Looking around for any Arsenal news today reinforced my long held belief that the time of great sportswriters have long gone. Gone are the wonderfully written well researched articles, gone are the interviews from the men at the top of the football spectrum, most of all gone is the truth.

The biggest casualty in all of this is the fans, we read and accept what is published in the media without the slightest bit of doubt, failing to stop and realise that it’s just a load of bull designed to make us buy papers or click links.

It’s all gone by the wayside in search of “hits”. With so many news outlets battling for a piece of the market, the race to out do each other leads to lazy, ill informed and desperate reporting.

This is exacerbated by the lack of any real relationship between the clubs and the media. Except for official press releases, customary post match interviews and press conferences, there is hardly any other avenue of information for majority of journos.

There are exceptions of course, the more experienced journalist may have some inside contacts, they do get some exclusives borne out of long standing relationships built over the years, but it is not nearly enough to satisfy the need for daily scoops. The plain fact is that most of the time there really is nothing to “report”. So what’s a hack to do?

Regurgitate, reproduce and translate.

This is the most common technique used today. It’s very easy and it fills column inches, this technique is more suited to electronic media and thus makes up nearly 50% news on the net.

Watch out for the lack of fact checking on these, as the stories usually originate form dubious sources and are reproduced with total disregard for the veracity of the original.

Be very wary of those that originate from overseas, usually the original is simply put through google translator with the most sensational bits used for maximum effect. Scant regard for context or meaning can take a story from ordinary to scandalous. Case in point the Cesc leaving for real story incidentally it’s back on the table according to Marca.

Using old quotes and passing it off as recent or exclusive usually escapes scrutiny and is sometimes used to reinforced the next technique.

speculate and exaggerate

This needs little explanation it’s used subtly and is quite effective. Readers get easily caught out and make too much out of a non story. As I write I’m listening to news of major problems at Arsenal. Tales of boardroom unrest and Wenger hit by lack of funds, all powered by Usmanov’s questioning the financial advice of Rothschild.

The funny thing is that it is usually spelt out in the story that it is speculation, however for some reason we don’t seem to see that disclaimer.

There is nothing really wrong with speculation in itself, it can lead to healthy discussion, but we must remember that we are discussing a theory. Speculation can be based on facts, but it is still just an opinion formed in consideration of the fact.

Invent, fabricate and Machinate

This last technique is used mostly as a last resort, but recently it has being used more often than before. Obviously making up stuff can be dangerous even illegal, but inventive phrasing can easily skirt around the edges.

Whenever you see quotes attributed to “sources”, “insiders”, “friend of”, “people close to”, alarm bells should start ringing in your head. The fact that they can hide behind the “cloak of anonymity” makes fabrication even easier.