Journalistic integrity

Or lack thereof. Check this out:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25065773-12428,00.html

It's absolutely unbelievable that our city's leading football journalist is willing to put his name to such a petty and personal attack. Here is Val Migliaccio 'interpreting' Vidmar's outburst (i.e. putting words in his mouth and leaping to conclusions). The full text below:

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What Vidmar said .. and what he meant
VAL MIGLIACCIO
February 17, 2009 12:30am

ADELAIDE United coach Aurelio Vidmar's outburst at his post-match press conference interpreted.

VIDMAR SAID: "It's a disgrace.
"We owe the world an apology. A performance like that was a disgrace."
HE MEANT: "I'm totally embarrassed by this performance."
VIDMAR SAID: "Politics, that's what I put it down to.
"There's too many people in this club with hidden agendas. That's the problem. That 4-0 result tonight was politics, nothing else."
HE MEANT: "I've lost control of the players' group. I tried to change it but it didn't work."
VIDMAR SAID: "Whether you're involved directly or indirectly, you have an effect.
"It has an effect on everyone."
HE MEANT: "I'm not at fault here, outside influences have cost us the game."
VIDMAR SAID: "Because of a pissant town, this club will never win anything until you get rid of that crap."
HE MEANT: "Adelaide's small-town mentality and factions are dividing the club."
VIDMAR SAID: "You should know, you can name them. You name them, you should know.
"Everyone's involved, mate, everyone. It's a disgrace.
"And you know, because you're (The Advertiser) involved as well."
HE MEANT: "How did you get the starting XI and the formation right in the first leg against Melbourne Victory."
VIDMAR SAID: "Things change very quickly.
"Someone's not happy with something they'll do anything they can to fracture it.
"Jealousy, whatever it is, whether it's ego, it smacks of all that at our club at this time.
"It's the underlying things around the club.
"I'm not going to name names."
HE MEANT: "People are trying to undermine me."
VIDMAR SAID: "I could not give a damn.
"I want to be the coach, yes, to work in a happy environment."
HE MEANT: "I still want to be the coach despite this outburst."
VIDMAR SAID: "You can't tell me that they've forgotten how to play football overnight.
"There's a lot of shit in your mind. You can't play football, you can't do anything."
HE MEANT: "They've forgotten how to win."
VIDMAR SAID: "It's going to be a massive heart-to-heart (with the players) on Monday morning."
HE MEANT: "Hopefully, I can win back the respect of the players' group."

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This is just unbelievable, and to my mind crosses the line between opinion piece and personal attack. Val Migliaccio's credibility has taken a huge hit with this sort of thing. Here's a response that I submitted as a comment on the Advertiser website:

Val, one of the most disappointing things to come out of this whole mess is that you seem to be using it as an excuse to gain revenge for your own personal grievances with Vidmar. If Viddie was out of line when he said at the press conference that you were part of the problem, your articles since then haven't exactly done much to dispel the notion. As an outsider it certainly looks like you've got your own agendas in terms of how the club should function - not really an ideal situation, given that as a journalist you're supposed to be an unbiased observer. Please, the people of Adelaide aren't idiots - we deserve a bit more impartiality from the football media.