The football media doesn't really annoy me because by now it's fairy obvious that most of the people who write articles are about as in the know as your average dedicated (obsessive ) forumite.
Everybody goes to the same old Internet troughs.

The only thing that bugs me is the fact that the stories that they recycle or invent are so pedestrian.
In the absence of any real news they could at least be somewhat creative instead of recycling the same old guff.

This last month has been so uneventful I almost feel sorry for the poor journos whose job it is to feed the 24/7 news cycle.

Thing is, beyond idle speculation and gossip, most of 'em dont have an opinion on the game worth listening to. In fact, most of them couldn't write an insightful article on the actual mechanics of the game if they tried.

Matt Law and John Cross are the only ones I pay any attention to since they actually follow Arsenal around everywhere, attend all the press conferences, watch the games etc. But even they are under pressure from editors to come up with interesting material, so theres likely to be a fair amount of bullshit from them too.

These guys need to stay employed over the summer. It's this or go cover the cricket

Tim wrote:

Thing is, beyond idle speculation and gossip, most of 'em dont have an opinion on the game worth listening to. In fact, most of them couldn't write an insightful article on the actual mechanics of the game if they tried.

True, there is that aspect to it.
You have to go to the "reputable" print media or on-line versions of same to get opinion pieces worth bothering with.

It's so difficult to find anything that makes you question what you already think you know or that makes you look at what you believe in a different light.

I take it all with a pinch of salt, but, as Otfgoon said, I know the one or two who are worth listening to.

news was better before every moron with a mobile phone and a twitter account became a self-proclaimed pseudo-journalist. at least you theoretically could impose some quality control before - now the floodgates are open to all kinds of crap, and real journalists can hardly make a living.

kamikaze wrote:

news was better before every moron with a mobile phone and a twitter account became a self-proclaimed pseudo-journalist. at least you theoretically could impose some quality control before - now the floodgates are open to all kinds of crap, and real journalists can hardly make a living.

meh, replace twitter with blog and phone with laptop and the same rant was around a couple years ago. the fact of the matter is there's information to be shared and digested. Failure to modernise is the death of traditional journalists but not journalism. Despite what Murdoch wants people to think.

i dunno sabes, there is definitely more info out there, but 95% of it is not even true. it's just ppl making shit up to get page views, or stealing the info from the people who actually did the work to dig it up. you undermine those people's ability to make a living, and then you're left with no one to do the actual journalism.

then again, i believe in old school journalism, its importance to an healthy democracy, integrity and all that, but society's gone to the opposite end, where cash is all the justification you need.

Caligula wrote:

These guys need to stay employed over the summer. It's this or go cover the cricket

How/why do you know about cricket Cal?

Don't play enough cricket in my old age, Gus. I got together with some Commonwealthers the other day - Sri Lankans, Indians, Nigerians - and played a mini-game. Was a lot of fun in the wake of the World Cup.

I used to watch a ton in my youth, but I honestly don't have the time to watch cricket anymore (hell, I don't even watch tennis or F1 much these days). Once cricket accepts that 20/20 is the most consumable format, I will watch a lot more.

kamikaze wrote:

news was better before every moron with a mobile phone and a twitter account became a self-proclaimed pseudo-journalist. at least you theoretically could impose some quality control before - now the floodgates are open to all kinds of crap, and real journalists can hardly make a living.

I love when people moan about twitter. Especially the bit there about quality control, Twitter is entirely quality control, its up to you who you follow so if you're following a load of idiots spouting crap then thats what you get.

Best quality control is to not even sign up fo the Twittery

The thing is, a lot of the twitters who spout the most shite are not idiots. They're grown men who are season ticket holders, shareholders, leading members of the AST etc. Why they feel the need to make stuff up about transfers, or overblow the little bit of 'inside' knowledge they do have is beyond me.

Because people follow them.

They obviously have a little 'fame' because Arsenal fans quote them and they love it. I don't and will never have twitter myself.

There's a season ticket holder and minor shareholder I see people lauding as though he's the second coming of Wenger himself. In reality he just spouts rumours.

I dont have twitter either. Should stop reading it cos there doesn't seem to be much actually worth reading.

If you follow those lads who say they know it all because they've a share then its your own fault. I followed them for a week or so last summer and soon realised they were worthless so I deleted them. However there are plenty of Arsenal fans worth following on twitter, not for some exclusive insider news but for opinions, jokes, etc same as here or AM. Plus you can add in other people like journalists, your mates and anyone else you want to follow. If what they're posting is shit just unfollow them. Its twitter not rocket science.