Firstly, some background on me and why I am writing this piece. As a long serving photographer and very successful photojournalist, living in Scotland and attending press calls and football matches on behalf of Scottish newspapers and agencies, where I made it my daily challenge to make our politicians look as ridiculous as they truly are, I serviced articles with images which were used to display those political ‘masterminds’ (sic) in their truest of light as the utter incompetents that they really are in reality. I was finally, in 2016, perturbed enough by the ensuing demise of the press in Scotland, to a point where I was forced to leave the industry.
I am glad to be shot of the entire cabal of it, and I can see, from experience how the industry enforces it’s propaganda and sways minds to believe whatever biased journalists want their readers to believe.
But enough of that, as this is not a political piece. My sports photography has taken me, in the past, right across the UK, and I have had the privilege to shoot football matches in the most prestigious of stadiums around Britain. A genuine relief from the weekday press calls and even sitting in the freezing snow at Annan on a Wednesday night in February was preferable to sharing presence with Scottish politicians. So, I want to recollect on recent stories in our mainstream media, which to the eye of the beholder – really do look and read utterly ludicrous, also showing the veracity of our press, hellbent on playing to the gallery to sell papers and pointless subscriptions which serve none but their own fiction and bias.
From the outset in 2012, Scottish mainstream media began perpetuating the myth that Rangers would never, ever catch Celtic and that Celtic would go on to become the all-omnipotent force in Scottish football, allegedly, forever surfing the European co-efficient with league title, after league title and putting Scotland on the map of footballing excellence. Well, in truth, we all know how that actually turned out.
This is the utter rubbish that they have been feeding to a naive supporter base as they grew up from not knowing what defeat is, and this is an exceptionally damaging narrative. This I would instigate most likely demands apology from those who would have our younger generation believe that the team they support could never be beaten – never again fall from the top of the league table, and never ever be beaten to any silverware by a rival club who they were told, would need miracles by the grace of God, to recover. But.. and I heed you to this… The fault does not lie with the team you support; the fault here is 100% on the mainstream media and redtop sports journalism.
Bear with me, and remember this is not an article about any one football team. This is merely an observation on how basic mainstream propaganda can have an effect on Scotland’s youth.
Of late, a manager vacancy in the East End of Glasgow saga has been merely nothing more than a condensed version of what has been drip fed to growing-up Celtic supporters for the last 9 years, and in turn, spurned bloggers and would-be YouTube commentators to perpetuate the same ridiculous propaganda. We have had a swathe of managers, seemingly already signed for Celtic. If you read the papers in Scotland, Celtic have not merely signed one manager; they already have Eddie Howe, Angelos “Ange” Postecoglou and Rui Faria signed up and ready to sit on the bench at Celtic Park next season (!?)
The fact remains, regardless of what you read in the papers, deals are not done until there is a photojournalist taking a picture of a man holding a scarf.
But will the Scottish mainstream media sycophants, hiding behind their editors, hacking away at their MacBooks, backtrack? In the interest of neutrality, let them take this as an open letter… a plea…
Let this be, to the projection of your failing mainstream propaganda; use your past perpetual desperation to glorify that which holds no glory and become desperate to find neutrality. If you fail to do this, your own downfall is that of sacrilege. You’ve fed our kids false hope and caused real mental health issues by your bias and egotism. Just because you write it doesn’t mean it comes true. Or will you be perpetually falling down in the same house of cards as the club you have been sycophant over for so long?
All I ask for is neutrality when I read sports journalism, and reading The 4th Official gives me this. I find myself again interested in what’s going on at clubs and teams I don’t support, and I find myself legitimately keen to see the next article from T4O.
You and I are the new sports journalism in Scotland; we all are… and we can all play a part in making redtop sports bias a thing of the past. And good riddance to it.
But whether you agree with this, or not…. I allege that: in the press in Scotland;
A) There has been institutional passive-aggressive racism against footballers who are not native of this country, playing here, to the point they have been unfairly treated in their job.
B) There has been consistent bias by a kangaroo-court SPFL, which has perpetuated bias narratives in our newspapers, resulting in footballers being treated unfairly in their job.
C) There has been institutional bribery and corruption at the heart of our game and in the corridors of football’s governing bodies in Scotland, which has resulted in footballers being unfairly treated in their job.
Whilst the back pages of the newspapers refrain from reporting the actual news in our sport and perpetuate their idiosyncratic biases within every column they print, they will continue the slide they are in to a zero-sum game. Sacrilegious to the knowledge that people are just not buying papers anymore. Nobody brought this upon them but themselves.
I take sole responsibility for the allegations I make in this article, and it may be a shock to you reading this, that this is how journalism used to look. We can still hold those who would govern our sport to account.
Editorial Note: Did you know this article was published days back on our exclusive Patreon page? If you love Scottish football and sick and tired of the same old biased MSM coverage, this is for you. The 4th Official needs your support. Due to the unprecedented situation as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic, the digital media space has been completely devastated. There has been a massive shortfall in revenue (even while viewership is up) as we scramble how to make sure that we go on with our daily job. We are proud to put up exclusive stuff on Scottish football as well as an early release of our podcast interviews with relevant personalities of the game (recent guests have been David Martindale, Matt Polster, Greg Docherty, Daniel Stendel & a lot more) on our Patreon account and hope you would support us in these tough times. We have supporters from atleast 9 countries, and you can be too by chipping in just £2.99/month (or you can avail this limited time offer of becoming an annual patron by getting 2 months extra content). Become a proud Patron of The 4th Official!
