Just picked this up off their website which I must admit I don't visit often..... 4 March 2013 - Sky Sports respond to the MSCâs Letter After our letter to Sky Sports News in the aftermath of their racism feature, Sky contacted the MSC. Consequently three members of the committee visited their studios and met with the Executive Editor of Sky Sports News and two others.It was an open and constructive meeting, and all our well documented points had a full airing; everything was covered. Here is a full summary of the meeting: They claimed they didnât have an anti-Millwall agenda, or indeed a deliberate pro-Premier League stance at Sky. They had visited 12 clubs at which they had been made aware by black players of incidents of racist abuse. These grounds spread from the Premier League through to the Blue Square Premier. Surprisingly, it was only at Millwall and Burnley that they were able to obtain footage of racist abuse. Burnley featured briefly in the programme and the Lancashire club chose not to respond on camera, providing only a written statement. Sky chose to feature Millwall heavily as the incidents they filmed at our ground encapsulated the kind of behaviour that should be eradicated from the game. The MSC were able to show a number of examples of racial incidents occurring at higher profile clubs. This information was readily available on the internet. Sky responded by saying that some on these incidents occurred at FA Cup matches where they could not film. The MSC made the point that if the broadcaster really wanted to tackle this serious problem much greater effort should be made to expose incidents particularly at high profile clubs as this will have more effect. Merely going down the well trodden path of involving Millwall has less effect and indeed damages a smaller club trying honestly to fight this problem. The MSC strongly objected to the programme's inference of associating all Millwall fans with the behaviour filmed. This was insulting to the vast majority of decent Millwall supporters. With these points made, Sky accepted that as it turned out, the report was very Millwall focused, and very negative. They claimed this was not what was intended. They admitted that they had not anticipated the immediate impact the programme would have on Millwall FC, their staff and management, the Millwall Community Scheme and Millwall supporters. Further, they had not anticipated the potential damage to the club both commercially and image-wise. They had thought long and hard about reporting Mr Scanlon to the authorities after filming. Ultimately they chose to continue with the making of the programme as planned. They felt at the time that reporting that one incident would give an extremely negative view of Millwall. They were, not surprisingly, very careful to ensure that everything they did was legal and fully documented. The MSC suggested that given Sky's agenda to rid racism from the game, the decision to make the programme and sit on evidence of clear racism was inconsistent. We had a long discussion regarding whether the programme helped or hindered the fight against racism. The MSC considered it had hindered the fight. Ultimately Sky agreed it was a bad thing that the very people involved in activities to combat racism in the Millwall community, day in day out, felt undermined and demoralised by the programme. The future. It is not Skyâs intention to make a âfollow up programmeâ, although they will more than likely return to the subject again. The MSC emphasised their hope that Sky's "in depth" investigation will not just concentrate on one club i.e us, and will adopt a more sensible stance of looking at the problem across the game. Sky has, however, established relationships with both the club and the supporters' club, and should now have a vehicle to publicise âgood news storiesâ about Millwall and their fans. The MSC gave them a couple of ideas to think about and hopefully act upon. We will likely be their first port of call if they do anything to highlight a club genuinely engaged on helping in the fight against racism and inner city deprivation. t is understood that the club have invited Sky to a match at the Den, and are also ready to open their doors to other club activities. The MSC is aware that some of our support have given up on engaging the media due to the poor press the club and its fans constantly receive. This is an understandable stance. The Supporters Club has, however, taken this opportunity to build a relationship with a national broadcaster that has a responsibility to report fairly and sensibly. It is hoped that this engagement will produce a more balanced and accurate image of our club in the future because our fans are entitled to "Believe in Better".
I eagerly await any positive comment about Millwall from sky sports........ The year is now 2030 I reckon I'm still waiting.
Let's be "open and honest" about this, and SKY knows full well its true, the media credence is and always has been, "NEVER LET THE FACTS STAND IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY" If it sells print/show it regardless of the truth. They can always print an apology somewhere in the corner of the ninth page if they are made to feel they have made an editorial error..or not!
