Hype?

Get Real Sports Reporting

Two days in a row this week the front page of the EDP has been taken up entirely with the saga that is the Norwich City football club.

Never mind the stories themselves. What has me wondering is how the rest of the world copes without such riveting stuff to chew over.

And, it's not just the EDP. One night this week the lead story on the 6 o'clock News was the impending departure, or otherwise, of Kevin Keegan from Newcastle United.

What I wondered was this: are there no other stories which should be front page items? Is this really such a slow news week? Or, are the media just so lazy and ill-informed as to make real reporting too difficult and too time-consuming?

This week we have seen another hurricane hit the New Orleans area; the continuing Russian/Georgian conflict in that well-known flashpoint - the Balkans, the opening of the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis; the continuing credit crunch and any number of stories about the difficulties Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling are facing over the economy. All these have appeared in the news.

What I am asking is how can the comings and goings of football managers and the financial strength of Norwich City be front page news?

I had a quick check at the local media in Kansas City. The start of the NFL season is upon us. The sports page is full of news of the Chiefs. The front page is empty of idle, gormless speculation about who's in – who's out or who's up and who's down in the Chiefs' organisation.

Why should this be so? If you listen to the average man in the street they will gleefully assert that the Americans over-hype their sport. All the razzmatazz is across the pond. I've news. The UK media have overcome our trans-Atlantic cousins in the OTT stakes, by a long margin.

It's time that we gained some perspective in what's important and what's not. Sports fans should get to read about their team. It's on the back page.

Tomorrow's headline is already written. Delia has put another 2 million into the club to cover a (perceived) shortfall caused by the departure of the Turner money. That will make three days in a week when the EDP front page consists only of NCFC stories.

No, I have no inside info. But, remember, you heard it here first.

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