From the BBC
In the high-pressure, high-spending world of modern football, clubs feel they have a brand to protect.
"Times are changing," Ben White, media and communications manager at Nottingham Forest, said. "We have a media team of our own who are fully focused on keeping fans updated.
Since January, however, Forest has ceased to allow journalists from the city's newspaper and radio station daily interaction with its management and players.
It is a far cry from the club's halcyon days under Brian Clough in the 1970s and 80s, when not only were Forest European champions but local journalists such as Duncan Hamilton, who wrote an award-winning book based on his years of dealings with Clough as a reporter for the Nottingham Evening Post, were virtually permanent guests in the manager's office.
All breaking news about the Championship club is now released via the club's website and social media channels.
Forget all the halcyon days, newspapers-as-part-of-the-community stuff. You really can't compare football from the 1970s (hardly any TV coverage, terraces, bars in grounds) with today. Clubs might have needed the publicity back then, and you had limited outlets for that publicity, so you had to be close to the press.
Today, most football clubs not only run their own "media channels", they also sell it to fans. They own the value (the story) and so why should they give it away to newspapers to do a bit of reformatting and take all the money?
Debate Magazine
