Finally someone calls it for what it is

[jg22]

http://www.sen.com.au/news/04-16/buckley-too-many-journalists-think-they-re-the-news#SMrK4S2eQEyx4LtW.97

"Robbo got on his soapbox at the beginning of it saying he’d been banned by the players and the Herald Sun had been banned by the players, so he made himself the story."


How is this not getting more airtime or a run in the press (at least Fairfax owned)? This pathetic excuse for a journalist, who deigns to fill the shoes of Brown, Simunovich, et al, finally gets called out for his attention-seeking tanties. Let's hope all the other AFL coaches start reminding laughing boy about his position in our great game.

[burnsy17]

Not fussed that our players aren't talking to one Journo.

In fact, it probably puts a dent in his ability to maintain circulation etc and is a message to all other journos to play nice or suffer the same fate.

[qldmagpie67]

My understanding of it is no journalist have been banned
Just the topic of the hair test have been banned by being asked to any coach or player of the club
Robbo still wants to make this a Collingwood focused story and is hell bent on keeping it alive
3 weeks since it broke and he still hasn't named any other club
And this from tn guy who used he columns to defend the Essendon players mainly Jobe Watson even when they have been found guilty
Ignore the lump of lard

[yin-YANG]

Quite ironic that a piss-pot essendope supporter has a mission re illicit drugs in footy - well at Collingwood!

Alcohol is a massive problem in society and cheating with the use of performance enhancing drugs is a much bigger issue in sports compared with recreational drugs!

[Woods]

The club is going about this the wrong way.

Buckley, speaking on behalf of the club, said that Mark Robinson “made himself the story”. In other words it should be the content and integrity of the news story that is the focus of public attention, not the media personality who first broke the news.

But consider this. Collingwood FC regularly uses the personalities of its players and staff to distract attention from on field performance and to recruit members, win sponsorship deals etc. All teams do. Who doesn’t remember PR campaigns like Buckley’s Brigade, the big push to have Daisy Thomas become the darling of the young kids, and the move since to have Jamie Elliot take Daisy’s place. Collingwood’s use of ‘look at me and not the reality of our performance’ is a big part of daily practice at the club. Go ask Sarah on Collingwood TV. Better still, go ask Adam Goodes at Sydney FC – personality over substance reigns supreme everywhere. Like it or not, it’s reality.

But its double standards at Collingwood. The club, through Buckley, is saying that the Herald-Sun can’t do the same thing by making Robinson the face of AFL reporting. Hypocrisy. Worse still it has unified journalist across the mainstream media spectrum against the idea of banning journalists. This is why the ban is getting almost no coverage in the Age or elsewhere. Few issues brings journos together to fight a common cause more than the denial of access to information, it’s their bread and butter. They all fear the ban.

This media silence is quite an achievement by the Collingwood players because journalists are by nature one of the most selfish, un-collegiate professional groups there is. They are at heart lone wolves – they like to hunt alone - and find it difficult co-operating with each other. An editor’s job is at times a living nightmare.

Collingwood needs to exploit this. Instead of putting an embargo on Robinson, just cut him out of the news feed – the scoops and exclusive breaking news items that are needed to fill the Herald-Sun’s back page every day. Pitch stories and tip-offs to Robinson’s ambitious junior reporters. Let the underlings have the by-line on the big stories and win the awards for best sports story. And feed stories to the Herald-Sun’s competitors (eg. the Age). This all leads to an undermining of Robinson’s status and credibility both inside the Herald-Sun, the AFL and within the footy public’s mind.

It won’t be too long before Robinson’s editor starts to notice and ask, “Why aren’t you getting these stories, Robbo?”, and begins to think that maybe he’s no longer the best guy to be Chief footy writer. Robinson’s not dumb either. Before things get critical he has the option of folding and making some sort of apology to the players – which is all they want.

[i hate carlton]

I reckon he goes on fox half cut some nights. Dresses like a derro as well.

No way the bouncers at the Tunnel would let him in dressed like that...