Vic bias and the media

[Adelaide Hawk]

Pathetically disingenuous from a moderator. A lot of football media is nationally syndicated yet non-Victorian teams are largely ignored there, too.

Are you trying to tell me the Crows and Power are ignored in Adelaide? Ridiculous.

 

[PP34]

I think you'd agree that even the smallest Melbourne club is more relevant and interesting than any non-Victorian club, right?

Nope.

 

[Brunswick Trap King]

Are you trying to tell me the Crows and Power are ignored in Adelaide? Ridiculous.

Are you also intentionally ignoring what I and other posters have mentioned re: nationally syndicated tv shows?

 

[Whatname]

I have suggested to Fox Footy they should have a SA & WA themed show, similar to Queenslanders Only on fox rugby.

It would be more interesting than the beep test.

 

[Brunswick Trap King]

And it isn't just about viewership and size of supporter base, since Melbourne was getting virtual blanket coverage for much of the year

Exactly. The Fremantle miracle in 2013 was never pushed nearly as hard as the WB or Richmond or Collingwood or Melbourne dreams have been promoted.

Funny, eh?

 

[bzparkes]

I think you'd agree that even the smallest Melbourne club is more relevant and interesting than any non-Victorian club, right?

Can't say I find any Vic teams interesting or relevant to be perfectly honest. Have a passing interest in seeing Melbourne being successful due to one of my best mates going for them but that's pretty much it. Whole Vic family goes for Richmond, couldn't have given a stuff they won, haven't even seen highlights of the match.

 

[Big Blood]

The close up on Buckley after the siren instead of putting the camera on the winning coaches box to see the celebration says it all, really

Simultaneously insulting to Bucks, the Eagles and the viewers.

For all the pretensions of being 'national' we're a jumped-up suburban comp with a parochial inward-looking culture.

 

[Blackhawk42]

Exactly. The Fremantle miracle in 2013 was never pushed nearly as hard as the WB or Richmond or Collingwood or Melbourne dreams have been promoted.

Funny, eh?

To be fair, Hawthorn were coming off the defeat the year before and the 'vindication' story was a big that for that entire season.

 

[Brunswick Trap King]

To be fair, Hawthorn were coming off the defeat the year before and the 'vindication' story was a big that for that entire season.

Fremantle, a club with no tangible success in their entire history, was playing off for their first premiership. No different to the Melbourne dream this year.

 

[Mercy Seat]

Media don't care about fairness or equal time, or whatever. They care about money and ratings.

Victorian media in Victoria rates 10x higher when discussing Victorian teams. Who would have thunk it?! They were predicting that Collingwood losing cost the industry here in the millions of $.

The media go where then eyeballs want them to go. OP should stop supporting Dees, and try drumming up the WC support in Melbourne by about 10 x if they want some fair and balanced Vic media...

 

[the harry]

I have suggested to Fox Footy they should have a SA & WA themed show, similar to Queenslanders Only on fox rugby.

It would be more interesting than the beep test.

Beep test is hard done by.

But I agree. Be far better than repeats of Open Mike. The AFL should be in favour of it for NSW & QLD.

 

[manicmagpie]

A lot of Victorian supporters tipped Melbourne to beat the Eagles which I couldn’t believe. And then those same people went and tipped Collingwood. No idea why in both situations; it’s like the year was just ignored

So we had one of the closest GFs of all time that was decided in margins of centimetres but anyone who tipped the team that didn’t win is an idiot and must have been biased.

 

[Kwality]

Pathetically disingenuous from a moderator. A lot of football media is nationally syndicated yet non-Victorian teams are largely ignored there, too.

In fairness Carlton has a big following & the media needs to be read to draw advertising - when they get up it'll be a Tigers sort of pile on.

The dynamics of support differ from State to State & only The Aus makes a genuine attempt to approach sport on a national basis.

What does get me is the unbridled yokelism that the journos preach so often with integrity totally & absolutely ignored, e.g the extension of the Grand Final at the MCG.

 

[spoon84]

Media don't care about fairness or equal time, or whatever. They care about money and ratings.

Victorian media in Victoria rates 10x higher when discussing Victorian teams. Who would have thunk it?! They were predicting that Collingwood losing cost the industry here in the millions of $.

The media go where then eyeballs want them to go. OP should stop supporting Dees, and try drumming up the WC support in Melbourne by about 10 x if they want some fair and balanced Vic media...

Of course, and the WA footy shows focus on the WA teams, surprise surprise. Im sure its the same in SA. Problem being discussed is the nationally sindicated AFL shows focus mostly on Victorian teams instead of the whole league.

 

[Brunswick Trap King]

The media go where then eyeballs want them to go. OP should stop supporting Dees, and try drumming up the WC support in Melbourne by about 10 x if they want some fair and balanced Vic media...

And WCE have a much, much larger fan base than Melbourne does. Why was the NATIONAL coverage I.e. fox footy shows focused on them? C'mon man, the media sets the ****ing agenda, you know this, right?

 

[Sweet Jesus]

Why is the vic media so obsessed with talking up the Vic clubs and ignoring the interstate ones?

Because they're knobs.

I listen to SEN's morning show occasionally and since the GF on the weekend, Garry Lyon and Tim Watson have been doing some soul-searching about how and why they didn't have a good read on WC. They're sitting around scratching their heads and trying to figure out how they got blindsided. The best they could come up with was "they're in WA - we don't watch their games". Isn't that basically an admission of incompetence? Are you a Year 10 kid who tries to do his English exam without reading the book?

