Fan journalists torment African Cup of Nations – 02/03/2024 – The World Is a Ball

A good journalist, by definition, must be impartial in carrying out his profession.

In any area of ​​journalism, impartiality is essential for the correct judgment of facts, without bias or distortion. If this is not the case, it will become militancy.

In sport, this doesn’t always happen. There are professionals – I question whether they can be qualified like that – who become fans. They let passion emanate, they lose the necessary notion of neutrality, they become fanatics.

The most recent example is at the African Cup of Nations (CAN), in which there has been a lack of composure on the part of reporters following the main competition between teams from that continent, taking place in Côte d’Ivoire.

According to media reports (ESPN, Associated Press and Africanews among them), accredited journalists have given anti-examples game by game.

Many of them go to matches wearing their country’s national team shirt and openly support the players by shouting, as well as offending their opponents. Not without, before the game starts, confronting managers of the rival team who they come across in the corridors of the stadium.

There’s more: if a goal is scored, they jump and scream, acting as if they were in the stands and not in the area reserved for the media. Irritating.

There is a way to go further: some get into verbal arguments with colleagues who, located very close by, support the other side. Provocations, irony, insults, an “anything goes” worthy of confronting your worst enemy. Intolerable.

It doesn’t stop there: an Ivorian reporter was filmed dancing in the press box shirtless and with his legs exposed, badge hanging around his neck, after the home team’s victory over Senegal in the penalty shootout in the round of 16. Shameful.

There is another side of the fan journalist too. He is the one who rebels when his country’s team loses and harshly confronts his own team.

It happened in the case of Ghana, eliminated from CAN after the draw with Mozambique.

In the mixed zone – the area where athletes pass through and, if they wish, speak to the media –, Ghanaian reporters booed the players and acted rudely towards the English coach Chris Hughton, who was called stupid. Repulsive.

A similar situation, with aggressive behavior from fan journalists, occurred with the Ivory Coast team when they lost 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea, a result that almost eliminated the hosts. Inadmissible.

Due to these events, the International Sports Press Association, founded in 1924 and based in Switzerland, which has as one of its premises “strengthening friendship and solidarity between sports journalists from all countries”, issued a harsh statement.

“Between pitched battles, attacks and insults, it is a distressing spectacle that some colleagues have presented to the world since the beginning of CAN,” said the association, citing attitudes considered deplorable. “Media workspaces [zona mista, sala de entrevistas] they were transformed into a boxing ring, or even a dance floor.”

“Being a journalist means behaving appropriately and, above all, acting with moderation. Certain behaviors are simply unworthy of a profession as noble as journalism”, concluded the press entity.

In the midst of a chaotic scenario, the African Football Confederation (CAF) decided to take measures, in a threatening tone, to try to ensure that the final stretch of the CAN is dignified by all journalists.

“Any media professional who engages in wild celebrations and mistreats fellow media workers will be immediately removed by security and their accreditation will be cancelled,” it said in a statement, adding that the rule applies to “any media representative involved in fights” in stadiums.

CAF also stated that vulgar language directed at coaches or players will not be tolerated, resulting in the reporter losing his credentials.

Whether the fan journalists are contained or not, the African Cup continues and two semi-finalists are already defined, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The other two come out of this Saturday’s duels (3): Ivory Coast x Mali and South Africa x Cape Verde.

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