Untold Media: Why did the Sun’s “humble pie” begin with a petty attack on Arsenal fans? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

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Untold Media: Why did the Sun’s “humble pie” begin with a petty attack on Arsenal fans?

By: Anne

In our previous media watch report, we documented some surprising changes in the Sun’s Arsenal coverage that have occurred in recent weeks. One of the changes that we documented was a change in the Sun’s reporting on Arsenal fans.

However, before I get into the specifics of that coverage, I would like to elaborate on the opinion I expressed in our last report, which is that one factor contributing to the Sun’s decision to change the tone of its coverage was the fact that:

“Arsenal fans rebelled against media coverage claiming that Arsenal fans do not support the club.”

Why do I believe that this was a contributing factor? Well, for one, beginning in early November, 2011, the Sun appears to have ceased making its previous repeated claims that Arsenal fans don’t support the club (more on that below).

However, there’s also the fact that the Sun appears to be a bit hacked off at Arsenal fans for some reason!

Because, accompanying their change in reporting about Arsenal fan opinion, they also published a (somewhat bizarre) article on 11 November, 2011, directly attacking Arsenal fans for, among other things, driving away Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri with their lack of support for the players. I’ve presented the entire article unedited, below, so that you can all form your own opinions about the Sun’s intent in publishing it (I’ve included some notes).

So, Arsenal fans…. In case you missed it the first time around, the Sun has something that they want to say to you:

Photo caption: RED CARD … Arsenal fans have been criticised for their lack of vocal support.

ARSENAL fans have been shown the red card after a new study claimed THEY are to blame for the poor atmosphere at the Emirates Stadium.

***UM: Sorry fans, but we’ve been sent off. Our three match ban should give the Sun plenty of opportunities to file reports about the “empty” Emirates Stadium…***

The Gunners’ faithful have often been mocked for their lack of vocal support — with their old Highbury stadium nicknamed ‘the library’.

But fans often insist it is the size of the 60,000 seater stadium which is to blame for the lack of noise at the ground.

****UM: Unfortunately, this plot by Arsenal fans to deceive the public has now been exposed by the Sun’s diligent investigative journalism.***  

Former captain Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri both criticised the club’s ground following their departures to Barcelona and Manchester City in the summer.

That is despite the Gunners working closely with REDaction — a group set up to bring more noise and colour to the stadium — since they moved to the Emirates in 2006.

Nasri said: “Arsenal have good fans but they are not that passionate since they moved from Highbury to the Emirates.

“The crowd at City are amazing and that’s what you want as a player — a good atmosphere.”

Fabregas agreed, saying: “I have never felt at home as I was at Highbury at any other stadium in the world but it was not my decision, it was the club’s decision, it was what they needed in that moment.”

And now, lifelong fan and professional acoustics engineer Andy Emery confirmed it is Arsenal fans — and not the design of the stadium — which is to blame for the lack of atmosphere.

He said: “I’m afraid Fabregas and Nasri were closer to the truth than most fans would want to accept.

“Fans at the Emirates do not sing and chant like they do in the Kop at Anfield or Old Trafford’s Stretford End.

“Any new larger stadia will attract a new demographic of fans who possess the means to afford the higher ticket prices.

“However, they aren’t all interested in singing their hearts out like the old Arsenal faithful at Highbury.

***UM: Hang on, didn’t they just say that Highbury had been nicknamed the “library” due to “lack of vocal support” from “the old Arsenal faithful?” Keep it straight, guys…***  

“In very simple terms sound waves travel and will bounce off different surfaces in different ways.

“Most importantly for the atmosphere at a sports stadium, the sound generated by fans chanting and singing must be retained within the venue.

“The Emirates is a beautifully designed stadium with large banks of seats close to the pitch and, most importantly, a huge roof to keep the sound in.

“I agree that you don’t get the same cacophony of noise as other large UK stadiums, but the Emirates itself is not to blame.”

So, to sum up, the Sun’s “study” has determined that sound waves travel and “bounce off different surfaces.” Therefore, because the Emirates has “large banks of seats close to the pitch” and a “huge roof,” Arsenal fans don’t support Arsenal.

