Getting Saddlers supporters on side the Express & Star way.

This week I was hoping to write a blog that was not tenuously linked to sport. Mission failed!

On hearing about different methods used to bring members of the general public to a broadcast medium within professional media organisations during our most recent lecture, one particular case of this leapt out at me.

Although the examples our guest speaker Dr Daniel Meadows brought up were put into practice in a diverse range of places – from Cardiff to Canada – the idea I'm going to highlight is a bit closer to home for me.

Yes, back in the Black Country newspaper journalists are harnessing enthusiasts to bump up their growing online video content.

In Wolverhampton, the Express & Star have begun to trial a number of experimental ideas online.

Amongst these includes online Fans Forums. Intermittently, a fan from each of the 'Big Five' West Midlands clubs (Villa, The Albion, Blues, Wolves and the Super Saddlers of Walsall for those of you who need to ask) is invited into the E&S offices to chat about the goings on at their club.

Now for newspapers to call upon public opinion on the sports teams they cover is nothing new.

For years 'Vox Pops', letters pages and even individual columns (for instance, the Walsall Advertiser run a weekly "View from the Cheap Seats" article authored by Saddlers fanzine editor Steve Stuart) have been used as means for papers to interact with their audience, and for their audience to see their names and faces in print.

What with it now being an online world, and with the use of streaming video becoming common place, this is just natural succession.

But what with the power of television I think that, if utilised correctly, the use of video could potentially be more effective than any of the above methods.

Take the Express & Star example. Unfortunately for them, there is a consensus of opinion amongst football supporters in the Midlands that says the newspaper pays scant attention to 'Little Walsall' and instead chooses to obsess over the Mighty Champions of Europe (circa 1953) from the Molineux (a reputation which I personally think is very unfair incidentally).

So, what better way could there be to challenge this negative perception of the E&S not caring about Walsall and being all about Wolves than producing videos like this one:



"Anthony Gerrard transfer listed – Wolves' defenders are dropping like left, right and centre; it's conceivable that they need two new centre backs."

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

Seriously though, inviting a Saddlers daft fan into your office, just to plonk them in front of a webcam and get them to chat football for the web won't just please one fan.

This fan is someone's mate, someone's brother, someone's son: many of whom, in this case, will likely be local, interested in the said subject matter discussed and be a potential E&S consumer).

They'll tell their mates, word will spread and thus might change a few people's pre-concieved ideas about that paper.

It might not be groundbreaking, but this kind of user-interaction might just help improve a few newspapers visibility and standing amongst their audience – which surely is what having an online presence is all about.