Cracked where that church is yet Blog? An imposing building that one of your many acquaintances must be familiar with? Gotta be in the West Midlands somewhere?
So Blog, That nice Mr Cameroon and his party friends are going to poop Mr Leveson and not invite him to the big do. Mr Leveson has taken care of the slights suffered by the great and good at the hands of the press barons, but what he didn’t address, was the petty slights suffered by Joe Public at the hands of the local rag on a daily basis. The groups of residents appearing in one of those silly posed photographs which the local paper is fond of printing to highlight some local grievance or other, have only themselves to blame if they look stupid. I appeared in the two local papers last year in a farcical pose when I was raising money for the two charities for disable children, Newlife and Tiny Tims Children’s Centre. I swallowed my pride and accepted that the indignity for the sake of the possibility of raising a few more quids.
A couple of examples of silliness that Leveson, or the result of Leveson, or that nice Mr Cameroon’s version of Leveson will not address:-
An article appeared three weeks ago in the local paper about the celebrations of an old gentleman and his family on his 100th birthday. He was a member of the Demon Cycling Club. The club, or rather the Harrier section of the club, impinged on the activities of Godiva Harriers in the 30s. As normal practice in these cases when I want information for my super tome, ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and Other Athletic Clubs in Coventry’, I write a letter of introduction plus argued reasons and justification for my enquiry, which I forward to the party concerned via a trusted intermediary so as not to cause offence or upset; the onus then is placed on the recipient as to whether they want to proceed with my enquiry or not. In this case, the reporter was the obvious middleman to contact. What reply was forthcoming from the local rag? ‘The reporter concerned was on holiday and by the time she got back, she will have forgotten her contacts. Publishing a letter would be better’ I pointed out that letters never or hardly ever, elicited relevant information, and anyway, this was a specific enquiry to the daughter of the centenarian, and not a general appeal to the public for information. I would not be writing such a letter and would not be pursuing the matter further. Thank you very much. End of matter? Joke. A week later, a letter purporting to be from me vie e-mail was published at some length in the letters page of the local paper. So much for press integrity. And my redress?
Not long ago, the same newspaper published a photo of mine, sent in some time before to augment, a race report. The photo was published without my permission and without acknowledgement. Complaint, brought no reply. And my redress?
Three weeks ago, in ‘Athletics Weekly’ a similar situation arose, when a photograph of my daughters was used by the publication without due acknowledgement or credit, to supplement an article about cross country leagues. Complaint, brought no apology nor any reply from the athletics magazine. And my redress? Contrast to the appeal from the same publication to me, three weeks earlier to supply information to them about the groundswell of feeling about the unilateral cancellation by the English Governing body of the National Road Relay Races because of an e-coli outbreak. The magazine had read one of my letters to you Blog, or so they informed me!!! Can you believe that Blog. Would I lie to you? I did not supply the information requested, because our correspondence is private and I could not contact you for your agreement. And why did you tell them anyway???? I am a bit upset about that, you know. A couple of weeks before the editor had gone on a rant in his editorial about an unnamed athlete who had refused to kowtow to him to give an interview post-Olympic Games. I don’t know who it was who had the temerity to put the editor’s nose out of joint. One thing is for sure, that the dummy throwing incident will be harboured for some time, and then the full force of retaliation will be unleashed. And when the athlete is castigated, what will be his/her redress? If that nice Mr Cameroon gets himself sorted, he/she should be O.K.. But don’t hold your breath Blog!
A far more serious incident for me happened some forty years ago, when I had organised a trust fund for myself when trust funds did not exist in the puritanical world of amateur athletics. The local reporter got wind of what was happening, contacted Arthur Gold at the AAA and wrote an extended article about me losing my amateur status for my actions, being banned etc., etc., etc.. I had to phone the AAA and gently point out, that if such action was taken against me, I might have nothing to lose by explaining to anyone who might be interested in listening about what might be happening within our sport and which individuals might or might not be implicated. Did I mention quids or drugs? The AAA shut the local press up, but a certain amount of damage had been done with regards to my sponsorship. Luckily, I had Sir Jack Scamp fighting my corner and all turned out fine. But what was my redress?
Revenge was taken by the same reporter when a vitriolic piece was published some time later about how uncooperative I was with the local press, when in contrast, I expected others to cooperate with me in my duties as editor of our monthly Godiva Harrier Club magazine. A bit trivial of him trying to compare a club magazine with a circulation of 150 (?) to that of a local newspaper. The AAA must have really upset him for him to try to exact his revenge in such a way?
It is nice to know that Randolph Hearst is alive and well and administering the fourth estate with due diligence.
Have to go for a semi trudge now Blog, up to the local garage to buy the local newspaper.
Colin
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