Declan Hill says Andrew Jennings and Jens Weinreich are the 'Woodward and Bernstein' of football media. What does it mean locally?
This article from Declan Hill, journalist and international expert on match-fixing corruption, is worth highlighting.
Not only does he make the point that there are many football journalists now scurrying to be presented as experts on all things FIFA, but he also highlights the point that the best thing journalists ‘at home’ (wherever that is) can do to help FIFA reform is to focus on their local football association.
In respect of the former, Declan states that the ‘Woodward and Bernstein’ of football are Andrew Jennings and Jens Weinreich. While Les Murray famously once said that Andrew was a “discredited moron”, there are many other football journalists in Australia who have said similar – although not quite as harsh – things about Andrew also.
When it comes to Jens, very few journalists locally have probably even heard of him, let alone realise that he was one of a duo that exposed the goings-on around the winning of the 2006 World Cup – incidentally involving many of the same people involved in Australia’s 2018/2022 bid. (More on this another day).
As for holding our own football association to account, there is less than a handful of journalists in the big media houses who attempt to do this. They know that, when and if they do, they are likely to miss out on the next ‘exclusive’ from FFA headquarters or be taken off the roster for the next World Cup.
If an independent or solo writer or journalist attempts to do so, like me, they are either ‘bitter and twisted’ [which, by the way, is the name of a cute little cafe in Walsh Bay, Sydney that you should all try some time] or they are ‘fans with typewriters’ who, for some reason, are not deemed important enough to raise issues and ask questions.
So here’s the challenge to the (approximately) 20-30 people who earn a full-time living from reporting on football in Australia.
Don’t just be a reporter. Don’t just be a public relations puppet. Be what you wanted to be in the first place – a journalist.
Get in touch with Andrew Jennings or Jens Weinreich, or others of similar ilk including Declan Hill, and find out how to combine your skills as a wordsmith, your good mind and your nose for stories, with a big dose of healthy scepticism, the capacity to be resilient and live up to be the important role you play as part of the fourth pillar of democracy.
I am happy to give you their contact details if you wish.