If people tipped against WC or didn't think they could win the flag, so be it. You make a prediction and you get it wrong. That's not the end of the world. Shit happens. But look at this rubbish from the Herald-Sun pre-season. It's true that WC fans can sometimes be over-sensitive and see bias where none exists. But surely this kind of parochialism is unnecessary and OTT. Same as when someone like Tony Jones said WC would be a "waste" should they make the GF. It's just unnecessarily biased. Is there not some modicum of balance or clarity required if you're positioning yourself as a semi-credible commentator?

 

[dzussy]

Why? Interstate teams and their supporters are, for lack of a better word, very boring and irrelevant.

Its good to see someone at North with a bit of attitude. I love that stuff.
If the other 37 supporters you have did the same thing, anything is possible.

 

[RUNVS]

What does get me is the unbridled yokelism that the journos preach so often with integrity totally & absolutely ignored, e.g the extension of the Grand Final at the MCG.

 

[Masqualero]

Can't say I find any Vic teams interesting or relevant to be perfectly honest. Have a passing interest in seeing Melbourne being successful due to one of my best mates going for them but that's pretty much it. Whole Vic family goes for Richmond, couldn't have given a stuff they won, haven't even seen highlights of the match.

Did you watch the game at least?

 

[Carringbush2010]

While I agree with the sentiment, media is a business and they'll deliberately appeal where the market is and that is where the most people will, watch, read etc. etc.

The below snippet is a breakdown of the Australian population, the highlighted are the footy states. If you do the math you'll realize that one state outnumbers all others combined by a long long way.

Hence the media concentrate on the teams from where the most population is. It also goes a long way to explaining why there are 10 teams in one concentrated area. the GF at the G, participation rates, etc. etc.

And while I also agree there should more content on teams outside of Vic, there is an obvious reason for the concentration. As always "fair" coverage is irrelevant to those who run the media

 

[kirky]

Can't say I find any Vic teams interesting or relevant to be perfectly honest. Have a passing interest in seeing Melbourne being successful due to one of my best mates going for them but that's pretty much it. Whole Vic family goes for Richmond, couldn't have given a stuff they won, haven't even seen highlights of the match.

Agree and there is nothing better than seeing Carlton, St Kilda and the like on Friday night footy.

 

[DirtySandman]

Straight after the ‘welcome to country’ there should be a ‘welcome to VFL ceremony’ where some old vic has been comes out and makes a speech.

“Always was, always will be, VFL”

 

[Starburns_]

Have to say I was pretty disappointed during the finals, even as a supporter of the team that probably copped the most bandwagoners in the media. Why is the vic media so obsessed with talking up the Vic clubs and ignoring the interstate ones? Yes, I know interstate it is the opposite but Victoria is the hub of the competition and surely the media should hold itself to a higher standard? It has been ridiculous the amount of journos waffling on about the 'missed free' to Maynard and barely even talking about a mammoth effort from the Eagles who went undefeated in Victoria whilst missing NN and Gaff for the finals.

That's not Vic-bias though, that's a far uglier media trait of focusing on (or creating) controversy whenever possible, and it's still got the biggest Collingwood nuffies foaming at the mouth.

The focus on Buckley at the siren was ridiculous though.

Who really cares about non-Victorians? Not me, if I'm being honest. I would assume the same answer goes for most.

Nope. Aside from the Suns, St Kilda would have to be the most irrelevant club in the league currently.

Plus most people would rather see a decent game on Friday night than Carlton.

No, like how the nationally syndicated shows like AFL360, On the Couch, Footy Classified, Talking Footy, AFL Gameday etc. virtually ignored the eventual GF winner.

I imagine the reason for this is twofold, firstly the population of Victoria exceeds that of WA and SA (as well as the small percentage up North who'd care), and based on the great TV deal the non-Vic states have, Foxtel subscriptions are probably higher here as sometimes it's the only way to see your team on TV. Even Fox Footy has to pander to most of their audience to a degree.

Also, it's easy to forget how much AFL360 rammed Port Adelaide and Kochie down everyone's throats for a few years there.

Exactly. Shows like AFL 360, Footy Classified, Sunday Footy Show and those sort of shows are all national shows. They are made in Victoria but they are supposed to be national shows and focus on the national competition.

Does anyone take the SFS seriously though?

 

[kirky]

While I agree with the sentiment, media is a business and they'll deliberately appeal where the market is and that is where the most people will, watch, read etc. etc.

The below snippet is a breakdown of the Australian population, the highlighted are the footy states. If you do the math you'll realize that one state outnumbers all others combined by a long long way.

Hence the media concentrate on the teams from where the most population is. It also goes a long way to explaining why there are 10 teams in one concentrated area. the GF at the G, participation rates, etc. etc.

And while I also agree there should more content on teams outside of Vic, there is an obvious reason for the concentration. As always "fair" coverage is irrelevant to those who run the media

View attachment 567904

Based on that there should only be 8 teams in Victoria and another one in WA and one in Tasmania.

Now that would be interesting if we had 8 Vic sides and 10 non-Vic sides. We would certainly see some changes in a lot of areas if that was to occur.

It should always be stated either Vic and non-Vic. Interstate is the incorrect terminology.

 

[DivideandMultiply]

While I agree with the sentiment, media is a business and they'll deliberately appeal where the market is and that is where the most people will, watch, read etc. etc.

The below snippet is a breakdown of the Australian population, the highlighted are the footy states. If you do the math you'll realize that one state outnumbers all others combined by a long long way.

Hence the media concentrate on the teams from where the most population is. It also goes a long way to explaining why there are 10 teams in one concentrated area. the GF at the G, participation rates, etc. etc.

And while I also agree there should more content on teams outside of Vic, there is an obvious reason for the concentration. As always "fair" coverage is irrelevant to those who run the media

View attachment 567904

But representation isn't proportional.

If you allocated discussion time by viewership it would be a massive improvement.