Stuart Brennan. MEN.

[mad4city]

That's a bit like asking Burger King if they ever pull Macdonald's staff and tell them their burgers are shit!

Hold on a minute!
Burger King = home of the Whopper.
Whopper = Lie.
Lie = prostrate one's self.

See where I'm going here?
Neither did I, until I remembered that in the Book of Johasapheth, it clearly states that "He who hath eaten with the devil must be he who hath red hands".

See how it all adds up?
Prostration? Lies? Red? Devil? Whoppers?

Check mate, Mr Brennan. Check mate!


(It was an abysmal choice of a photograph but that's just proof of incompetence on somebody's behalf; nothing more. If I think there's bias, I'm never shy to say so (check my post history, if you're bored enough) but this particular case is a bit of a leap, even for me. Last week, with the joint 10 goal goalfest headline was disappointing too but a headline is effectively an ad for the content of the paper. What ad doesn't attempt the broadest possible appeal?
At the moment, I'd charge the MEN with clumsiness or even insensitivity but that's all).

 

[Blue Mist]

If I owned a Manchester paper that had a number of football clubs within its catchment area I would ensure all my staff printed positive articles and positive pictures about all the clubs in that area. That would encourage people to buy the paper and increase my profit. The only negative articles (relegation issues etc.) would be honestly researched but still biased towards the fans viewpoint. That is simple and sound business. This is why I find it strange that the Evening News printed the Boateng picture. It was an obvious time to print Bert's picture, Blues would buy it/click on line just to see what the article said, instead they are moaning about 'bias' and ignoring the other positive articles about City.
An independent reviewer might well say that there is no bias and it is all in peoples mind and they may be right BUT the point is whilst those people hold those views, hard work and positive articles must be done by the owners and reporters to ensure the paper continues to make money.
There seems to be no editorial leadership with profit in mind and therefore it is a poor business model destined for failure.

 

[stuart brennan]

I may be wrong but i would guess there is no way your average blue could access the press box?

Yes you can, it's just at the back of the lower tier of Colin Bell stand

 

[paulchapo]

I may be wrong but i would guess there is no way your average blue could access the press box?

Yes you can, it's just at the back of the lower tier of Colin Bell stand

Well you learn something new every day!No stewards on the door checking passes etcetera??

 

[mancityvstoke]

I may be wrong but i would guess there is no way your average blue could access the press box?

Yes you can, it's just at the back of the lower tier of Colin Bell stand

Well you learn something new every day!No stewards on the door checking passes etcetera??

oops yeah lower tier......level 2 is corporate mob

 

[mad4city]

I may be wrong but i would guess there is no way your average blue could access the press box?

Yes you can, it's just at the back of the lower tier of Colin Bell stand

Sound! I'll be the fella in blue, begging for any of the leftover venison sandwiches.

 

[stuart brennan]

If I owned a Manchester paper that had a number of football clubs within its catchment area I would ensure all my staff printed positive articles and positive pictures about all the clubs in that area. That would encourage people to buy the paper and increase my profit. The only negative articles (relegation issues etc.) would be honestly researched but still biased towards the fans viewpoint. That is simple and sound business. This is why I find it strange that the Evening News printed the Boateng picture. It was an obvious time to print Bert's picture, Blues would buy it/click on line just to see what the article said, instead they are moaning about 'bias' and ignoring the other positive articles about City.
An independent reviewer might well say that there is no bias and it is all in peoples mind and they may be right BUT the point is whilst those people hold those views, hard work and positive articles must be done by the owners and reporters to ensure the paper continues to make money.
There seems to be no editorial leadership with profit in mind and therefore it is a poor business model destined for failure.

You are describing the official website, not a newspaper.
There are other fans who think we are too close to United/City and don't criticise enough.
Criticism is healthy if it is valid and constructive, and we always try to do that.
But the slant of the paper is definitely towards our local clubs, not away from them.
Can you think of a successful newspaper/TV channel/radio station that only carries good news?
It is a business model which has sustained us for decades, and continues to do so. I'm afraid the gleeful predictions of our imminent demise are, as Mark Twain said, greatly exaggerated.

 

[oakiecokie]

I have no idea why that picture was chosen - and this is the first I have seen of it. I am not trying to defend it, but I do refute the suggestion that it is evidence of some kind of anti-City agenda.
I haven't got time to do it, but I suspect if you trawl through the Utd section, you could find "evidence" of an anti-United agenda, if you were so minded

I'm curious, are there threads on United Forums alledging a pro-City bias in the MEN? I'd be interested to read them if you know of any.

I am aware of united fans who also refer to an anti - united bias in the MEN.

And so you have a local newspaper tasked with reporting local news that has the luxury of having two football teams that in the last few years have both been very successful and yet both sets of supporters claim that the paper in question has been negative in its reporting of their team.

That tells me all I need to now about the standard of the MEN's reporting. Surely it can't be that difficult to find something positive to say about these two clubs and keep everyone happy. And that's the crux of the problem at the MEN. For some unknown reason (maybe Peter Spencer knows) they prefer to shit stir and be antagonistic rather than be pro-active and positive. And they wonder why their readership is dwindling.

If they carry on like this I can see the MEN folding in the not to distant future. In a city the size of Manchester there is a real opportunity here for someone with a bit more journalistic integrity to come up with a really positive alternative to the outdated MEN.

Well seeing that you are a journalist why not take the bull by the horns ??

 

[Dr Mick]

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.

Long gone are the days of Peter Gardner riding on the team coach. The closest Stuart gets to the action these days is from seat D7 in the press box. If he was willing to be totally honest with us all he would admit that he knows no more about what's actually going on at City on a day to day basis than we do.

He and his newspaper are reduced to trawling the internet for City news; visiting sites like BM, copying and pasting from other media outlets, speculating, guessing and possibly even just making it up. A lot of what you get from Stuart is probably no more than his own opinion which is no more or less valid than the opinion of anyone else on here. Except of course he is united fan and so I take whatever he says with a large pinch of salt.

With some of the MEN's most recent escapades 'ten goal bonanza' and the 'Boateng' picture to name but two, the MEN is simply demonstrating that it is a rapidly diminishing voice in an exceptionally noisy medium desperately trying to get itself heard.

The problem is that I'm not sure if anybody is actually listening anymore.

 

[andyhinch]

I've never been abusive, however if you could get me a free Jamie burger I'll pop over and give it a go, times are tough, I'm on minimum wage and someone on here owes me £50