Gagging for it

From the Rage Online newsdesk Thursday, May 22nd, 2003  

The news today that Firoz Kassam has banned Oxford Mail journalist from the stadium came as something of a surprise. Maybe it shouldn’t have; maybe we should have realised that some of the Mail’s reporting, particularly concerning the situation of Dave Savage and other out of contract players, was bound to have repercussions and was always going to strain relations between the club and the journalist involved.

Rage On has never been overly fond of our more traditional print rival. We have often criticised the local paper for either its uncritical comment on our club’s chairmen, or else, on the other side of the coin, its overly critical and unhelpful stance, especially in some of its recent reportage. We don’t like its tabloid sensationalist style, or its lack of in-depth analysis when it’s trying to cover some of the deeper issues affecting United (something it attempts all too rarely).

Of course, everyone takes issue with Jon Murray’s match reports and his totally random awarding of stars to the players and referee, but that is expected of a local paper. If there’s one thing of which there can be no doubt, it is Murray’s support for his local team and his (occasional) ability to come up with a decent new story.

What was most surprising about Murray’s gagging by Kassam is that the Oxford Mail is one of the football club’s sponsors, paying a six figure sum for its five year sponsorship of the East Stand. So is Kassam biting the hand that feeds him, or is he so upset by the Mail’s latest “expos?” that he is prepared to lose that money on a matter of principle? Only Kassam knows the answer to this question, and we suspect that both sides will kiss and make up in the not too distant future, once the initial furore has died down.

We certainly hope so. However much it can be abused, the “freedom of the press” is not just a trite phrase to be aired when convenient, but it is an extremely important element of our civil society, that must be preserved. If Kassam has a mind to ban journalists or papers that, however misguidedly, express criticism of him or his methods, he must be opposed. Rage On is often critical of the club, its manager, its board, its chairman and the general running of OUFC. In the past, as Raging Bull, we were threatened with being sued by Robert Maxwell and we were later publicly dressed down by Keith Cox but, as tyrannical as these men were, they never tried to ban us.

We rely on the magnanimity of Kassam to carry on selling Rage On on the club’s premises. We repay this generosity to some extent with our sponsorship of a player (currently Chris Hackett, although if prices continue to rise we may have to rethink this strategy). However we have always resisted moves which might compromise our independence, such as allowing the fanzine to be sold in the club shop. If we felt that we were ever in a position where we would not be allowed free and frank criticism of the club or those in charge of it then we would seriously have to consider whether or not we continued. We like to think that any criticisms we make are constructive, or at least well thought-out, but if we ever felt threatened because of our comments the only certainty is that we would not change our stance as a result.

At the moment neither party is coming out of this latest soap opera storyline particularly well. It is not in the club’s interest to fall out with the Oxford Mail, and it is not in the paper’s interest to have a poor relationship with Oxford United. We hope that both parties will sit down together, thrash out their differences and come to a mutually satisfactory conclusion. They we can all get back to wondering which match Jon Murray actually attended of a Saturday.


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