The Guardian today reported an e-mail sent to World Service journalists stating that the BBC News website “has been inundated by comments” on the decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and not England. It also said:
“Criticism of the BBC (and to some extent the Sunday Times) is part of that story and we should reflect that.”
In other words, people are blaming journalists actually doing their jobs for England not getting the World Cup. There are definitely some people out there praising the BBC and the Sunday Times for doing what they did in order to uncover an organisation – FIFA – completely covered in corruption and shady doings. Simon Jenkins wrote a fantastic piece on the Guardian’s Comment is Free section praising journalists and defending their profession:
Journalism has revealed the antics of drugs companies, the mistakes of climate change scientists, the depths of police misbehaviour, the tax-dodging and theft by British MPs and the City’s bonus culture. Nobody else did. When the public interest is undermined by the lies and paranoia of power, it is disclosure that takes sanity by the scruff of its neck and sets it back on its feet.
So thank goodness for disclosure. Thank goodness for journalism. I am sorry we did not get the World Cup but, had we done so, it would have been mired in claims of dishonesty. In losing, we had the honour of seeing British journalism doing something to clean up a disreputable sport. That is the cup I would prefer to win.
However, people criticising the BBC seem to have completely forgotten about what investigative journalism is meant to do; they’d rather see personal interest and wishes fulfilled than to be exposed to the truth…almost like putting your fingers in your ears and going ‘NA NA NA NA NA NA’ (I do this all the time when Alan Shearer talks on Match of the Day). Have Your Say is full of moaning and whining football fans being sarcastic and petulant – what’s new? – in order to get across the point that they’d rather see journalism die in a fire.
I’m sad that the World Cup is not coming to England in 2018 but I’m also happy that it hasn’t been won under dubious circumstances, knowing what we now know in the wake of the recent allegations. Investigative journalism in particular is a dying art but things like this, the News of the World story about Pakistani cricket players being involved in match-fixing allegations and the several Wikileaks stories in recent months has given it a kick up the backside and given it a new lease of life. This form of journalism needs to exist to not only develop a greater understanding of how the world works but to uncover truth. By stating that the BBC lost us the World Cup, you’re pretty much saying that we shouldn’t be exposing corruption amongst some of the most powerful organisations in the world.
