Jim White took to TalkSport this week to deliver a scathing attack on fan media. He dismissed those of us who run fan outlets, podcasts and websites as somehow less legitimate than “real journalists.”

He couldn’t be clearer in his belief that fan media don’t belong in press conferences.

Fair enough, he’s entitled to that opinion. But here’s the reality, football has changed, and so has the way it’s covered.

White sneered at the idea that members of fan media sit alongside journalists in press conferences, putting questions directly to managers. He called us out for daring to ask the same questions the so-called “professionals” do. But what he failed to acknowledge is that, in many cases, we’re the ones asking the questions that fans actually want answered.

Take Celtic’s CEO talking the talk about the club having “world-class” standards a few years ago. Every week, journalists had the opportunity to hold the club to account on that claim. Not one did. When my chance came around on the rota, I put the question directly to Brendan Rodgers. The fans loved it because it was the question they wanted asked. It cut through the PR spin.

Isn’t that what journalism is supposed to do?

Yes, some of us in fan media have journalism degrees. I’m in my fourth year of mine, Michael on our site already has his honours degree, and plenty of others in fan media are in the same boat. A degree doesn’t magically make you better at holding people to account.

Plenty of fan media outlets don’t have academic qualifications, yet they consistently deliver coverage that is sharper, more relevant, and more honest than what you’ll find in the pages of the Daily Record or The Sun. Fans are fed up of being patronised, and they’re voting with their clicks and their ears.

Ewen Cameron, who knows a thing or two about disrupting the old boys’ media club, was spot on when he called Jim White a “dinosaur.”

Cameron admitted he had no qualifications when he broke into the industry. He didn’t even finish high school. But he asked the difficult questions, the ones fans were asking on the terraces and on phone-ins. He told the stories that mattered to supporters, not the sanitised versions designed to keep the press box happy.

Cameron accused White of being “out of touch” and argued that fan outlets are the ones asking the questions supporters really want answered.

“I’ve got an issue with it. Jim White sat there looking down his nose at football fans who love their club, spend their money at the football club. They have every right to be there to ask those tough questions of their manager,” Cameron said on the Pint and Two Shots Podcast. 

“Jim White is a dinosaur. His best days are gone. He doesn’t understand fans, he doesn’t understand how it works today. If it wasn’t for the fan media at these media conferences, you wouldn’t be getting asked the tough questions.

“The fans are the lifeblood of the game, and fan media that turn up at Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Hibs deserve to be there, have every right to be there. Screw the journalists who might not like it because it’s not your football club and you don’t have the balls to ask the questions.”

That’s the uncomfortable truth for White and others like him. For decades, traditional football journalists guarded their access to clubs like it was a privilege for themselves rather than a duty to their readers. Too many tiptoed around tough questions for fear of losing their press pass, their cosy half-time pie, or their seat at the manager’s dinner table. Fan media doesn’t play by those rules. We can’t, and we won’t.

That’s why fan media matters. We’re accountable to the supporters, not to editors chasing clicks with gossip, or to PR departments spinning narratives. When we put questions to managers, players, or club executives, we do it on behalf of the fans who fund the game and fill the stadiums.

Jim White might think we’re not “real journalists.” Fine. But the fans know better. They know who is asking the questions they want answered. They know who is cutting through the noise. And they know, more than ever, that fan media has earned its place at the table.

Because at the end of the day, football belongs to the fans, not to the dinosaurs still clinging onto the old ways of doing things.

5 COMMENTS

  2. Excellent article…well thought out and well.written…However I have to come to White’s defence and remind you of a forensic and hard hitting interview he had with Brian Laudrup…During the course of the interview it was obvious that White was trying hard not to orgasm…but he was able to put Laudrup on the spot when he asked him…” Brian..Why are you so good ?”…Now, none of you Celtic bloggers would have asked that…Hail hail

  3. I’m 67 yrs old and I remember the days of the Celtic View which was the Directors View . I stood in the Jungle when we got fed the the propaganda of the old board. Then when NTV came out I and lots of supporters started buying it we knew Change was in the air . the rest is hisTory.

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