Media Reporting 2007
Into
the third edition of the website annual appraisal of our local media, the list
of papers coming under scrutiny is ever increasing with Chinese paper Lian
He Zhao Bao now included.
With
that the number of papers now under Media Reporting is 6 and unless one learn
Malay or Tamil, this website should have the complete list of Chinese and
English papers reporting on local football.
Certainly
it is hoped one day the Malay and Tamil papers can be included but it would
involve the aid of any reader out there who knows Malay and Tamil.
Until
then let looked at this year list from whom one think are the Best to the Worst
1. Today
2. Shin Min
(Chinese)
3. Fusion
Football Weekly
4. Lian He Zhao Bao (Chinese)
5. Straits Times
6. The New Paper
TODAY
The third year Today is top
and what else have not been written in the past that is needed to showcase the
reason why it is so.
This year Today S-league preview have decided to forgo it former practice of bungling everything together
into one part or two parts system with the most coverage on the match of
the week and instead have a preview of every match thus giving every teams it
maximum attention.
It is a
step in the right direction for in order for the S-league to develop even
further, coverage of it mid-tier teams are needed and with the daily coverage,
as the matches are spread out throughout the week, S-league can also stay in
the public eye.
Other
than this new development, this year exclusive articles coming out from the MediaCorp paper looked to have also gone up a notch with
more news like Courts seeking to buy up Balestier Khalsa and Toa Poyah Stadiums
naming rights, S-league in talks with SSC to redevelop and AFC in town to
review S-league prospects of ACL 2009 etc.
Such
news needed real journalist work for such information are not lying around in
front of a laptop and it would have been all too easy for the MediaCorp paper to copy SPH side and waited for the major
news network like Reuters to do the work for it for even when coming to SPH favourite EPL, SPH sport journalist or editors barely ever
write their own.
That
why Today dominance of top place in the
media chart is assured for years to come unless SPH is ready to give local
sports a place and it sport journalist
or editors get to work.
SHIN MIN (CHINESE)
Anybody
following Shin Min recently for local sport would have been dazzled by the
number of writeup and the size, as it is covering up
to 25% of a page, it is doing on the S-league but do not be fooled as this is
the dull time for European football.
But
they still deserved their second position in the media list and it is certainly
not right to whitewash all their efforts for the others below also come out
short in certain areas or in all areas for TNP.
As in
previous years, Shin Min preview articles written are always worth a look not
forgetting their theories along with statistic that can also be found in the
preview so it preview is among the best.
They
also continued to do their share of the coverage of Singapore clubs in the AFC
Cup and this year even with the inclusion of Lian He Zao Bao they did not slack off so
it is commendable.
The
best is when reading Shin Min; they do not always talk about the past like the
English side of SPH so let go of the
past Straits Times and The New paper as the world does not revolve around the
30 million population of Malaysia and Singapore.
But
Shin Min main problem is one do not know if they can last the pace as year
after year they have shown towards the end of the league campaign their
coverage start to go downhill as one can easily missed their work for a palm
resting on the paper can cover it up.
Thus it
is a minus and the fact the paper does not to off season coverage as well mean
it is well off the pace against leader Today but when against it rival it keep
second for it coverage abilities.
FOOTBALL WEEKLY
Having done itself credits last year to
finish a close third behind Shin Min, this year saw Football Weekly drop a
little further behind after its revamp.
This was a result of it own success as
the paper have done itself proud in the coverage of the local scene and with a
revamp, it would be assume the paper would take it even further.
While the paper have still done itself credits with it off season
coverage with movement of players, players interviews, roundup of league as
well as the grassroots from the Prime League to the amateur scene etc, the
question was if the paper can extend it even further and that where the
limitation of the structure of the paper come into focus.
As Football Weekly is a
once weekly paper and without the financial backing of a media giant, it cannot
have the kind of exclusive reporting like Today and extensive look into
matches like Shin Min thus ensuring it cannot matched up.
