Stuart Brennan. MEN.

[Shirley]

Stuart, I suspect unknown to you there may be one or two mischievous staff in the department who are possibly "apprentice rags".

 

[Blue Punter]

If he can actually check with the colleague then I'd suggest it would be insightful for us to know what the thought process was. If he can't then, ultimately, his comments are guess work and might be inaccurate. I'm sure he wouldn't want to be saying why he THINKS a fellow journalist has done something, when that may not be the reason at all.

I'd suggest there will be an audit trail of who chose that image. So finding the culprit and the reason behind it shouldn't be too difficult.

I vaguely remember another inappropriate MEN website article that attracted criticism. Apparently it was some trainee who was working a bank holiday graveyard shift that was responsible.

I'm not stating I believe the article, or more accurately the picture, were definitely chosen without bias or agenda. I'm sure it's entirely possible that someone did so in order to have a pop at City, in fact my rather lengthy post a little earlier in this thread has explained that I do believe City are given a rough ride by the MEN when compared to our red neighbours (albeit to a lesser degree than the media in general pander to United/attack City). All I'm saying is that there's no value in him guessing why the picture was used so, until he is able to ascertain the who then when and the why of it all it's better if he doesn't actually comment on that particular topic.

That's why I asked him to investigate and find out why. It's pretty much a prerequisite of being a journalist.

 

[stuart brennan]

Looking forward to reading Stuart's excuse when he can't produce any examples.

As others have said, I haven't really got the time, or the inclination, to trawl for examples, but a 5-minute google search threw these up immediately:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.afootballforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/67401-manchester-evening-blues/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.afootballforum.com/forum/ind ... ing-blues/</a>

<a class="postlink" href="https://twitter.com/R_o_M/status/106324756797718528" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">https://twitter.com/R_o_M/status/106324756797718528</a>

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.utdforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92171" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.utdforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92171</a>

<a class="postlink-local" href="http://forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=282350&start=40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">viewtopic.php?f=1&t=282350&start=40</a>

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/108881" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/108881</a>

Don't forget, it was Fergie who named us the "Manchester Evening Blues" and who once bawled me out for being a Blue, and claimed "you're all Blues at that ****ing paper".
He is as paranoid as some people on here, and only sees what he wants to see

 

[steviemc]

I really don't mind if we are the underdog in the eyes of the media, it helps me keep my feet on the ground. Also, I prefer it this way rather than thinking we can influence the media - isn't that the very thing we used to criticise the GPC for?

 

[aguero93:20]

Looking forward to reading Stuart's excuse when he can't produce any examples.

As others have said, I haven't really got the time, or the inclination, to trawl for examples, but a 5-minute google search threw these up immediately:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.afootballforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/67401-manchester-evening-blues/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.afootballforum.com/forum/ind ... ing-blues/</a>

<a class="postlink" href="https://twitter.com/R_o_M/status/106324756797718528" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">https://twitter.com/R_o_M/status/106324756797718528</a>

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.utdforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92171" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.utdforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92171</a>

<a class="postlink-local" href="http://forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=282350&start=40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">viewtopic.php?f=1&t=282350&start=40</a>

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/108881" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/108881</a>

Don't forget, it was Fergie who named us the "Manchester Evening Blues" and who once bawled me out for being a Blue, and claimed "you're all Blues at that ****ing paper".
He is as paranoid as some people on here, and only sees what he wants to see

Thanks Stuart, still think your papers shit but well done for coming on here and defending it.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the telling thing in all this is that City clearly don't give a fuck about it and as such, neither should we. If there was anything libellous I'm sure they'd be over it like a rash and from Stuart's earlier comments about not being in City's inner circle anymore, it sounds as though chips have been pissed on and the rewards of such are being reaped.

City are ploughing resource into our own website and Social Media output. I envisage our own TV channel at some point which will gives us the blue-biased news we crave and rendering the general media obsolete for meaningful MCFC output other than BT/Sky for live match broadcasts.

You never miss your water until your well runs dry.

*Note to reporters: get on message or miss the party.

 

[stony]

Football fans want to feel superior about their football club, especially when compared to their neighbours and rivals. The media are aware of this very natural trait, as they are also acutely aware of their need to maintain a great degree of interest in their "product" in order to keep advertising revenues high and, ultimately, themselves in employment. It's only natural therefore that the MEN will pander to football fans interests, writing articles that play to the sensibilities of fans in order to attract them into reading the paper and, as a biproduct, getting "hits" on the various advertisments.

On the face of it this seems perfectly fine, however, in order to make one set of football fans feel superios there is a knock on effect of making the other set of fans, the rival set, feel inferior, and put upon. Now, in a one horse town, like Newcastle, or Leeds, that's fine. So, you alienate Sunderland fans. Big deal. How many of them will read the Newcastle Barechested Reporter anyway? However, in a town with 2 sizeable clubs such as Manchester, you're going to be alienatig certain sections of your readership by writing articles that make their rivals lok good, and them look bad. So, how do you deal with this? It's a simple solution really, find the course of least resistance, and go with that. Which group is it better to alienate? In Manchester's case it's clear, alienating the City fans is a far better idea than alientating the United fans, it's a simple matter of the maths involved. There are a decent amount more people who would claim to be United fans than City fans, so by alientating the United fans you'd have a greater impact on your readership than by alienating City fans. It really is that simple.

