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Newcastle ban all press (unless they pay).


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All press have now been denied access to Newcastle United In between matches unless they pay. Letters have apparently gone out today offering bronze silver and gold packages to the Nationals, rack package offering bigger and better access.

 

Full story in the Journal.

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Letters from Newcastle United have been sent to national newspaper editors as a new paid-for access package is proposed by the club

 

The first letters on official Newcastle United notepaper have begun to land on the desks of national newspaper editors.

 

A mooted plan to try to make papers pay for “exclusive” access – rumoured for a while now – has become reality with the offer of a series of packages offering interviews for a fee.

 

The club, presumably, see it as the first shot in a revolution in the way the Premier League interacts with the print media, but others are looking on with a mixture of surprise and disdain.

 

Little, though, should surprise us at St James’ Park these days. While the club are performing superbly on the pitch, they are continuing to cause ripples off it.

 

Fresh from banning ncjMedia titles , Newcastle United have broken from the pack to move in a new direction in terms of their relationship with the rest of the print media.

 

They have told reporters from national titles who are working in the North East that they will no longer be given access to their players between matches this season and will instead give those “privileges” to organisations that pay them.

 

This has never happened before. They are the first Premier League football club to try to do this and it will be interesting to see what kind of reaction it garners.

 

At least one national newspaper has delivered an unequivocal ‘no’ but the club seem determined to test the water on an unpopular plan.

 

The club have rather optimistically graded the packages as bronze, silver and gold with the level of payment determining the level of access.

 

They say they want a “media partner”, although what this would do for the independence of any organisation that signed up is an entirely different matter.

 

Would a gold package insure you against one of Mike Ashley’s frequent banning orders , for example? Ashley is keen to monetise access but seems to miss the point.

 

Yesterday, the club’s players visited children’s hospitals throughout the region to deliver presents. Having banned a fair chunk of the local media, the coverage was vastly reduced – taking away some of the shine that this good news story traditionally produces.

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Any idea how much they're asking for these packages ? Also I wonder what level of access each package brings ? Bronze package = being able to speak to the groundsman & the tea lady? Gold package = being able to speak to the players & manager ?

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I knew it was all going a tiny bit too well....wonder if the print media will tell the club to fuck off in general? i.e. stop turning up for press conferences etc? wouldn't blame them tbh. I don't have a lot of respect for individual journalists but the press are almost unpaid promoters of any club's brand and if you put that relationship in peril you'll stand to lose a lot more than you'll gain, which is fuck all in the first place.

 

Wonder if Joe had any input? " I'd faackin charge the faackin caants if I were you Mike...."

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Separate issue - does the club actually control the press access rights to players? Are they not free to speak for themselves?

Aye was thinking the same thing, surely the club can only make these demands for the official interviews like pre and post match. They can't really block them having phone conversations with journalists and things like that surely? Who needs the post match comments and things like that anyway, the journalists could pretty much just make them up and they'd be canny accurate anyway.
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So it'll just be the occasional interview not associated with one game or another? The kind of stuff that is fluff (in the now banned local press)we only read because it's there and we ingest everything and anything about our club?

 

Well this will have no impact on anything what-so-ever.

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