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Grapeviney

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Posts posted by Grapeviney

    Demonland Message for the Faithful

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted

    It's funny that whenever "Melbourne" appears in the media now, it's always preceded by an adjective like "hapless" or "embattled", or it's followed by "... who are under investigation for tanking ...". Even in stories where there's no relevance whatsoever!

    I'm still whistling with pursed lips!

    What's funnier is that both papers today have the "secret dossier" prepared by the Australian Cricket team for the series against South Africa.

    Such a sceret that every hack has a copy!

    The 'Hun have even called it an "explosive development" on the eve of the first test. Not sure whether receiving a copy of said dossier from the ACB's media manager qualifies as an "explosive development", but hey ..

    Dean Bailey tells the AFL he didn't order players to lose

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted

    People are ignoring the fact that her copy was given the green light by the age's lawyers.

    Although there are occasionally successful defamation actions against journalists / media outlets, they aren't common. I haven't read anything defamatory in her stories - I'm not a legal expert, but I have been defamed, and managed to elicit a front-page apology in the offending publication for my troubles.

    Had she written outright that Connolly or Schwab or anyone else is a cheat, it would be a different matter entirely - you then start to have a more compelling case that your reputation has been damaged and sullied. So far it's association and innuendo and implication.

    But I suspect Wilson has seen the statements / spoken to one or two of the less senior / fringe members of staff who were at the meeting that day, and that this forms the basis of her claims.

    The stories have faltered on two fronts; passing off Connolly's gag as the raison d'etre of the so-called vault meeting, and mistaking the venue of the meeting for its supposed codename. Strip those two elements away, and on my reading you're left with four-fifths of nothing. The speculation about the investigators revisiting witnesses and trying to match up accounts suggests that all but a couple of rogues are singing from the song-sheet.

    None of that will matter though if we are ultimately found guilty in the investigation; then you can expect CW to win a Walkley and possibly claim the scalp of an MFC official or two.

    Unfortunate Headlines...

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted

    The London Sun had a ripper many years ago, around the time that the Major Government was up to its eyeballs in sleaze.

    The Government released a tough Budget, prompting the headline: "Now we've all been screwed by Cabinet."

    Other faves include:

    Headles Body in Topless Bar (N.Y Post) ; and

    Iraqi Head Seeks Arms (News of TheWorld)

    Locally, the Mx had a good one the day after Julia Gillard gave her so-called misogyny speech: "Julia Caesar"

    Caroline Wilson's descent into gutter journalism

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted

    My gut feeling is that she will be OK as she will be able to rely on what could be called a defence of 'contextual truth'. In other words, if she makes one claim which is true, then the ones around it which aren't can be 'justified' by the truth of that other one. I don't think this is a certainty, though.

    im guessing she's seen the statements of one or two players / coaches who have clearly fingered connolly and quite possibly schwab .. even if there is conflicting testimony, or it's outweighed in the end, she'll still be able to point to what she had as justification for the claims / accusations

    Message from the President...

    in Melbourne Demons

    Posted

    should the AFL be swayed by the chanting of the crowd that CW is trying to stur up?

    no, but like any large organisation, they are to some extent at the whim of the press and what they perceive to be popular opinion ..

    it's the same as how governments regularly cave in to public pressure

    having said that, the AFL have a decent history of absolutely thumbing their noses to the 'voice of the people' and even going about it in a pig-headed way

    it may well be that demetriou tries to barrel his way through this maintaining a line of 'this is still not tanking and bugger the lot of you i'm satisfied clubs have not engaged in the systematic and deliberate losing of matches. case closed.'

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