Brand, Woss, Ronaldo, Barton. Not obvious connections I'll grant you, but all part of the rising media paradox that troubles western society.
The BBC at the best of times a lumbering Dino seeking shelter from ice or comets, finds itself caught up in yet another entirely predictable mess.
On the one hand they play their role as public service broadcaster very well, yet on another (I only have two) they are fully paid up members of the media circus that threatens to destroy itself under the weight of its own importance.
Just as Brand and Woss are considered an essential part of the BBC's license fee value for money argument, so too goes professional football. Ethics, morals and simple commonsense are thrown to the wolves in search of ratings.
Ratings = Bums on Seats
Bums on Seats = Cash in Pocket
Cash in Pocket = Good
Therefore in true Bertrand Russell style, who after all presented mathematical proof that he was the Pope:
The pursuit of Ratings = Good.
And who's to argue?
As with most issues of this nature they are left to ombudsman and media executives to sort out over a prawn sandwich but the truth is it's only when 30,000 people decide to complain that anybody does anything about it.
Despite the size of the outcry, 30,000 people are statistically insignificant. Sure it may be the biggest media outcry since Orson Wells convinced the world in 1938 that we were under Alien attack, but compared to the BBC's audience, 30,000 people represents less than .1% of those than tune in.
But they complained and more importantly the vast majority complained about something they hadn't even experienced firsthand. This surely as good an indication as any that viewers treated this incident as a proxy for greater concerns about the direction the BBC is taking in its acceptance of Ratings = Good.
If the BBC then can be held up as an example of how not to run a progressive media outlet then by definition they can also be proud that at least they have a mechanism for complaints to be heard, proxy to the main issue or not.
Where then is there a visible and actionable complaints process within professional football?
Does it exist within FiFA, UEFA, the Premier League, the FA, Sky Sports, the BBC?
Where do you complain when a highly paid super fit footballer auditions for the Olympic diving team in front of a global audience of billions? Is it sufficient for Messrs Lineker and Andy Gray to raise eyebrows or do we need a more accountable process?
Ironically the BBC with its demonstrably well publicised moan phone is the only vehicle that I am aware of, but of course what will they do? What can they do? At best they won't bid for the Premier League and perhaps as a result Ronaldo, Drogba and co will only see their gargantuan wages rise by 20% next year - hardly going to influence their behaviour is it?
No it's not. Instead we need somebody brave enough in the footballing corridors of power to get a grip and demonstrate that Russell was wrong, ratings ≠ good when the ratings war leads to our kids diving in the Sunday kids league or at the other extreme allowing players like Thatcher to get away with GBH on the pitch which at best exercises the raised eyebrow of Gary Lineker.
