Shall We Talk About Journalism? Part 10: When It All Goes Wrong
Drop your standards for a moment and you'll end up a laughing stock... and sometimes that can happen even though you're right
Note: I entered journalism without any training at the age of 29 but became Football Editor of The Times. I’ve written for many publications, including columns for The Independent and the Evening Standard. I’m now a freelance writer and host The Athletic’s Liverpool podcast
JOURNALISM IS NOT for those of a delicate disposition. The pressure of deadlines makes people angry and irrational. And even the most well-sourced stories cause a nagging doubt between filing and publication. Have I got this right or will the writs start flying?
You have to keep your standards high. Let them slip and it’s easy to end up looking like a fool. Here are some examples of how it can happen.
There was one reporter who produced a story that caused a Premier League club to complain. I called the writer and asked him if he was completely certain about his sources. He said he was and that was enough for me.
I went into bat for him with the club and their response was that this tale had been posted on a fan website and it had no veracity. Retract, take it down from online or they would sue.
That led to another awkward conversation with the reporter. I explained the club’s stance and asked him if he got the story from a supporters’ message board. He did not answer and merely said, “Take it down.”
Had he been honest with me during the initial conversation, I would have accepted that he’d made an error, told him not to do it again and moved on. But he didn’t. This was an inexperienced writer whose contact book wasn’t quite equal to the position he held and he was reaching for stories in places he should have avoided. Don’t do it. Not long afterwards, he was let go.
The moral of this is to be honest. You are more likely to get support from your bosses if you are. I’m delighted to say that this individual rebuilt his career and has a prominent role in the media. Not everyone will be so lucky.
One of the most embarrassing episodes for The Times was when we got fooled into running a piece about a summer tournament for big clubs in the Gulf. The writer involved had been working on the story for weeks. His contact seemed plausible. The reporter spoke to chief executives and owners of several Premier League clubs. They guardedly – and off-the-record – said that they knew such plans were afoot.
One Champions League Tuesday, he rang the desk. Another paper had wind of the tale. We needed to run it asap. The writer provided some promotional artwork he’d been given. Here my alarm bells went off. It was the same artists’ renderings as for the Qatar World Cup. Surely they’d have commissioned their own drawings if they were aiming to host a tournament featuring the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester United?
Stupidly, I only followed my scepticism with the most perfunctory of questions. And we ran it. All hell broke loose.
The context to this is that the writer involved was the most rigorous reporter I’ve worked with. In the previous few months, we’d missed out on six or seven back-page exclusives because he wanted to check he was right one last time. Other papers went earlier – I suspected with less evidence – and we’d have anguished conversations where I’d reassure him we were doing it the right way. But secretly I was kicking myself and when your boss asks, “Why didn’t we have this?” saying, “Well, we did, but…” doesn’t cut it.
The weight of work was also a factor. Planning for a busy Champions League night required a lot of effort. Especially when the section needed to be rejigged to take in this big story.
It took a couple of days for everything to unravel. We’d been fooled and I was forced to write an apology in my column. The editor at the time – a Hillsborough denier, friend of Kelvin MacKenzie and football hater – was furious. This probably hastened by departure from The Times.
Yet the postscript to this came on the day of the funeral service for Margaret Thatcher. I’d met John W Henry, Liverpool’s principal owner, for lunch in the West End. He was thinking about buying the Boston Globe and wanted to look around a working newspaper office.
We tried to get a taxi but the cabbie told us that, because the service was at St Paul’s, the entire City was gridlocked. There was no chance of getting east to Wapping quickly.
Thinking he’d say no, I suggested the tube to JWH. The next thing, we’re on the District Line going to Tower Hill and I’m hoping no one spots us and takes a picture. I didn’t want anyone to know that Fenway Sports Group’s main man was the source of my stories.
Anyway, we were walking through St Katherine Docks when he said, “It was brave of you to take the blame for that fiasco.”
I shrugged. What was there to say? I was Football Editor. It happened on my watch.
Then he surprised me. “Are you sure the reporter was wrong?”
It turned out that Liverpool had been approached to take part in a scheme so strikingly similar that the amounts of money on offer were the same, as were the venues and the timeframe.
It was no consolation. Sometimes you just have to ride out the ridicule.
You can also be right and still be in line for a kicking from the public. In transfer activity, moves are often under discussion and appear to be quite close but one of the parties changes their mind. If I had a pint for the number of times someone said to me in the pub, “But your paper said…”
Well, it was right at the time. Circumstances change but the back page will be for ever.
I can’t leave this section without writing about the headline that’s thrown at me all the time. “China To Buy Liverpool” will be written on my headstone (I’m getting cremated and thrown into the Mersey, for those who want to dance on my grave).
The front page of The Times in August 2010 actually said: “China Set To Buy Liverpool.” That the paper led on the story came as a surprise to me. I was on holiday in Spain.
Thinking about it, it wasn’t too much of a shock. August is the ‘silly season.’ Parliament is out, politics are quiet, news is at a premium.
I’d kicked the story off by reporting that Kenny Huang was the front man for a Chinese bid. Better journalists than me soon worked out that Huang was preposterous. But an award-winning business writer was cooperating with our sports desk and their contact at Royal Bank of Scotland – who were in position to enforce the sale of the club – assured them that the Chinese interest was real. RBS definitely played The Times.
I got a joint byline for the front-page story although the only thing I contributed to the story ended up being left out.
Two months later, Henry’s Boston-based consortium took over Liverpool. Even now, the odd person will say to me, “When are China taking over?” Generally, they are very odd.
Do I have any regrets? Yes, but not the ones you’d think. I did my best with my limited journalistic skills and passed the serious work on to my colleague from business whose reputation was unimpeachable.
What I do regret is writing positively about the impact a state-backed institution might have on the club and city. I was presented with big plans for regeneration in north Liverpool, an area I’m from and where my mother remained living until her death two years ago. In the last election it was once again listed as the poorest constituency in the UK.
Mind you, I also wrote very positive articles about Abu Dhabi’s investment in east Manchester. That was before Football Leaks and the realisation that Manchester City were not playing by the rules.
Even though City are an existential threat to football as we know it, that part of the city urgently needed money pumping in. Hardly anything is ever black and white.
You can’t be right all the time. When you’re wrong, it’s uncomfortable being the news rather than reporting it. You need a very thick hide in this business, whatever happens.
Next Monday: Any questions? I’ll answer them here
Week 1: How to start writing
Week 2: Life as a reporter
Week 3: Sub-editing, the highs and lows
Week 4: Columns, interviews and features
Week 5: Match reporting under pressure
Week 6: Ethics and lack of them
Week 7: The power and pitfalls of contacts
Week 8: Multimedia Means More Opportunity
Week 9: The perils of social media