Visit our other sites:   

Search the site

  

Grab my RSS feed | (What's this?)

About this Blog

Journal Blog Central is the home for the North-East's best bloggers, writing on everything from newsroom life to ethical living, cookery, TV reviews and birdwatching.

Recent comments

Recent Posts

Sponsored links

Blog Authors

Graeme Whitfield The Journal's Graeme Whitfield takes you behind the headlines in his newsroom blog »
Anna HeywoodEnvironment campaigner Anna Heywood writes on ethical living »
Malcolm ClarkeMalcolm Clarke on life as a professional pool player »
Brenda BoydBrenda Boyd - the life and times of a morris dancer »
David BrennanDavid Brennan from the website Enjoying Photography writes about how to take good photos »
Emily SillarEmily Sillar, from the Comfort Food Company on North-East food »
Write Said FredWrite Said Fred - view from the pram with six-month-old Fred Telfer »
Rebecca YoungRebecca Young finds fashion on a budget »
John MackayLocal GP John Mackay writes about the NHS »
Mark RobertsonMark Robertson of the Northumber-
land Cheese Comapny on artisan food »

Archives

More Blog Links

Sponsored links


The curious tale of the Rock's rugby pitch

Posted by Graeme on February 29, 2008 3:22 PM | 

Yesterday, the Daily Telegraph carried a story about Northern Rock buying the Newcastle Falcons rugby ground just before its financial troubles started last year.

As often happens with broadcast media, the BBC read the story and followed it up on their breakfast programme and then later used it as its lead story on Look North.

There is nothing particularly unusual about that, but for the fact that the purchase of the Falcons ground was reported pretty widely in the North East press last December.

I don't understand why the Telegraph has taken the best part of three months to pick up the story, but a cynic might suggest that it's run out of new ways to kick the Rock and has to fall back on some new ones.

What's also worth commenting on is that the BBC - who, to be fair, have mostly lead the Northern Rock coverage - seemed unaware of the fact that local hacks had already written this story last year.

Print journalists like myself frequently get on our high horse and claim that TV journalists deal in second hand news. But this seems like a case of third or even fourth-hand news and if so, that's a very poor show.

Comments (4)

philip walling wrote...

Playing with a straight bat as usual Graeme - no hint of third-rate provincial tribal loyalty in these comments.
The Northern Wreck was disgracefully badly managed and should have been allowed to go bankrupt. Silly Geordie sentimentality mixed with political cronyism and good old fashioned corruption mean that we, as taxpayers, all pay for the greed and folly of the managers, the shareholders and the borrowers.

Posted by: philip walling  | March 6, 2008 3:59 PM

Graeme Whitfield wrote...

You appear to have missed my point, Philip. There's nothing wrong with the story about the rugby pitch, and nothing wrong with following it up, just that it's very odd for the Telegraph to wait two months to follow up the story and even odder for the BBC in Newcastle to then do the story that they should have noticed under their noses at the end of December.

But then your comment above and a few postings you've left on John Sadler's blog would suggest that you're not really bothered about engaging with the subject matter of the blogs. What you want to do is have a pop at the Government in whatever way you can (even if it's childish and occasionally sexist!)

Posted by: Graeme Whitfield  | March 6, 2008 5:33 PM

philip walling wrote...

Dear Graeme
It's unusual for someone who displays your unthinking prejudices to start insulting someone they disagree with so early on in a conversation.

I fear I have over-estimated your polemical inclinations and abilities because instead of setting up a dialectic and learning something through it, your instinct is to shut down argument before it has even begun. I can only speculate upon your motive for doing that.

As far as having a 'pop' as you put it at the government (small s in that context) the question is, is what I say right or wrong? The implication in your remark is that what I say is wrong, otherwise you wouldn't criticise me for saying it. If that's so then tell me why you think it's wrong rather than resorting to name-calling.

Posted by: philip walling  | March 7, 2008 7:26 AM

Graeme Whitfield wrote...

Oh, Phil. Let's not fall out.

If I accused you of being childish and sexist, it's because you replied to a blog about local history - and in particular, witchcraft - by saying that Hilary Clinton and Jacqui Smith (note the spelling!) should be burned at the stake. Seems to me that as an opinion, that's a bit childish and sexist.

You also say that you may have "over-estimated your polemical inclinations and abilities because instead of setting up a dialectic and learning something through it".

To be honest, you could be right, but I really have no idea: you've used too many long words for me there, bonny lad!

Posted by: Graeme Whitfield  | March 7, 2008 10:22 AM

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)