The Echo - how much lower can they stoop?

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Why the attack on the Echo Duncan. I assume they are not being very conducive to publicising your book. The Echo can only get access if the club decide they want to. I assume they will only publish player unrest after I has been made public, I doubt they are wishing to publish anything that would upset the club if they want to get back in favour. A very difficult dilemma for them Iwould think.

 

Nick the Echo have been very supportive of the book (I don't know why you have to keep thinking the book is behind everything). I don't think you have read my OP thoroughly otherwise you wouldn't have asked the question you did. My point was the timing of the message. They obviously picked the story up from the Mail, which in itself is pretty pathetic. The story is over 2 weeks old (if true), so why is our local newspaper printing stories about the local team that are neither original, topical or up-to-date? Unless it is to make mischief or grab attention.

[Norm]

What would you rather they had done? Ignored it? Tried to put a positive-only spin?

 

I get a bit lost when people criticise the Echo and other media for actually responding to and reporting the news. Does it really matter if they didn't break the story? They're hardly an investigative unit, they're a small local paper with limited but sometimes decent resource.

 

 

This sums it up well imo. Sorry Duncan, I disagree with your post. There are many fine folk at the Echo, doing a good job.

 

Ps, agree 100% with buctootim and scottys posts above

Edited 12 June, 2014 by Norm

[OldNick]

Nick the Echo have been very supportive of the book (I don't know why you have to keep thinking the book is behind everything). I don't think you have read my OP thoroughly otherwise you wouldn't have asked the question you did. My point was the timing of the message. They obviously picked the story up from the Mail, which in itself is pretty pathetic. The story is over 2 weeks old (if true), so why is our local newspaper printing stories about the local team that are neither original, topical or up-to-date? Unless it is to make mischief or grab attention.

Fair points,grab attention for newspaper sales is the best reason I expect

[alpine_saint]

Alpine, I only blame the messenger when the message is deemed to be A) unreliable, B) timed to deliberately cause trouble or unrest and C) is second hand

Always said over the last 5 years with Cortese at the helm, it would end in tears

 

Well, you were right. Happy now ?

[Killers Knee]

Over reaction by the WUM's

 

Someone broke the story, the Echo followed up on the story due to it being a local news item, they confirmed the story with their contact, they printed they've confirmed the story.

 

The Echo is not The Intercept it doesn't have Pulitzer winning staff, it doesn't do investigative journalism and doesn't "break" news, it just reports local news.

[lifeintheslowlane]

The vast majority of todays journalism is about HEADLINES not factual content.

[eurosaint]

Does anyone else note the irony that the BBC also reported this news last night on South Today ?

I guess that if the Echo copied the Mail and the BBC copied the Echo, then the BBC are even more guilty than the local paper !!

It seems to be the way of things these days, I think I'll just stick to Saintsweb for accurate information and intelligent comment :)

[John B]

An hour after the Mail's Neil Ashton reported Lovren had e mailed a transfer request, the Echo jumped on the story and claimed they had spoken to someone close to DJ and it was true he had asked to leave. So I would like to ask, why didn't they break this story, yesterday, why did they wait until the Mail went public before leaping on the bandwagon?

 

It seems to me the Echo will do anything these days to try an get attention (or sales) and they don't really care if what they print is destructive. Just recently I stopped "getting" the Echo delivered to end a family tradition that goes back 100 years. They do still have some good journalists (Gordon Simpson I have massive respect for) but it seems others will whore themselves out to print anything that grabs headlines and attention and don't really care if it is factual or not. There is no integrity left at the Echo and the way they have salivated over any tittle tattle transfer talk they pick up on forums or twitter or whatever is just, frankly transparently pathetic.

 

They to me are down in the gutter with the Sun and the Mail - full of unbelievable crap. What a shame a large swathe of people living within the Echo distribution area still actually respect a paper that lost its way a long time ago. My Dad often says to me "but the Echo says" and I have to reply "they get it all off this forum Dad, they know nothing". He grew up in the 40s when the Echo was a serious newspaper.

 

Get a grip Duncan we live in a different world these days this is how the press works I cant see why the Echo should not print it seems a good story to me if true another greedy footballer in the trough

[suewhistle]

Well, you were right. Happy now ?

 

Well, you seem to be, but you do like a good wallow in misery.

[aintforever]

Unless it is to make mischief or grab attention.

 

Isn't grabbing attention the aim of every newspaper on the planet?

