The train woman - again

I just sent an E Mail to the press complaints commission about the unbalanced reporting
of the incident.

I did initially send a complaint to Mike Hill, editor of the echo, but he ignored it.

So the next step is an official complaint. Apparently they have to act on it. Hill will be
asked for his answers as to why they printed the story, why they did not act on a follow
up story, and why he did not answer my polite E mail to him.

Even if i still get fobbed off (which i'm expecting)... I think im right in saying he will be
expected to supply answers to the Commission, to me and then obviously it will be stuck
on here!

Incidentally. How much more weight would an enquiry about all this
have had if it had come from The Trust. It would be bad business for
Hill to ignore an official supporters body. This is not yet another dig
at the Trust on this board. But perhaps something they should look
at in future.

Problem is TA, as much as too am seething with the injustice of it all, we're not exactly whiter than white (as the recent banning orders league table shows).

If a criminal gets sentanced for committing 100 crimes, but protests that one of them he was innocent of, who's going to listen, or care?

Mike Hill left his post as editor of the Echo last friday. Alan Edmunds is your man now, he has overall responsibility for all Media Wales publications

Mike Hill left his post as editor of the Echo last friday. Alan Edmunds is your man now, he has overall responsibility for all Media Wales publications

i heard he was so taken by her story that they ran off together and were last seen running naked through the brecon beacons

I haven't read any of the press fall out from the Birmingham trouble last night - are there calls to ban the clubs from the competition?

Burt one woman complains about a bit of anti social behaviour and it's linked as football violence by City fans.

I haven't read any of the press fall out from the Birmingham trouble last night - are there calls to ban the clubs from the competition?

Burt one woman complains about a bit of anti social behaviour and it's linked as football violence by City fans.

She went to the radio station of her own volition though. If she hadn't, nothing would have been reported and I think it was reported as anti-social behaviour by City fans rather than football violence.

Problem is TA, as much as too am seething with the injustice of it all, we're not exactly whiter than white (as the recent banning orders league table shows).

If a criminal gets sentanced for committing 100 crimes, but protests that one of them he was innocent of, who's going to listen, or care?

100 odd banning orders out of an average crowd of 22,000.... Thats much less than half a percent
of the support currently at odds with the authorities. We all know that a lot of those may arguably
deserve to be on bans, but there's loads that have been banned for the most ridiculous of reasons.

By the reckoning of the Football Authorities, the Police, the press and the media. A Cardiff City
fan is a thug. End of. The little kid who got smacked at QPR probably deserved it, cos he's "one
of them animals anyway" THATS their stance.

Until WE make a stand, nowt will ever change

I haven't read any of the press fall out from the Birmingham trouble last night - are there calls to ban the clubs from the competition?

Burt one woman complains about a bit of anti social behaviour and it's linked as football violence by City fans.

She went to the radio station of her own volition though. If she hadn't, nothing would have been reported and I think it was reported as anti-social behaviour by City fans rather than football violence.

It was reported as Cardiff City thugs - nuff said really mate. They managed to
stick the knife in. Football hooligans thought Great Britain.. throw away the key!!

I haven't read any of the press fall out from the Birmingham trouble last night - are there calls to ban the clubs from the competition?

Burt one woman complains about a bit of anti social behaviour and it's linked as football violence by City fans.

She went to the radio station of her own volition though. If she hadn't, nothing would have been reported and I think it was reported as anti-social behaviour by City fans rather than football violence.

It was reported as Cardiff City thugs - nuff said really mate. They managed to
stick the knife in. Football hooligans thought Great Britain.. throw away the key!!

But if it was Millwall, Leeds or even Cheltenham fans returning from a game and an incident like this happened, they'd all be refered to as thuigs of the team they'd just been to see

Mike Hill left his post as editor of the Echo last friday. Alan Edmunds is your man now, he has overall responsibility for all Media Wales publications

Well it was weeks ago I Emailed them mate, so hopefully, the complaaints people will
contact the new guy and he'll get a warning shot across the bows anyway. We live in
hope eh?

Mike Hill left his post as editor of the Echo last friday. Alan Edmunds is your man now, he has overall responsibility for all Media Wales publications

Well it was weeks ago I Emailed them mate, so hopefully, the complaaints people will
contact the new guy and he'll get a warning shot across the bows anyway. We live in
hope eh?

Yeah, I agree. I work for the Echo but I don't agree with everything that appears in the paper. Unless it's my contribution, of course, then it's the best thing in the paper!!

It was reported as Cardiff City thugs - nuff said really mate. They managed to
stick the knife in. Football hooligans thought Great Britain.. throw away the key!![/quote]
But if it was Millwall, Leeds or even Cheltenham fans returning from a game and an incident like this happened, they'd all be refered to as thuigs of the team they'd just been to see[/quote]

That they had been to watch Cardiff City that day was totally irrelevant. There really
WAS no story. It was the sour-faced tw*t herself who got the media involved and I'm
pretty sure If she'd have just said 'it was a group of youths'... they would have all
turned their backs and said 'not newsworthy'... but because it was football supporters...
the Echo and the BBC jizzed in their pants and went for it.

Again... what If they'd been rugby fans? The mentality of the media in this country is
such that theyd have thought she was a nutter, cos our rugby fans are all angels.. she
could have been jailed herself,beheaded even

Problem is TA, as much as too am seething with the injustice of it all, we're not exactly whiter than white (as the recent banning orders league table shows).

If a criminal gets sentanced for committing 100 crimes, but protests that one of them he was innocent of, who's going to listen, or care?

100 odd banning orders out of an average crowd of 22,000.... Thats much less than half a percent
of the support currently at odds with the authorities. We all know that a lot of those may arguably
deserve to be on bans, but there's loads that have been banned for the most ridiculous of reasons.

