jueves, 26 de agosto de 2010

The Sun´s last rant over Capello

I was taught that there is a thin red line between facts and opinions in journalism. As a journalist sometimes you have time for facts and sometimes you have time for opinion. And this is the important, a good journalist should never mix facts and opinions. Well it seems as if there in the UK they missed out this journalism lesson. Not everyone, of course, but the bulk of the tabloid journalists. Yesterday I was warned by a friend of an article published in the back-page of The Sun and written by Shaun Custis. Reading the headline you just realise that the writer loses his moral authority to inform after involving his opinion, and in that way, from the very beginning.

Here are some of the hotspots:
Headline: "Jackass picks just Cap it all"
Subheadder: "DONKEY Fabio Capello has stuck a hoof into England's brave new world - after just one game."
Text: "The gormless Italian vowed to rebuild after our World Cup debacle by bringing in young players. But the silly ass has ruled Arsenal whizkid Jack Wilshere, 18, out of next month's vital Euro qualifiers."

I´m utterly amazed to see how insult and disqualification have a place in a piece of news information like that. That would never happen here in Spain, even in editorials. Even if you are right with what you are saying, you lose your point when you give your opinion through this way. You can be critic and express your opinion but I have always defended (and I always will) that you should be constructive too. One of the journalist duties is to help. I´m sure this guy loves England and the national team but the squad won´t improve just for the sake of mocking and insulting the coach, who won´t quit either. I can clearly see the approach of the journalist and the newspaper. This is just: "He won´t quit because he is being paid god damn well so that gives us the right to criticise. Moreover, the land is backing us because they share our opinion. We are speaking on behalf of them".

If the FA is unable to sack Capello due to his contract (something everybody knows) and won´t assume the responsibility for changing his contract just weeks before the World Cup there´s just no other option: Capello must be backed. In other words, the FA must stand by him until the job´s done or the squad sink. However, Capello needs to know that even if he has won everything at club level he still has scope for improvement. He failed to deliver a good World Cup campaign and that´s a major breakdown in his CV. It´s obvious that there are quite a few things that he needs to change: tactics, communication with the footballers, approach and english level. So just let him work in peace and give him time to work out what´s done wrong.

SUN: "Jackass picks just Cap it all".

No hay comentarios: