Mainstream media outlets and football reporting

News Feed & Blogs
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I just read an article about a potential summer move for Virgil van Dijk to Barcelona. Intrigued, I clicked to see what it was all about. The piece opened with a section on Trent Alexander-Arnold and his supposed move to Real Madrid when his contract expires. Then it shifted to Mohamed Salah and his links to the Saudi Pro League under the same circumstances. Fair enough, we’ve all heard these rumours before.

Then they moved on to van Dijk, writing about how he could lead a youthful backline and how it would be a great opportunity for Barcelona. Sounds fantastic, if you’re a Barca fan. However, not once in the article was an actual source cited. Instead, they linked to another article, which had slightly more detail but still nothing of substance. No quotes, no credible contacts, no “in-the-know” reporting, not even a whisper from a gardener or housemaid claiming inside knowledge.

After reading two articles on the same topic, I had to ask myself: is this really journalism? I have to say, no, it’s not. Given the lack of substance, these stories might as well be fiction.

While this isn’t necessarily a major issue for you or me, it does irritate me that this kind of reporting gains momentum. As we’ve seen before, major outlets like Sky Sports and others will pick up these baseless stories because, frankly, they can be just as lazy, only more polished. They’ll cite vague “sources in Spain” and off they go, turning speculation into widespread discussion. Considering the amount of money people pay for Sky, I’d expect a higher standard of journalism.

Of course, this will never change. But as fans, it’s up to us how we choose to engage with these stories. Some might take them with the mountain of salt they deserve. Others will keep clicking, feeding the cycle of clickbait journalism.

Anyway, just a bit of a rant about the nature of mainstream football reporting. What do you think? Are these outlets getting lazier, or is this just the way the game works? Let me know in the comments below.

Until the next one,

Dave at AnyGames.ie

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Its the way media has gone in general, just hunting for clicks. I don’t believe a transfer now till I see the player signing it.

Sky has gotten real bad though of late with all the youtupers on now and even competitions with them playing in them like a terrible version of masters football.

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I’ll give them the youtubers, that’s actually kind of smart, youll get all the tounger generation with that, youtube is most likely more watched now than conventional tv.