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The Caroline Wilson saga appears to be drawing to its ugly conclusion and after a torrid seven month investigation it appears that the Australian Journalists’ Association will treat the Chief Football Writer of ‘The Age’ leniently. Whilst the actual charges have been the subject of wild speculation, it is believed Wilson has been handed a ‘please explain’ from the AJA regarding her failure to, “report and interpret honestly” and her perceived reliance on providing her readers with “distorted emphasis”. Most alarmingly for Wilson was the potential for the AJA to charge her under sub-section 18 of the Code of Ethics that alludes to the importance of “respecting all persons’ right to a fair trial.” Wilson’s persecution of the Melbourne Football Club throughout 2012 and 2013 was viewed by many as a sensationalist witch hunt. At best, Wilson has abused her lofty position at the once great flagship of Australian Sports journalism, ‘The Age’ by masquerading fanciful, unsubstantiated conjecture as fact. At worst, history will judge her as the chief perpetrator of horrific crimes against the code of journalism ethics in this country. It is understood that Wilson may have to serve a small suspension from her duties at The Age, but disturbingly her face will still be seen on television. Age Insiders have spoken of a growing discontent amongst staff regarding the policies and procedures The Chief Football Writer has enforced upon her underlings. Wilson conducts many of her ‘informal’ staff meetings around the office water cooler. Sources close to the water cooler have revealed that great pressure was placed on junior and cadet journalists to deliberately sensationalize articles and invent a series of un-named sources in a bid to sell more newspapers and increase their dwindling online readership. The Wilson saga first reached the headlines when former Age journalist, Andrew Rule jumped ship to crosstown rivals, The Herald Sun. Demonland understands that Rule took exception to the ‘sell newspapers at all costs’ mantra that emanated from the Football Department. “Blind Freddie could see what was going on”, he mused. “Making money was too great a carrot and journalistic standards were an inevitable victim”. Rule feels strongly that the AJA should throw the book at Wilson. “She’s the Chief Football Writer. The buck stops with her. She’s brought sports journalism into disrepute. The AJA needs to make a statement. Wilson must go.” Wilson sympathizer, Dwayne Russell, predictably defended the once respected journalist. “It’s not Caroline’s fault. She’s purely a product of the industry. Modern footy journalism demands results and Caroline simply manipulated the code to her advantage”. It’s understood Wilson, who has failed to return Demonland calls, feels victimized by the attention she has received. In a rare interview granted in January, Wilson exclaimed, “Have you seen the fanciful crap Robbo gets away with at the HUN? Have you ever listened to the torrent of [censored] that flows from Greg Denham’s mouth?” Whilst Wilson may be correct when she points the finger at others for their dubious journalistic standards, it is clear that she took the sensationalism to a whole new level. Greg Hywood, Fairfax Media Chief Executive, has been consistent in his stance that sensationalism in football journalism simply doesn’t exist. “We’re in the news breaking and news reporting business. We don’t just make stuff up and we don’t sensationalize”. Hywood was adamant, however, that if charges of lying, bias or sensationalism were founded, heads would roll. Respected ‘Sportsnewsfirst’ writer, Kim Hagdorn said it would be a sad day for his industry if Wilson was to be made a scapegoat. “She’s been a massive role-model for me. She’s a maverick. She was the first footy journo to really blur the lines between fact and fiction. Her influence on the next generation of football journos should never be underestimated”. If as expected, Wilson receives a watered downed punishment, the world of football journalism will be the real losers. An opportunity existed for those who claim to have the best interests of the industry at their heart to make a statement. A line in the sand could have been drawn where the industry said enough is enough but instead a red rag has been waved in the faces of the bulls within every newspaper’s football department. Carte blanche has been given to footy journalists throughout Australia to continue to dine out on a culture of deliberate falsehoods, blatant exaggeration, dubious source-driven innuendo and opinionative drivel.