A fitting tribute to the giant of sports investigative journalism and a clarion call to aspiring journalists
The late Andrew Jennings, who died earlier this month, was not just a “giant of sports investigative journalism” as I wrote here. He was a friend to me, and to many others also.
Together with investigative journalist Mathew Rose, I had the honour of assisting creator and editor, Jens Weinreich, in putting together a special edition of Jens's magazine Sport and Politics. The entire 80 pages from 53 contributors drawn from 17 countries is a fitting and moving tribute to Andrew and his significant legacy.
Jens has gathered an incredible group of people to make a contribution, some of whom may be surprising.
They range from household names in worldwide sport and football such as Romário, Lord David Triesman, Dick Pound, Patrick Nally and Sepp Blatter (yes, you read that right).
They include oustanding journalists such as Jens himself, but also Vyv Simpson (Andrew's co-author on his first sports book, The Lords of the Rings), Thomas Kistner, Jan Jensen, Craig Lord, Jens Sejer Andersen, Lasana Liburd, James Oliver, Hajo Seppelt, Ezequiel Fernández Moores, James Corbett and more.
They include former insiders who have worked within football, including UEFA (Alex Phillips), the now very defunct ISL (Dominik Schmid) and me (Football Australia).
They include academics such as Professors Alan Tomlinson, John Sugden, Declan Hill, Roger Pielke and Dr Katarina Pijetlović.
And it includes one of the lead investigators on the FIFA case, and a man who is also a friend to many of us, Steven Berryman.
In short, it is a who's who of those who value proper sports investigative journalism; and, through one means or another, have made a contribution to improvements in the transparency and accountability of sport, and on whom Andrew Jennings has had a lasting impact.
It's quite a network that Andrew developed and helped who have come together in this special edition of the magazine.
Every one of the articles is worth a read, and it would be a disservice to to highlight a few. It is an oustanding read from beginning to end.
Nonetheless, I do want to highlight the words of Jens Weinreich, who wrote in his terrific editorial:
“... Many journalists still misunderstand research today – and believe that it is research to find a telephone number or an email address; or that it is research to obtain information from the press offices of the IOC and FIFA in order to disseminate their fabricated propaganda postulates unfiltered. In the past, this was called collecting material. Today, collecting material is called googling.Research, however, begins at the moment when one compiles and publishes information that others do not want published. Whether IOC members, FIFA presidents, managers of sports marketing agencies, politicians, sheikhs and emirs or world federation presidents. Sometimes, that is perhaps the high art, often also connected with luck, but in any case with knowledge, courage and perseverance, as lived by Andrew Jennings, you can then call it investigative journalism.You don’t earn this honour by parroting press releases or publishing meaningless answers from press offices.It is not about publishing what the powerful, the influential, the crooks want the media to publish. It’s about publishing what they don’t want to be published! If that is combined with deep knowledge and first-class analysis – all the better. That is journalism.”
Most observers of sport in Australia would agree that we lack the journalists - or editors - with this instinct or predilection.
To the extent that it may have existed, football officialdom does everything in its power - and generally using its members' resources - to shut it down because, after all, truth hurts. To the extent that it might exist today amongst some journalists, they are torn by their love of the sport and wanting to see it succeed in one of the most competitive and hostile sporting environments in the world, and being independent, unafraid and bold.
I wrote at the end of my article in the special edition of Sport and Politics:
“I hope this and the other contributions in this magazine inspire young journalists to consider Andrew’s path, rather than the easy one.”
We can, indeed, hope.
I would urge anyone interested in journalism, football, the Olympics or sport more broadly to purchase this edition of Sport and Politics to learn what a genuine and lasting impact and legacy Andrew Jennings has left for sport and journalism.
You can purchase it directly from Jens Weinreich's site here; or, if you prefer to use an English language ordering system, you can order it here.