by red37 » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:47 am
Chris Bascombe's response over the reaction to his announcement: (posted up on TLW)
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LIVERPOOL likes to describe itself as a radical city, but it isn't.
Conservativism thrives here.
Not the party political right wing stereotype of Thatcherism. This is more an entrenched belief in the permanent righteousness of the past. Preferences and dislikes have been set in an imaginary stone by our unofficial ministers of truth. Their scouse law dictates which city, football clubs, comedians, musicians, politicians and writers are to be loved and hated. It's a mentality which - taken to the extreme - effectively ensures future generations have no free will on a whole range of issues. They must accept what the superscouse superiors say or be damned.
Those who try to challenge this lack of logic or find virtue in change are ridiculed, accused of betrayal or, in some cases, threatened.
I've always thought of myself as of a more liberal mind, and I'd say I belong to a generation of scousers proud of this city's past, aching to see it advance, but more often than not frustrated.
Some of us are fortunate enough to be in a position to try to demand such change, often with very limited success. This brings responsibility, certainly in a job such as the one I'm giving up, but you hope the people who inspired you along the way mean you get more right than wrong.
You get influenced by your heroes and, until a certain age, believe everything they say is right. Mine were Brian Reade, Mrs Fay (my sociology teacher at SFX), Roddy Frame and my parents. They still are.
As you get older, more aware of yourself and the city around you, you finally settle on a set of beliefs which you're comfortable with. The heroic voices become guides from memory rather than the absolute reference points for all knowledge. That's where I am now and have been for many years. Aware enough to hear and understand different points of view, but experienced and intelligent enough to recognise in life, nothing is ever black or white.
Eighteen years ago, my absolute faith in everything 'scouse' was probably embarrassing. To call it parochialism would be generous, but it bordered on regional prejudice. The years have sorted me out, and I can now put much of what I said, did or wrote down to immaturity. Having the good fortune to go to University in Liverpool and later Cornwall College for my post-grad journalism course - where none of my best friends were scousers and some were, shock horror, cockneys and Mancs - brought more wisdom than any books or lectures.
That said, put me in bar down south with a load of cockneys wearing Harry Enfield wigs today (even worse when they wearing Liverpool shirts), and my temperature still makes my face beetroot red. I'm consistently appalled by how our city and its people are misrepresented across the country. Nothing angers me more. That's one of the reasons I became a journalist and it remains the case.
But the rose-tinted spectacles also went a long time ago. The more I've travelled, the more examples I've seen of people who claim to be 'our own' degrading our reputation, and making me want to avoid places where I know the wrong type will be. The 'conservatives' never like to dwell on this, of course.
There are those who insist to magnify our blemishes is an act of treason. Dare to mention the Munich chants at Old Trafford as I did last season, and you're hit with 'what about their Heysel songs?' as if responding to toe-rags by acting like one is a justification. My response to that argument was always the same. It's not my job to investigate the Mancunian psyche. It doesn't embarrass me, my friends or family.
There are times I've lost faith with being a Liverpool lad, but only for a millisecond. I'm swiftly pulled back in by the honesty, generosity and humanity of my friends, family, and hundreds of others I may have only met briefly but whose company is a permanent reminder of where I'm from and why I'll never forget it.
It's those people and the thousands I've never met but I know are out there who I've always considered my audience during my time at the Liverpool ECHO.
The overwhelming majority of people in Liverpool are intelligent; thoughtful; generous of heart and spirit, and of like mind. They just get out-shouted a lot by our mob or out-manoeuvred by the more incompetent of our politicians or civic leaders.
The biggest compliments I've ever enjoyed as an ECHO writer have come from strangers who've said 'you write how I think'.
Now I'm leaving the ECHO, I don't see why such people will feel any differently. I guess it's those people, if they're concerned about where I'm heading next, I'm addressing now.
I've spoken to other sports editors from national newspapers in the past, all of whom asked me how I'd change my approach to the job. The blank, or perhaps it was hostile look, I gave them may explain why offers never materialised.
When the News of the World asked me to write for them, it was made clear they wanted to me to do the same job I've been doing for ten years but even better. That's what I intend to do.
I don't need to justify my decision, but for those peddling falsehoods since the shock news a tabloid football reporter has decided to join another tabloid newspaper, I'll say this. It's not a question of conscience. The News of the World is not The Sun, never has been and never will be. There's never been a Merseyside boycott of the News of the World. Liverpool Football Club has never changed its policy of co-operation with the News of the World.
At Anfield, it's treated the same as every other national newspaper, except one.
I won't be working in an office in London alongside Sun journalists. I'll be working on Merseyside doing my damned hardest to beating them to stories, the same way I've always done.
Will they use my best interviews and exclusives a day after they've appeared in the News of the World? I hope so. They've done so with every ECHO interview and exclusive story in the last ten years, so why should anyone care if that changes now? It will mean my articles are worth stealing. Every paper and website does it, not just The Sun.
The fact The Sun has no Sunday paper does not mean it's The Sun on Sunday, in the same way the The Sunday People has no equivalent daily paper. It's a different paper run by the same organisation, just like The Times, SKY TV and hundreds of other media outlets.
I've been working for the Liverpool ECHO, and no-one's ever said I'm effectively a Daily Post reporter too. These papers are far more connected in terms of commercial crossover and advertising, but I never heard anyone claim the Post is the Morning ECHO, or the ECHO is the Evening Post.
I'm joining a newspaper which is read by around 3 million people a week, which I thought might please those who think there's an anti-Merseyside agenda in the national Press.
Instead of sitting on the sidelines spitting venom at how unjust the treatment of Merseyside is, there's an opportunity to focus on the positives.
The editor is a scouser, the new chief football writer is a scouser, and contrary to ten years of internet lies, so am I.
Of course, the conservatives won't like this. Far better to have something to despise and hate for the next 100 years rather than embrace the possibility of making a newspaper they don't like better in the short-term, even if it's just a miniscule percentage because an unknown local sports reporter has signed up.
To those people (on other sites) who've condemned my decision, issued threats and written lies about my situation, I say thank you. In attempting to damage a reputation without having the decency to check your facts, or approach me for an explanation of my decision, you've behaved like the gutter journalists you claim to be on a moral crusade against.
The difference is, journalists have to put their names and a point of contact behind their allegations rather than hide behind alter-egos or pseudonyms.
You've reinforced the belief I've had from day one that this was the right move because if I'd ever thought I'd worked for you for the last ten years, and owed some weird debt to do so for the next 30, I'd give up on the spot.
For different reasons, I also thank those who've responded on my behalf or jumped to my defence. I hope you'll continue to read my work, but if you don't want to, that's up to you.
Will I look at myself in the mirror with comfort when I start my new job? You can count on it.
Most importantly, the people who are closest to me - friends, family and work colleagues past and future - have all looked me in the eye and told me I'm absolutely doing the right thing. Three of my heroes were the first to congratulate me and tell me I'd earned my opportunity.
The fundamental decency which runs through their core means no-one will convince me otherwise.
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Makes a good case against the criticism (much of which was extreme) However, i for one will not be reading any future articles of his.
All the same - best of luck to the fella.
TITANS of HOPE
about Hillsborough was owned by and still is owned by Rupert Murdoch a ruthless and successful businessman who I would guess his sole purpose in life is to make money. I don't believe for one minute he had anything to do with what was written in the s*n. There is only one person the Fans of Liverpool Football Club and the People of Merseyside should hold responsible and that is Mckenzie which ever stone he crawls under we should be putting bigger ones on top so the ba5tard cant crawl out.
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