Chances are that, like me, you were scrolling through your Facebook feed on Wednesday morning and saw a story that suggested Martin Johnson, the England Rugby World Cup-winning captain, had been speaking to sports coaches in Bedford to take action on cardiac arrest training.
Imagine my surprise, as the Bedford Independent Sport Editor, in finding out that one of the nation’s most successful sporting icons of the 21st century had focused entirely on our town to promote an important cause.
As it turns out. He hadn’t.
The story, which appeared in Bedford’s Iconic Media-owned title, seemed to suggest that Martin Johnson had solely chosen our rugby-mad town to promote a cause close to many people’s hearts.
Except, dig a little bit deeper, and you soon find out that nothing of the sort has happened.
Once again, as we have outlined in the Bedford Independent before, a public relations individual has used Iconic Media’s controversial ‘self-upload’ tool to post the same article to multiple titles across the UK, word for word.
Read: Editor calls for end to self-uploaded articles (Hold the Front Page)
In Sussex, Harrogate, Luton, Mansfield, and many more. The Iconic Media-owned title in each patch has run the same story, suggesting one of the nation’s most respected sporting stars chose their town specifically to promote a good cause.
From the outset, I want to say this. It’s misleading and dishonest to present a PR angle as independent, genuine local news. It diminishes trust in journalism, when trust in journalists is arguably already at rock bottom.
For Iconic Media to damage it further in the name of clicks is an awful, ultimately flawed business model that damages not only them, but journalism as a whole.
When National World (which used to own these titles) launched the opportunity in 2022 for anyone and everyone to publish their own stories in their local newspapers, they said: “It is hoped the project will also open up other avenues for unique local copy…”
There is little evidence it has.
Iconic Media, as the new(ish) owners of these newspapers, could switch off the self-upload portal they inherited. They could do the right thing and employ more journalists doing actual journalism.
Sure, a story may start with a media release, but at least it will be challenged, checked and, when necessary, added to.
Sure it would mean more competition for us, but this isn’t about which newspaper is winning in our patch; it’s about making sure Bedford has great journalism wherever one prefers to get their news.
“I’d love the opportunity to sit down with Martin”
In a somewhat heartbreaking turn of events, the Facebook comments section beneath the Iconic Media-owned title in Leighton Buzzard showed exactly why a self-uploaded article is plain wrong.
A reader, who naturally believed Johnson had visited his small town to talk about a topic close to his heart, tried to reach out to the newspaper to connect him with the former England captain and tell his own story.
“As someone whose life was saved at this club [Leighton Buzzard Rugby Club], and who owes the last three years of my life to the care I received there, I would genuinely love the opportunity to sit down with Martin and openly share my story”, says the comment.
“I’d like to talk about what happened that night, the life-saving treatment I received, and just how much that care has meant to me over the past three years.
“It’s something I’ll always be incredibly grateful for, and I’d really value the chance to have that conversation.”
Local journalists won’t be able to act on that, because they can’t. Because Martin Johnson – completely unwittingly – never mentioned Leighton Buzzard, or any other specific town, in the generic interview.
Is it right that this gentleman has been led to believe this was a possibility? Is it right that he thought he had the chance to meet an idol to talk about one of the worst nights of his life? I don’t think it is. I think it’s cruel.
It goes much further, and potentially much darker
It’s one thing to copy and paste the same article on important medical training and present it as “local news” when it’s nothing of the sort, but the ‘self-upload’ portal has opened the door to all sorts of questionable practices.
From the laughable, in which someone can merely publish a list of cycling times as bullet points with no context, through to the arguably nefarious, in which a politician can write a self-aggrandising article in the third person and present it as independent news.
In our newsroom, we are noticing an increasing trend of elected MPs writing articles that promote a political agenda, presented as if an independent journalist wrote them, and offered to the public as balanced news.
Naturally, the reader may not know who wrote the piece and may be led to a viewpoint when, in fact, it’s been presented in a skewed manner by a politician or representative with a preconceived agenda.
Imagine the abuse that could result.
Read: Who writes the news? A guide to bylines used by responsible newspapers and what they tell you
In a world where misinformation and disinformation are rife and growing, allowing this practice only adds to the murky discourse, making the job of those of us who want to present balanced and impartial news far more difficult.
I also imagine it’s painful viewing for the good, honest journalists who do work across Iconic Media titles.
My words are not against them; they are against the bean-counting executives who think this practice will generate more income, when in the long run, it will crash them.
What is a “contributor”?
Already, frustrated readers are annoyed by constant pop-up ads flooding their phone screens and by a tabloid’s shock-jock clickbait headline designed to cause outrage.
Why are we making the news even harder to follow by not being honest about who writes it?
Sure, Iconic Media includes the word ‘Contributor’ next to the author at the top of the page. But do their readers understand what that actually means, and what the person’s connection is to the ‘story’?
As my editor, Paul Hutchinson, put it so succinctly in his own opinion piece on this matter: ‘Readers have no idea whether the author is a neutral local reporter, a member of a PR agency, the subject of the story themselves, or if they have a political agenda.’
Read: Opinion: Why self-uploaded stories are a direct threat to trusted local news
And that is exactly the point. How can people trust the news they read if they don’t know where it came from? Or if they’re being completely misled as to its source?
Also. It just looks shoddy.
While I come from an NHS background, I would, of course, join anyone (rugby legend or not) and encourage anyone to take up some sort of basic life support training.
In that sense, I will say, well said, Mr Johnson.
I won’t, however, say the same to Iconic Media.