[Viking Warrior]

The echo has become a crap rag since murray took over,

its not just about the lovren story. its many other stories about others and saints they print

 

To think I used to enjoy buying it . Shame the pink went by the wayside, it was good to pick up on the way home from a match to either winchester or tidworth after a few pints

[ecuk268]

The echo has become a crap rag since murray took over,

its not just about the lovren story. its many other stories about others and saints they print

 

To think I used to enjoy buying it . Shame the pink went by the wayside, it was good to pick up on the way home from a match to either winchester or tidworth after a few pints

 

I think the decline started when they were bought by Newsquest which itself is US owned. The amount of news decreased to be replaced with adverts.

 

There is very little old-fashioned journalism but that seems to be the way of most local papers. I have a few copies of the Echo from about 30 years ago and the amount of actual news in these is probably 3 or 4 times greater than it is today.

[SnailOB]

Alpine, I only blame the messenger when the message is deemed to be A) unreliable, B) timed to deliberately cause trouble or unrest and C) is second hand

Always said over the last 5 years with Cortese at the helm, it would end in tears

 

I would say that all media are the same. You made a point of defending Adam Blackmore the other day over Luke Shaw. That was an old story and I thought it was issued deliberately cause trouble or unrest as it was same time rumours came out that Man Utd were switching their attentions to Alba. The announcement from Ben Smith & Adam Blackmore was phrased to suggest that Shaw had reacted to this and had made a renewed request.

 

I would class that as mischevious. That basis, would suggest Echo do not have an exclusivity of **** stirring

[manji]

I do, sorry old habits. I get the Guardian and Observer but am becoming increasingly even they put agenda before facts. I still maintain the printed press have a big role to play.

I completely agree with you but you would be surprised by how many younger people believe that they are gospel as well. I also like you was a regular Guardian/Observer reader but they are no better than the rest.

I have been following the Ukraine crisis very closely and their coverage has been horribly inaccurate, in fact just toeing the UK/US line. *have you any idea how difficult that was for me to type? *

 

 

 

PS Have you won another £100 ?

[Turkish]

The echo seem to be forgetting that it wasn't that long ago that someone banned them from the club. Maybe they should start dealing with the club in a bit more of a positive manner than behaving like a red top.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

I completely agree with you but you would be surprised by how many younger people believe that they are gospel as well. I also like you was a regular Guardian/Observer reader but they are no better than the rest.

I have been following the Ukraine crisis very closely and their coverage has been horribly inaccurate, in fact just toeing the UK/US line. *have you any idea how difficult that was for me to type? *

 

 

 

PS Have you won another £100 ?

 

 

£1000, never had you down as a Guardian reader? I also agree with you which is a real worry.

 

I have just had an exchange of e mails with the Echo and I would like to point out that those who cover football/Saints ie Gordon and Adam still do a fine job. There is a lot of politics going on (like life in general) and sometimes things are printed which they themselves are unhappy with. My criticism was for the Echo in general but like you said standards are slipping all over the place.

[Minty]

I have just had an exchange of e mails with the Echo and I would like to point out that those who cover football/Saints ie Gordon and Adam still do a fine job. There is a lot of politics going on (like life in general) and sometimes things are printed which they themselves are unhappy with. My criticism was for the Echo in general but like you said standards are slipping all over the place.

 

This is the one thing that often bugs me. I haven't seen Adam for many years but used to talk to him a fair bit when I was working at the club doing photography. Before that, when I used to write Academy features and reports for the Echo and I knew Graham Hiley and John May, there was often discussion about the articles written and the headlines or editing used by the sub. 'The Echo' are often criticised carte blanche, but the individual journalists do a good job in difficult times and circumstances, and are always being judged on what appears in the paper, which is often not what they wrote or how it was intended. Plus, whatever we think, most of these things are printed in good faith based on solid information, even if we don't *want* to believe it. Couple that with the fact that not everyone can have the 'exclusive' and all news will be rehashed to a certain extent, they are on a hiding to nothing a lot of the time.

 

As always it comes back to us, the public, to do a bit of due diligence... to not hang on every word that is printed, but also to not dismiss it out of hand just because we don't like what we read.

[Lets B Avenue]

The echo has become a crap rag since murray took over,

its not just about the lovren story. its many other stories about others and saints they print

 

To think I used to enjoy buying it . Shame the pink went by the wayside, it was good to pick up on the way home from a match to either winchester or tidworth after a few pints

 

The Pink is still going. Even in the summer. Comes out after 7.30 on the Saturday evening, so I get mine on Sunday.

 

You are right about Murray. I heard many tales about him from journos working under him and he was generally despised.

[Tom & Gerry]

What seems blatently obvious is that every time Saints put out a positive story the next day a negative one appears. If the Echo were to investigate this and tell us what is happening they would be doing a good job.