Well we certainly seem to manage without your toe-curlingly dreadful match reports from the Evening Gazette.Andrew Wilkinson wrote:Agree with Banktopp. The fans radio, Twitter, the club's website and this message board keeps us informed on all things Darlo.
That's why unless the media improve considerably we don't need them.
Bit harsh. Always thought Andrew did a pretty good job despite his column inches being restricted by a (justifiably) Boro dominated newspaper.Darlogramps wrote:Well we certainly seem to manage without your toe-curlingly dreadful match reports from the Evening Gazette.Andrew Wilkinson wrote:Agree with Banktopp. The fans radio, Twitter, the club's website and this message board keeps us informed on all things Darlo.
That's why unless the media improve considerably we don't need them.
Former newspaper reporter saying the media aren't needed - not that you're bitter...
Oh, don't get me wrong, I fully understand your role. It wasn't a criticism of the job Ray et al do as such. I can appreciate you're just doing your (volunteer) job.TFDM wrote:In reference to the objectivity of the club's stuff... its difficult. I would argue its not our job to an extent. We are there to promote the club at the end of the day and be its official mouth piece. We have to try and be positive. That kind of limits what you can ask sometimes.
Occasionally when I do a piece with Martin or a player I'll try and ask a question to raise a specific issue. But its gently done. At the end of the day you've got to be careful, you need to return to these people repeatedly. If you piss someone off with a badly phrased question (no mater how well intended it is) then it can be pretty hard to bring that person back around and everything afterwards suffers.
I'm not saying post match questioning is perfect but its a tricky thing to strike a balance.
Always thought they were opinionated drivel than objective reporting, but each to their own.Darlofan97 wrote:Agreed, I always found articles in the Gazette informative. Quite often you would come across information that was not published elsewhere. I haven't agreed with Andrew on some comments made previously but as I said - our stories in the Gazette were certainly a positive.
Rob I thought you looked great on Radio this morning! Good job you were on an hour later than advertised may have had a few more listeners. I think some people on this thread are confusing two issues.robsraiders wrote:I am speaking on BBC Radio Tees in the morning on at 07.10 about our return, lets hope it sounds good !
Don't see how anyone can disagree with your last point in particular Gramps.Darlogramps wrote:Oh, don't get me wrong, I fully understand your role. It wasn't a criticism of the job Ray et al do as such. I can appreciate you're just doing your (volunteer) job.TFDM wrote:In reference to the objectivity of the club's stuff... its difficult. I would argue its not our job to an extent. We are there to promote the club at the end of the day and be its official mouth piece. We have to try and be positive. That kind of limits what you can ask sometimes.
Occasionally when I do a piece with Martin or a player I'll try and ask a question to raise a specific issue. But its gently done. At the end of the day you've got to be careful, you need to return to these people repeatedly. If you piss someone off with a badly phrased question (no mater how well intended it is) then it can be pretty hard to bring that person back around and everything afterwards suffers.
I'm not saying post match questioning is perfect but its a tricky thing to strike a balance.
My point was more that it demonstrates the importance for fans of the club having a good relationship with local media.
The club will tell us what they want us to hear, which may not always be 100% what's actually happening.
That's why I think it's vital we have local media who can be independent and objective. Relying solely on the club and its media managers to know what's happening isn't a good state of affairs in my opinion.
Robbie whilst I disagree with your earlier comments on this thread you are spot on here about the Echo coverage.Robbie Painter wrote:Personally I think Craig Stoddart & the Echo give us great coverage. No complaints on that front.
Agreed Robbo, the Echo's coverage is brilliant for a club at our level, even more so when we were in the Northern league.loan_star wrote:Had certain people at the Echo had their way we would have been dropped when we were in the northern league. Stod and Peter Barron were the main reasons we weren't dropped and we should be thankful that those two fought our corner.
What else would you call it then Andrew? Loughlin and a couple of others on the sportsdesk wanted Darlo dropping from regular coverage. Stod and Barron made sure that didn't happen so if it's not fighting our corner I don't know what else you would choose to call it.Andrew Wilkinson wrote:Don't forget Kev Luff. Interesting choice of phrase 'fighting our corner'. There is no need for journalists to do that these days as the club is stable and open, which is great.
Yeap. Andrews reports for me were another source of darlo related info - readily digested. From memory I can recall no toe curling content. Back when living in Durham (pre proper Internet) it was always a case of having to wade through the endless media offerings on boro, Newcastle and Sunderland - so Andrews stuff in addition to the echo was welcome for me.The Golden Hairclip wrote:Bit harsh. Always thought Andrew did a pretty good job despite his column inches being restricted by a (justifiably) Boro dominated newspaper.Darlogramps wrote:Well we certainly seem to manage without your toe-curlingly dreadful match reports from the Evening Gazette.Andrew Wilkinson wrote:Agree with Banktopp. The fans radio, Twitter, the club's website and this message board keeps us informed on all things Darlo.
That's why unless the media improve considerably we don't need them.
Former newspaper reporter saying the media aren't needed - not that you're bitter...
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Disagree. I think Stoddart and the Echo do an excellent job. Occasionally I think they're a little passive and I've criticised them in the past, but on the whole, the job Stoddart does is a good one.Andrew Wilkinson wrote: The job that the Darlo media volunteers do is fantastic. Current newspaper coverage is not.
Stod's been covering us for about 15 years now if I'm correct, and the Echo has dominated for a long time (as it should BTW as it's based in the town, whereas the Gazette is predominantly a Boro paper).Quakerz wrote:The Gazette always seemed to be one step of the Echo for all manner of scoops, so A.W has nothing to be prejudiced about.
This was in the days before Stod, before anyone thinks I'm knocking him (which I'm not)
Andrew totally agree with you as well. I guess being realistic we may only have what is it between 1,000-2,000 (I really don't know an accurate figure) fans with an actual stake in the club. Whatever the figure I imagine it is a relatively small number based on the Echo's circulation and probably far less than say people who go fishing on a weekend so you could argue why should the echo promote the Club? Having said that we are all aware that it would be in the Town's interest (including local businesses) to have a successful club, and that in turn might help the paper's circulation so it should be a win win situation. Not sure I have expressed that as clearly as I might be hopefully my point is understood.Andrew Wilkinson wrote:Look North last night said there was only one football result to bring viewers, and that was York's defeat - no mention of Darlo at Halifax.
At our current level the only regular media coverage is from the Echo. And just to make it clear, my view is that the Echo give very good coverage on the playing side of the club. I think the reports on the football side are all we could ask for and more.
But perhaps there is greater scope for additional coverage now we are a fan owned club back in town. The model is vastly different from the days of one owner. Now we have hundreds and potentially thousands of people with a stake in the club. And the vast majority live in the Echo's circulation area.
That should perhaps make us an even more appealing prospect to the Echo. I'd like to see more publicity, especially for the businesses in town who give special deals to season ticket holders. This might encourage other businesses to do the same.
We need increasing sponsorship to grow as a club, and the Echo can play an even bigger role than they already do in encouraging the town and wider area to back the club, helping the club and themselves in the process. It would be good to see the news, features and business side of the paper, add to the excellent football coverage.
The fans feel that the club belongs to them more than ever before, and if we are to thrive the town needs to feel the same. And we will never get a better chance to build momentum that this year - our first back in town.
