Daily Star Sunday "Exclusives"

[Bill_Oddie]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/473881-beware-sensationalist-football-stories-by-the-daily-star

A Twitter campaign is underway to highlight the number of football stories being broken by the Daily Star Sunday newspaper in England. All the articles in question share certain characteristics which have attracted the suspicion of a number of online commentators.

They all contain quotes from elite footballers from European leagues. None of the players in question speak English as a first language and many of them barely speak English at all. None of them habitually give interviews to the media either.

Yet the Daily Star Sunday has somehow managed to overcome this series of seemingly insurmountable obstacles to gain unprecedented access to these players.

You can see a selection of some of the contentious stories here. All of them are either written or co-written by Ben Fairthorne:

MEZUT OZIL: I DREAM OF PLAYING FOR MANCHESTER UNITED

DAVID SILVA LIKES THE LOOK OF CHELSEA

JOE HART SHOULD PLAY FOR MANCHESTER UNITED SAYS CASILLAS

TORRES V VIDIC: NOW IT’S PERSONAL

TORRES FEELS LET DOWN BY LIVERPOOL

INIESTA: TORRES LOVES SKIPPER GERRARD

LIONEL MESSI: HODGSON WRONGED MASCHERANO IN TRANSFER SAGA

FABIO CAPELLO TOLD HE WAS WRONG TO END BECKHAM'S CAREER

GIGI BUFFON EXPOSES MANCHESTER CITY'S BACK FOUR FLAW

WORLD CUP 2010: WESLEY SNEIJDER IS EVEN BETTER THAN LIONEL MESSI

LIONEL MESSI: GUTIERREZ IS AS GOOD AS ROONEY AND FABREGAS!

JOSE MOURINHO TO SUCCEED ALEX FERGUSON IS A ‘DONE DEAL’

NOU CAMP PLAN £100M SUMMER SWOOP FOR CESC FABREGAS AND FERNANDO TORRES

XAVI: BARCA WILL TAKE FABREGAS IF ARSENAL DON'T START WINNING

IGOR AKINFEEV WANTS TO JOIN ANDREY ARSHAVIN AT ARSENAL

GERARD PIQUE: WAYNE ROONEY WILL WIN IT FOR MAN UTD NEXT SEASON

ARJEN ROBBEN: RAFAEL VAN DER VAART WILL BE SPURS' GEM

Do Fairthorne and his fellow Daily Star Sunday football writers genuinely enjoy unique access to the likes of Mezut Ozil, David Silva, Iker Casilla, David Villa, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Buffon, Wesley Sneijder, Igor Akinfeev, Xavi, Gerard Pique, Arjen Robben and Andreas Pirlo?

A lot of football fans, including some well respected pundits, clearly feel that the answer is no. You can see some of the scrutiny which Fairthorne has been subjected to this week here: Twitter.

This morning's Daily Star Sunday carried a grand total of three stories featuring quotes from high profile European based players. Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan, Gerard Pique of Barcelona and Lucio of Inter Milan were 'interviewed' in the following articles, WESLEY SNEIJDER: "I'D ONLY PLAY IN ENGLAND FOR MANCHESTER UTD", GERARD PIQUE: FERNANDO TORRES WILL BE ASHAMED OF EUROPA LEAGUE and, last but not least: MANCHESTER UNITED'S DIMITAR BERBATOV TIPPED FOR BALLON D'OR.

Interestingly enough, in the immediate aftermath of the Twitter allegations surrounding Fairthorne, his byline was not attached to any of these dubious Daily Star on Sunday football pieces. Despite having already interviewed both Sneijder and Pique and his 'proven' track record of getting quotes from famous European footballers Fairthorne was surprisingly not given any of this week's assignments.

In fact the depressingly familiar ,name of Ben Fairthorne was nowhere to be seen. All three of today's stories were instead written by David Hyde, who doesn't appear to have any sort of previous experience of writing sports stories for the Daily Star Sunday.

Why has Fairthorne been taken off the case? Could it have something to do with the simmerings on Twitter? The good news for the Daily Star Sunday is that they seem to have found a more than capable replacement in Hyde.

He has been able to carry on where Fairthorne left off by getting quotes from some of the best known players in La Liga and Serie A. Incidentally, a few journalists in Spain have expressed surprise that Pique should have referred to Torres as "Nando" in one of Hyde's articles. Apparently this particular abbreviation is never normally used by any of the Spanish striker's team mates.