While this solid wall of scientific evidence is, indeed, impressive, I must admit that I question whether the findings of this “new study” were sufficiently newsworthy to justify the Sun’s decision to inform the public about them? And if not, what was the Sun’s motive?

(It’s worth noting here that, shortly before publishing this article, the Sun took quite a bit of heat from Arsenal fans for publishing a misleading report about attendance levels at the Emirates that was refuted by the club).

I’ll let you, the readers, be the judge of what the Sun’s likely motives were for publishing the above article. However, one thing we do know is that, around the time this article was published, the Sun ended a long pattern of previous reports claiming that Arsenal fans did not support Arsenal.

Specifically, one of the “talking points” documented in our previous media coverage was that Arsenal fans were not happy with the direction of the club. Accordingly, one of the most pervasive aspects of the Sun’s coverage prior to 7 November, 2011, were frequent and repeated claims that Arsenal fans, to put it plainly, just didn’t like Arsenal.

In the Sun’s coverage, this appears to have resulted in random assertions that Arsenal “fans” held whatever belief was most convenient to support the writer’s argument. For example, the following are just some of the opinions that were attributed to Arsenal fans in the pages of the Sun during the month of October, 2011 (just before the change in coverage):

-Arsenal fans “want Walcott to justify his star billing.”

-During the Arsenal-Sunderland match (an Arsenal victory), “a macabre game was going on among the supporters about which was the worst Arsenal team before this one.”

-“Arsenal fans know that…[Arsenal] are no longer a very good team.”

In recent months, though the Sun continued to publish such reports, more and more evidence began to surface suggesting that Arsenal fans were rejecting these frequent attempts to claim that the fans didn’t support the club. In addition to the above-referenced backlash against the Sun’s “empty stadium” report, one example of this was the standing ovation Arsene Wenger received following his speech at the AST meeting.

Prior to the Sun’s apparent decision to abandon this line of reporting, we see evidence that the Sun was re-asserting this claim in an increasingly desperate manner, in an effort to counter evidence that Arsenal fans did, in fact, support Arsenal. The most blatant example of this can be found in the Sun’s coverage of the AST meeting, in which Antony Kastrinakis appeared to abandon all logic in his attempts to portray the events of the meeting as further evidence of fan anger against Arsenal.

According to AK, Arsene Wenger, in a “Churchill” moment, stood up and gave his speech in a “desperate” attempt “to galvanise angry fans whose frustration was spilling over.”

The fans then responded to Arsene’s “heart-felt plea for unity, defending his signings and the club’s policy of living within its means.” However, prior to that, fans had been angry, demanding for Arsenal:

-“To abandon its ‘self-sustaining model;”

-“For a major injection of cash to fund big-name signings;” and

– “for chairman Peter Hill-Wood to step down.”

As AK reports it, when Wenger, in his speech, “praised fans for the way they have stuck with the team in recent weeks,” it was actually a generous attempt at reconciliation with the “boo-boys [who] let Wenger and his players have it at the end of last season.”

And in response to Arsene’s “heart-felt plea,” the “fans’ simmering rage which threatened to boil over turned into a rapturous standing ovation that nearly brought the stadium down.”

As is evident from the twisted logic displayed in the argument above, the Sun appears to have reached a point where the evidence to the contrary was becoming too strong to continue making a plausible argument that Arsenal fans did not support the manager and the club.

Shortly thereafter, beginning around 7 November, 2011, all such claims that Arsenal fans do not approve of the direction of the club have completely disappeared from the pages of the Sun. To the contrary, articles since then appear to have reversed the Sun’s previous position, stating only that:

“While the vast majority of fans back boss Wenger…some supporters feel it is time for a change.”

The only exception to the above is the article covered at the beginning of this post, in which the Sun attacked Arsenal fans directly, and without any readily apparent motive.

Taking all of the above into the account, my conclusion is that the response of Arsenal fans to the Sun’s coverage most likely played some role in forcing the Sun to change its previous editorial position in this regard.

However, I would be interested to hear in the comments whether readers agree or disagree with this conclusion.

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