Welsh rugby needs to sell itself and that's on all of us
Access.
It’s what all journalists desire in this business. It’s a lot harder to write about Welsh rugby when you’re outside the tent, looking in.
Some seem to think, judging by the online comments I’ll occasionally see, that access is a thing that we journalists sell our soul for. ‘Oh, you’re too afraid to criticise X or Y in case you lose your access’.
It was a comment I’d see on a fairly regular basis and it always made me laugh, because - when it usually came to some of the targets of that comment - there’s only so much access you can lose when it’s already minimal.
In fairness, that will always be the default gripe of a hack; that there could always be a bit more access.
Sometimes that’s a justified critique, other times it’s just a force of habit. But in a game that often fails to sell itself as well as it could, the quest for access will always be at the forefront of journalists’ minds.
What complicates things is that access looks different to different journalists. This week saw a United Rugby Championship launch at the Vale Resort with a number of Welsh players up for interview from the four professional clubs.
Having the likes of Dewi Lake, Taulupe Faletau, Aaron Wainwright and Taine Plumtree available to speak to isn’t something to be sniffed at, of course. Especially after a summer where only one of the four clubs have done an media day when virtually any player was available.
Having travelled to the Stoop and Kingsholm in recent weeks for those type of events at Harlequins and Gloucester, they are relatively easy wins. But, while for some journalists, those events are ideal, that’s not the case for everyone.
It’s no fault of anyone, but while a media launch like the one on Wednesday is perfect in terms of filling up the diary with a few days of content, you are constrained by the fact that a few other outlets will be running the same quotes at the agreed embargo times.
Unless there’s some genuine gold, then sometimes it can feel like you’re sharing the spotlight, so to speak. That’s not to turn your nose up at this access. Anything is better than nothing, naturally.
But in an industry that continues to evolve amid changing pressures, sometimes that traditional form of access isn’t conducive to crafting stories that actually find an audience.
Sometimes, access has to be a little different to do that. In the past few weeks, I’ve been fortunate enough to have enjoyed access in different forms around the Welsh professional clubs.
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