There is a voracious appetite amongst fans for reading about football and in particular speculation pertaining to the transfer market. Unfortunately it seems that certain unscrupulous elements within the media are willing to publish the occasional football related fabrication in order to exploit this growing demand.

When it comes to sensationalist football stories, particularly those emanating from the sports pages of the Daily Star Sunday, it is well worth remembering the old adage, "don't believe everything you read."

Extraordinary stuff. They could get into serious shit for this. Their sport has always been ropey but this is scandalous.

 

[CaptainCat]

Have any of the players actually denied giving those interviews? You'd think it would have happened.

 

[Marty]

Have any of the players actually denied giving those interviews? You'd think it would have happened.

That assumes that these players actually find out that they're in a rubbish Brit tabloid, and I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Have any of the players actually denied giving those interviews? You'd think it would have happened.

Yep, Pique and Oezil both denied ever speaking to The Star or any British journalist. There could have been more but those two definitely denied all the comments attributed to them.

 

[3Dnata]

I have no idea how it works but what sort of serious shit could they get into?
Wouldn't it just be a slapped wrist,change the names of the journos and carry on regardless?

 

[mike_l]

I'm guessing they have used quotes from foreign press sources, and the main issue is that they are claiming them as "exclusives". Is that fairly accurate?

 

[Wsussexspur]

It's the daily star I thought no one with an iq over 60 read or believed what they put in it!

 

[Bill_Oddie]

I have no idea how it works but what sort of serious shit could they get into?
Wouldn't it just be a slapped wrist,change the names of the journos and carry on regardless?

NUJ would kick the journos out. They wouldn't work again. Possibly the Sports editor, too. This wouldn't be allowed to continue without the Editor's approval either. The whole paper could get into trouble.

The reporting of quotes is taken very seriously by hacks/the industry. Hence why there are so many obviously bogus stories without them. Even mis-reporting quotes can lead to strong reparations. To fabricate them - which is almost certainly what is happening here - is as bad as it gets.

It will, though, take lots of players confirming that they never made these comments and possibly a legal case, which suits nobody. So, maybe it'll all blow over.

But I hope not.

 

[wooderz]

Do they mean the NotW or am I severely mistaken?

 

[mil1lion]

Newspapers making up quotes? This is a revelation.

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Nah, News of the Screws is the Sunday version of The Sun. The Daily Star's readers are far too intelligent to fall for that kind of misinformation, so they label their Sunday edition: The Daily Star... (and this is the genius bit...) on Sunday.

Inspired, eh?

 

[Spurger King]

NUJ would kick the journos out. They wouldn't work again. Possibly the Sports editor, too. This wouldn't be allowed to continue without the Editor's approval either. The whole paper could get into trouble.

The reporting of quotes is taken very seriously by hacks/the industry. Hence why there are so many obviously bogus stories without them. Even mis-reporting quotes can lead to strong reparations. To fabricate them - which is almost certainly what is happening here - is as bad as it gets.

It will, though, take lots of players confirming that they never made these comments and possibly a legal case, which suits nobody. So, maybe it'll all blow over.

But I hope not.

I hope they throw the book at them. Not that any of their 'journalists' would know what a book is.

Obviously the newspapers are full of bullshit, but there are limits that should not be exceeded.

If those involved are investigated and found guilty, I hope they are punished as heavily as possible. I want to say that this has completely discredited the paper concerned, but seeing as it is the Daily Star, they can't exactly get any lower than their familiar position at rock bottom.

I spoke to Messi about this yesterday and he completely agrees with me. "Spurger King is completely right" said the tricky little Argentine, as we shared a glass of sangria on his private yacht.

 

[Bill_Oddie]

:lol:

Peter Odemwingie was also quick to agree. "It's fucking bullshit" said the West Brom winger between bites of a Magnum. "Ja" said Franz Beckenbauer as he applied Oil of Ulay to his knackers. Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney only had this to add "Are you working, love?"

 

[Spurger King]

I see the Daily Star are at it again...

This time they've been found guility for pretending that the makers of Grand Theft Auto were going to make a game based on Raoul Moat. Classy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-11467287

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Jesus wept.

There should be some kind of warning at newsagents like you get with cigarettes. "Warning: May be libelous bullshit and rot your brain".

 

[Marty]

I cannot believe they fell for a shit mockup some kid had posted online as a joke :lol:

 

[karennina]

This is what you get for letting capitalist imperatives drive journalism.:rofl: