After losing the FA Cup tie against Manchester United1, Ryan Babel took to Twitter in record time.
"And they call him one of the best referees? That’s a joke. SMH"
Soon after the tweet heard around the world, Babel went on to post a picture that portrayed Webb officiating while wearing a Man Utd shirt. I seriously doubt that he did it himself based on the length of time between the end of the match and his first tweet. More than likely, it was a link sent to him by one of his 150,000+ followers.
News of the tweets quickly spread and before long, The Guardian was reporting on it as well as tweets by Paul Dalglish. Ryan Babel is now under investigation by the FA and could face disciplinary action. After learning of this, he subsequently apologized. The biggest question on my mind is why are journalists using Twitter as a primary source?
I am not sure at what point social networking sites became accepted as sources of news, but I wish that I could turn back the clock and slap the first person to ever report on such a thing. When reading a message from an account on Facebook or Twitter, the words written cannot be looked upon as a factual statement from the account holder. There is no digital signature established by an SSL login. There is also no way to be sure that the person punching the keys to send the message is who they are supposed to be. What would you do in the case of a lost or stolen phone? As far as journalism goes, it is very he said/she said. For bloggers, Twitter and Facebook posts might be fun to discuss and poke fun at, but using them as a serious journalism tool is just lazy. Try conducting an interview.
As far as the FA is concerned? Get a life. It is the digital equivalent of going into a dressing room and punching a locker. A player, regardless of their club or country, is not going to say anything that has not already been said a thousand times by the fans. The reciprocation of a fine or suspension because of what someone basically wrote in their online journal is quite childish. The only reason for possibly levying a penalty would be simply because they can. If it was allowable to fine fans any time they criticized officiating, they would and we would all be penniless.
Perhaps players and managers should attempt to shy away from openly criticizing officials. After all, the match officials are operating under stressful conditions and with limited resources. They do not have the luxury of video review or goal line technology, although it would be nice if they did. However, perhaps the FA should stop putting the same handful of referees in similar positions. Perhaps for high profile matches, they should pick officials who do not have a history of controversial decisions during such games. Perhaps the Respect campaign should be replaced by a Don’t be a Douchey Referee campaign. I think I could get behind that.
"And they call him one of the best referees? That’s a joke. SMH"
Soon after the tweet heard around the world, Babel went on to post a picture that portrayed Webb officiating while wearing a Man Utd shirt. I seriously doubt that he did it himself based on the length of time between the end of the match and his first tweet. More than likely, it was a link sent to him by one of his 150,000+ followers.
News of the tweets quickly spread and before long, The Guardian was reporting on it as well as tweets by Paul Dalglish. Ryan Babel is now under investigation by the FA and could face disciplinary action. After learning of this, he subsequently apologized. The biggest question on my mind is why are journalists using Twitter as a primary source?
I am not sure at what point social networking sites became accepted as sources of news, but I wish that I could turn back the clock and slap the first person to ever report on such a thing. When reading a message from an account on Facebook or Twitter, the words written cannot be looked upon as a factual statement from the account holder. There is no digital signature established by an SSL login. There is also no way to be sure that the person punching the keys to send the message is who they are supposed to be. What would you do in the case of a lost or stolen phone? As far as journalism goes, it is very he said/she said. For bloggers, Twitter and Facebook posts might be fun to discuss and poke fun at, but using them as a serious journalism tool is just lazy. Try conducting an interview.
As far as the FA is concerned? Get a life. It is the digital equivalent of going into a dressing room and punching a locker. A player, regardless of their club or country, is not going to say anything that has not already been said a thousand times by the fans. The reciprocation of a fine or suspension because of what someone basically wrote in their online journal is quite childish. The only reason for possibly levying a penalty would be simply because they can. If it was allowable to fine fans any time they criticized officiating, they would and we would all be penniless.
Perhaps players and managers should attempt to shy away from openly criticizing officials. After all, the match officials are operating under stressful conditions and with limited resources. They do not have the luxury of video review or goal line technology, although it would be nice if they did. However, perhaps the FA should stop putting the same handful of referees in similar positions. Perhaps for high profile matches, they should pick officials who do not have a history of controversial decisions during such games. Perhaps the Respect campaign should be replaced by a Don’t be a Douchey Referee campaign. I think I could get behind that.
No really. Where's the pic?
(They'd do it anyways and not give a **** 'Well he's apologised on his twitter account, so he must be guilty!!!11')
from now on I will skip talking about our finances. That is a promise and will save myself from looking like a 
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