By the reckoning of the Football Authorities, the Police, the press and the media. A Cardiff City
fan is a thug. End of. The little kid who got smacked at QPR probably deserved it, cos he's "one
of them animals anyway" THATS their stance.

Until WE make a stand, nowt will ever change

Mate, I'm not arguing, as I said, it's totally unfair. If City fans had run into a burning building to save her life they'd probably get done for breaking and entering! If you were looking for "City Fans heroes" on the front page of the Echo, you'd be dreaming!

Only way for these attitudes to change is for us to be Squeaky clean, home and away.

It was reported as Cardiff City thugs - nuff said really mate. They managed to
stick the knife in. Football hooligans thought Great Britain.. throw away the key!!

But if it was Millwall, Leeds or even Cheltenham fans returning from a game and an incident like this happened, they'd all be refered to as thuigs of the team they'd just been to see[/quote]

That they had been to watch Cardiff City that day was totally irrelevant. There really
WAS no story. It was the sour-faced tw*t herself who got the media involved and I'm
pretty sure If she'd have just said 'it was a group of youths'... they would have all
turned their backs and said 'not newsworthy'... but because it was football supporters...
the Echo and the BBC jizzed in their pants and went for it.

Again... what If they'd been rugby fans? The mentality of the media in this country is
such that theyd have thought she was a nutter, cos our rugby fans are all angels.. she
could have been jailed herself,beheaded even [/quote]
I'm not totally sure, tbh. A woman complaining about youths/football supporters/rugby supporters is a non story. A woman jumping onto the tracks to stop a train and stand up to social miscreants, whatever social category they fall into is a story

Had a reply from the press complaints people. They needed specifics as to what exactly
i am complaining about. Which section of the code of conduct I think they're breaking::



Dear Mr Yip,
Please feel free to use the following tag for a brief rundown of the Echo coverage of the
alleged incident www.walesonline.co.uk/tags/lisa-robinson/

1 Accuracy

i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.

ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly

and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published.

iii) The Press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.

iv) A publication must report fairly and accurately the outcome of an action for defamation to which it has

been a party, unless an agreed settlement states otherwise, or an agreed statement is published.


Basically, The lady involved accused a group of Cardiff City supporters (of which my nephew was one) of abusing and threatening her and her 5 year old child. and of using foul and abusive language. Firstly, they were Cardiff City fans. Secondly, they did sing "Get your tits out for the boys" at a young lady leaving Lisvane station. This girl, unbeknown to Mrs Robinson had been having banter with these young lads on the train. Funny, two way banter. She laughed and waved as the train pulled away. Mrs Robinson later stormed down the carriage screaming at these lads who basically had a bit of a fright, she seriously seemed a bit unhinged. They apologised for any bad language used but she then physically poked one man in the chest who was asking her to calm down, she spat at him. The guard she reported her version of events to wasnt interested. He knew these lads had not been acting like yobs and thugs. The rest as you will read, is history. Her
behaviour according to the newspaper was that of a woman pushed too far

Since the incident, the BT police have apologised to the lads who handed themselves in at the station, the lads who the Echo were quite happy to plaster all over the Welsh media. The lads have been told that the CCTV evidence backed up everything they said, and that Lisa Robinson may well end up facing charges for trespass onto a railway line.

The South Wales Echo have recieved numerous E Mails and letters about the lack og balance in their story. They were quick to condemn innocent people as yobs and thugs, and to plaster their mugshots all over the papers. Mud sticks as we all know.

I would suggest that the Echo falls short on pretty much every bullet point in regards accuracy.

they took her at her word. They did not seek to obtain the other side of the story. They labelled lads with no criminal records as yobs even causing one or two of them serious problems at work.

In the interests of fairness and balance, the very least the S Wales Echo can do is to publish the FACTS, as now known by the BT Police.

Cardiff City has had its share of problems over the years with hooliganism etc. But the club, and its supporters groups have bent over backwards to eradicate the problem. There are very rarely arrests at a Cardiff City home game nowadays. To sensationalise absolutely anything to do with Cardiff City supporters, and to label innocent people as hooligans just to get a headline is one thing. But to then ignore an opportunity to do proper reporting and chase down the facts is in my views disgraceful, shoddy and biased journalism.

I believe Mr Hill is no longer the Editor, and has left in the past week. But he, as Editor of the Newspaper had ample opportunity to reply to my E Mail.

It saddens me that they show little disregard for facts.

Moreover, I would expect nothing from them in regards an apology to those concerned, or indeed any further action unless
pressed by yourselves




Regards




David Roberts

Fair play, that's a great email

Fair play, that's a great email

Watch this space i suppose mate innit

I posted on here that i complained to the observer about an article on this in their sunday magazine - i got a fob off reply. I gave up but here is the response i got

[color=#BF4040]Thanks for your comments Steven. When the piece went to press, the
only report on the story was the BBC's, as referred to in the piece.[/color]

On 19 October 2010 18:34, wrote:
> I refer to your article in Sundays Observer. At best it is lazy journalism,
> at worst amounts to peddling of prejudice and promotion of stereotypes. I
> always thought The Observer above such criticism.
>
> Your headline infers that its those pesky football fans are at it again,
> picking on poor defenceless women but big up to the sisterhood eh - she
> stood firm and conquered. "I might get a T shirt made" ends your article.
> May i suggest that you do a little research on the outcome of the story and
> in future not use the Observer as a vehicle for promoting your view of
> Cardiff/football fans. Your article presents a picture of knuckle dragging
> fan; I wont spoil the story for you but leave it to you to work it out.
> Stereotypes - perhaps your T shirt will say "takes one to know one".