Also
with the inclusion of a non-football sport section with the revamp, it must be
asked if the paper is trying to cover too many angles, as it is no doubt
looking to expand into the non-European football months with football now an
ongoing affair year out, for that mean they have to spend as much effort to
keep abreast of the update of other sports and as the non-football sport
section does not touch on the local scene it is not actually promoting or
conductive to the local sport scene and it may be doing the opposite with it
fighting for space with the local football Football Weekly is promoting.
So have
Football Weekly reached it
peak already and can go no further, that question like the Shin Min question
can only be answered the very next time a roundup of local media reporting of
local scene is done again.
LIAN HE ZAO BAO (CHINESE)
The
newcomer to this year media list is SPH Chinese paper Lian
He Zao Bao and already it
is placed above the SPH other two English papers which one can say is right.
In truth,
the Chinese paper articles do not have the extensive reporting of Today non the juicy tales or variety Shin Min contained yet
it is highly valued by this website.
It win
out on one important point the website considered very important which is it consistency
coverage of the local league along with it commitment for it writeup constantly covered up to 25% of a page and Lian He Zao Bao
do not covered more than 2 pages on sport often.
That
why while one may have doubts if the other Chinese paper Shin Min can last the
season, especially with the English League starting in August, one can
assumedly believed Lian He Zao
Bao can go all the way.
This is
a respect of local sport for the S-league does not start in late May - when the
English season end - and end in August - when the English football season start
- which is how one suspect the other
Yet
since the start of the local season when it coverage start, the paper have not
wave from it commitment and this include the league teams participation in the
Asia arena the AFC Cup showing there is good reason to believe Lian He Zao Bao
can go all the way.
A good
start and with a bit of variety in their reporting it should have match Shin
Min but at the same time questions will have to ask about the off-season for
this is the time most local media go missing and if Lian He Zao Bao can fill up that gap, it
would be prefect although one may be asking too much from a SPH paper to do
that.
STRAITS
TIMES
Last year ‘blinking light’ Straits Times is not blinking as much
this year but it is not shining at full strength either.
After an amazing coverage of the Singtel
League Cup where almost every game was covered, the paper have stabilized down
for the still ongoing S-league with a weekly coverage of a match of the week
which is usually the LIVE game of the week.
This may be an improvement over last year but considering the vast
recourse at it disposal and the fact the paper like to proclaim itself as a
national paper that is upholding it social responsibilities (A fact mention in
last year Media reporting as well) it can do a better job as it scope on news
of local sports is still quite limited.
Equally irking is the speed which the paper come
out with the news on local sports with the recent announcement of the National
Team and Under 23 for the upcoming internationals a prime example.
FAS had announced the squad on Friday yet it took Straits times
until the following Tuesday before any mention of it can be found and comparing
this with Today, who came out with the news the next day, one has to ask what
was Straits Times doing for the 72 hours it took them to print the news.
This is the 21th century and unless SPH
intend to be like the Iranian club Esteghlal who upon
being thrown out of ACL for non-delivery of an entry form claimed they do not
know what an e-mail or the fax machine is then SPH should not have taken that
long to print that article.
Or maybe SPH employees in the sport department just cannot work
first without either Reuters or AP writing up the article and they just do the
copying and editing job.
That could also explained why the flagship of SPH is so bad when
it come to local sports as they have to depend on themselves and that where
their true quality of journalism on sport is revealed and the answer is not
what they want to hear as they often showed off their awards in journalism.
The light is not ‘blinking’ as much this year but still ‘blinking’
and in need of a change to a 21th century light bulb
if Straits Times ever want to get out second last.
TNP
Let not waste too much or too much effort on this as the paper
itself does not spend any effort on local sports and to an extent their editors
must be proud of it for they celebrated they only covered foreign football.
But the sense of hypocorism is not lost when the paper recently
ran an article showing the lacked of local willingness to aid local sportsmen
in their quest and how much the sportsmen families have to come to the aid to
give them the chance to try out for their dream.
TNP only need to look at the mirror each morning and they see the
reasons why as they have put down local sport as much as possible in their time
in existent – the way they treated
netball a prime example for when Singapore won Asian Cup they treated it well
but once it was down they called it a disgrace for sending the team to the
Commonwealth Games – and some of their previous article barely disguised they
only covered local sports because they were given an assignment.
If they were to give an office in
Last and fully deserved.