathering process, they have cut out the middle man to a large extent.

I started my own career a long way back at the Manchester Evening News and the same accusations were abound 25 years ago.

It was a desk teaming with experienced men with local knowledge, and a budget to match, with no competition to speak of in terms of gaining access to the club.

The financial reality in the media today is that peanuts are being paid out to people with little talent who class themselves as journalists and are simply bloggers at best.

I'm thinking of applying for a job the next time they advertise on the sports desk.

I mean, I have no journalistic experience at all apart from a couple of published articles and have no qualification in either journalism or writing, but I've written long analytical posts on here for a few years. I feel this gives me at least a shot at the MEN.

Sadly, I'm only half joking.

You're hired!

I'd go as far as to say, Damo, you would get the sports editor's gig.

More paint by numbers by kids who are paid £16k a year and get guest slots on Talksport!!

 

[Bozzie]

I wonder if young Master Lynch and his M.E.N paymasters ever envisaged the backlash they would receive from publishing this article. I'm sure they imagined it would prompt a surge in 'hits' from giddy Man U fans, followed by a procession of outraged Blues but nothing too serious and, all in all, job well done. Hence the use of the largely unknown, and I fear now hugely dispensable, David Lynch.
What I believe they really didn't account for was just how appalling bad the article published is. It is shockingly poor on all fronts. Amateurish in its style of writing, infantile in its use of red circles to highlight occasional empty seats, devoid of any pretence of research and factually incorrect. On top of all that, it was an entirely pointless article. If the newspaper had set out to highlight the problems faced by all clubs in filling their grounds then that would be a legitimate topic for debate. However the M.E.N article appeared to be solely focused on undermining City's expansion plans. How a newspaper that purports to represent and support Manchester and it's residents feels comfortable in jeopardising potential investment and employment prospects for Manchester is beyond my comprehension.
I am not a subscriber to the 'agenda' theory but, on this occasion, and given the incompetence that must have happened on so many levels for this article to reach publication, it is impossible to present an alternative argument. I have a large amount of sympathy for Stuart Brennan, who has worked hard to establish some credibility with our somewhat sceptical supporters. All the hard work and effort he has put in has been rendered useless overnight through no fault of his making. The M.E.N have managed to erect a huge barrier between themselves and the City supporters. I hope that the football club views this article with the same seriousness that the supporters do and that they look at the relationship between the club and the paper and begin to establish some control over it.

 

[Belfastblue]

Do these morons not realise that everyone cant make a game on a monday night for different reasons hence the small number of empty seats. We have four season ticket holders in our branch who attend most games but with the threat of it being brought back to a Saturday if there had of been a fa cup replay. We have to book flights and accommodation which if the match is switched we lose out and im sure thats the reason for many other fans I know from northern Ireland. Also a lot of people now have jobs which are based on shift work. What does it matter as these seats have been paid for that is why they say it is sold out. I would also add I watched the arsenal game at the weekend and it also give that game as a sell out of 60, 000 plus and there were loads of empty seats around the Emirates and not a word about it.