Butcher, I completely agree with all the points you have raised.

The problem I have is not with the amount of inches we get (which is far more than in previous years) but how poorly the articles are put together. So many spelling mistakes, grammatical and factual errors it's untrue. I'm not exactly perfect in that respect, but I don't work as a journalist!

I agree.
If the St Helens game hadn't been televised,I think Hock would still be with us,although I'm not sure how long for ,or whether it would've been a good thing anyway !
It's the same with soccer,the pundits are very entertaining and informative,but they're putting massive pressure on the authorities

I watch SL games without the SKY commentary for the reasons mentioned above, that and I find Carney the single most annoying person on TV.

When you watch the NRL coverage the presenters are much more informative, infinitely more entertaining and in Yvonne Sampson they have the next ex Mrs MR. Ray Warren exudes knowledge, Sterling is just entertaining, Ray Gould has done it all and even with his association to the Panthers offers the most subjective incite into the players/teams and even the most obviously biased commentator Wally Lewis speaks with such authority his bias towards Queensland/Brisbane doesn't really matter.

I've said it time and again SKY should invest and do what it takes to get Andrew Voss over here, he is quite simply brilliant and the partnership he struck up with Brian Noble when they both worked on the last RL world cup shows that some of the presenters we have over here are dragged down by the people they have working with them.

Living in HillBilly Land, I need teh MEN to keep abreast of Salford's [delwoes[/del news.

However to give the thead context, today's MEN (Wed 04/03/15) has a whole page on Salford with the bulk of it the good doctor's column. The other is the Locke story re not going to Scortland and the Chase story Mr BF referred to.

Not bad in space when the big boys are playing tonight.

I think it's a bit of everything that has been mentioned:

- The paper’s editorial attitude to the game in the last 15 or so years.
- Insatiable appetite for football, crushing every other sport.
- Industry still in flux, shaping articles for online consumption, clickbait etc. (Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph fingered for this recently too.)
- Readability, reduced attention span, dual screens etc.
- Heavier leaning toward the wont of advertisers.
- Competing with the immediacy of social media.

Another thing, clubs are nowhere near as reliant on print media as they used to be. So they can be more guarded, or less forthcoming with information, than they used to be. So the newspaper is damned if it publishes nothing and damned when it has to manufacture something.

I cannot remember the quote ... it was from such as Beaverbrooke.
Simply put, he said a newspaper will not sell if it stuck to the truth and instructed, but would make a profit if it entertained instead of worrying about truth.