Given all of that, it's hardly susprising that, as City fans, we feel we are being given the rough end of the wedge here. Yes, in order to redress some sort of balance, I'm sure, on occasion, there are articles that United fans wouldn't be too happy with, however I'd strongly suspect, in a reversal of the fans situation, there are far fewer United stories like this than there are City ones. It's not just a MEN phenomenon, it's in the national press too, and also it happens within the TV media. If anything the MEN is less guilty of this kind of behaviour than most, probably due to the greater proportion of it's readership that would be classed as City fans than a national paper such as the Sun, or Mirror, or indeed SKY Sports News. So, yes, we do feel a touch hard done by, and I believe with legitimate reason, to suggest otherwise is a little insulting to our intelligence, whilst I accept we view things with a certain bias towards City it's not so much as to cloud our judgement in it's entirety.

Great post Matty, it should end the thread, but I doubt it.

 

[aguero93:20]

I think the telling thing in all this is that City clearly don't give a fuck about it and as such, neither should we. If there was anything libellous I'm sure they'd be over it like a rash and from Stuart's earlier comments about not being in City's inner circle anymore, it sounds as though chips have been pissed on and the rewards of such are being reaped.

City are ploughing resource into our own website and Social Media output. I envisage our own TV channel at some point which will gives us the blue-biased news we crave and rendering the general media obsolete for meaningful MCFC output other than BT/Sky for live match broadcasts.

You never miss your water until your well runs dry.

*Note to reporters: get on message or miss the party.

I'd say there's very few in that inner circle now, wasn't Soriano giving out F*** a while back about all the leaks? Their roof, their rules...

 

[stuart brennan]

Football fans want to feel superior about their football club, especially when compared to their neighbours and rivals. The media are aware of this very natural trait, as they are also acutely aware of their need to maintain a great degree of interest in their "product" in order to keep advertising revenues high and, ultimately, themselves in employment. It's only natural therefore that the MEN will pander to football fans interests, writing articles that play to the sensibilities of fans in order to attract them into reading the paper and, as a biproduct, getting "hits" on the various advertisments.

On the face of it this seems perfectly fine, however, in order to make one set of football fans feel superios there is a knock on effect of making the other set of fans, the rival set, feel inferior, and put upon. Now, in a one horse town, like Newcastle, or Leeds, that's fine. So, you alienate Sunderland fans. Big deal. How many of them will read the Newcastle Barechested Reporter anyway? However, in a town with 2 sizeable clubs such as Manchester, you're going to be alienatig certain sections of your readership by writing articles that make their rivals lok good, and them look bad. So, how do you deal with this? It's a simple solution really, find the course of least resistance, and go with that. Which group is it better to alienate? In Manchester's case it's clear, alienating the City fans is a far better idea than alientating the United fans, it's a simple matter of the maths involved. There are a decent amount more people who would claim to be United fans than City fans, so by alientating the United fans you'd have a greater impact on your readership than by alienating City fans. It really is that simple.

Given all of that, it's hardly susprising that, as City fans, we feel we are being given the rough end of the wedge here. Yes, in order to redress some sort of balance, I'm sure, on occasion, there are articles that United fans wouldn't be too happy with, however I'd strongly suspect, in a reversal of the fans situation, there are far fewer United stories like this than there are City ones. It's not just a MEN phenomenon, it's in the national press too, and also it happens within the TV media. If anything the MEN is less guilty of this kind of behaviour than most, probably due to the greater proportion of it's readership that would be classed as City fans than a national paper such as the Sun, or Mirror, or indeed SKY Sports News. So, yes, we do feel a touch hard done by, and I believe with legitimate reason, to suggest otherwise is a little insulting to our intelligence, whilst I accept we view things with a certain bias towards City it's not so much as to cloud our judgement in it's entirety.

Reasonably argued viewpoint, Matty, but still flawed.
To be honest, you give us too much credit for being Machiavellian!
We don't set out to alienate anyone, although sometimes our articles do upset both clubs, and the supporters of both clubs.
The bottom line is that we simply set out to cover the two Manchester clubs even-handedly. There are occasional errors by individuals at the MEN, myself included, which could be read as bias, but there is usually a far simpler explanation.
The problem lies not in what we write, but in the perception of it. As I said, Fergie was convinced we were a Blue paper, and that affected our relationship with United. He was wrong, just as those who think we are a Red paper are wrong.
The only debate that ever takes place about this subject in the MEN office is a bid to make sure we give even coverage, both in terms of space and content.
It is a very busy newspaper, with nothing like the number of staff we used to have, so to suggest we sit around devising ways of palling up to United and doing City down, is ludicrous.
City monitor our content, and I can tell you that they are more than happy with it. Relations have been a little strained at times in the past few years, but they are now very good. You may have noticed that City advertise with us - would they do that if their research didn't tell them City fans, and potential City fans, read the MEN?

 

[bgblue]

I think the telling thing in all this is that City clearly don't give a fuck about it and as such, neither should we. If there was anything libellous I'm sure they'd be over it like a rash and from Stuart's earlier comments about not being in City's inner circle anymore, it sounds as though chips have been pissed on and the rewards of such are being reaped.

City are ploughing resource into our own website and Social Media output. I envisage our own TV channel at some point which will gives us the blue-biased news we crave and rendering the general media obsolete for meaningful MCFC output other than BT/Sky for live match broadcasts.

You never miss your water until your well runs dry.

*Note to reporters: get on message or miss the party.

Cracking post mr holic