Hoops

Cairns Basketball cancels Cairns Post’s media accreditation

Articulated well enough, but damn it desperately needs a proof. Assuming that was copied and pasted.

I saw this in the match program last night. interesting if true. Jordan Gerrans must have really pissed someone off there.

There is many layers to the relationship between the Cairns Post and Cairns Basketball . It is not the first time they have butted heads and I am sure they will sort it out . At the end of the day the both want good outcomes albeit for different reasons .

I think basketball in Cairns will be fine given this has been the highest polling thread in weeks.

There will be only one loser from this situation and its basketball in Cairns. No coverage in the paper will see sponsors drop off in coming season. Who wants to shell out big bucks when there are no photos of your logo on a shirt in the paper. Time for Cairns Basketball to appoint a media manager and kiss and make up with the Post.

“There's nothing to see here”

That’s what Cairns fans will be saying by the end of this season....

Announcing Kelly plus player signings at night has nothing to do with the Taipans?

Has the Post been writing unsubstantiated stories about the Taipans?

meh. anonymous marketing genius troll won't take no for an answer. Such a shame that a club with stable attendance numbers, which turns over a small profit year on year and lives within its means and still remains competitive, has the highest attendance per capita in the league and a large and long-running community engagement program that has players and staff along to every local school, festival and community event 9 months a year or more clearly has no idea what it's doing.

There's nothing to see here. this has nothing to do with the taipans, and the Cairns post and Cairns Basketball will figure something out and things will roll on.

But the club has also stopped discussion about their news/signings. Instead of relishing the publicity, they have put a stop to it with a dumb rule. Combine that with this media nonsense and they are really doing their best to alienate themselves from their fan base.

Get as many people talking about your club as you can. That isn’t rocket science either, that is Marketing 101.

Note to potential leakers - don't leak on Facebook because it's your real name posted (derr) so post those leaks here as Anon. Thanks.

They shouldn’t have a licence because they are actively working against the current values of the league ie solid marketing and fan engagement. To say that only some fans should know first, then chastise those that dont agree, is a marketing fail and if Cairns want to operate that way then I dont care if this is their last season.

Who said the fans who leaked are looking for credibility? Maybe they just want to have a discussion about the news with others, and letting them do that by social media is free marketing. To stop that is petty and narrow-minded.

"In the 21st century if you post Anonymously and expect to get credibility on social media you're pretty stupid lol"

Not expecting any credibility for stating the obvious. News spreads like wildfire now with social media, it's foolish to think news would stay a secret. At the end of the day i don't see how it even really matters if news about an NBL signing spreads.

^At the end of the day....does it really matter?

Maybe not but it did to some members

In the 21st century if you post Anonymously and expect to get credibility on social media you're pretty stupid lol

^At the end of the day....does it really matter?

That they give out announcements like this an hour early or whatever to certain members and not expect it to leak in today's social media age shows how out of touch the club is.

So the Taipans are out of touch because they believe these particular members will be honourable and stick to an agreement? I would say that says more about yourself and the particular members than it does the Taipans.

Is that all members though Koberulz? If so that would not be surprising. The situation with the Taipans applies to select members only.

The Wildcats do the same thing with members getting news first. It leaks within seconds every time, but as far as I'm aware they've never made an issue of it.

In the 21st century if you put out news and expect it to not spread on social media or by word of mouth, you're pretty stupid lol

No. If a member agrees to certain conditions in return for a particular benefit and then breaks that agreement, they deserve to be taken off the list for any future signings.

The Taipans could have, however, been a little clearer about who they were referring to (although they did say "certain members" indicating they knew who they were) and they could have made it clearer what "early" meant, so as most members would have realised it didn't apply to them.

To say they should lose their licence over that is ridiculous. Their future will be determined by how many people continue to turn up to games.

Troy Stone (the President of the Cairns Taipans and who - as far as I know - has no connection to Cairns Basketball) has been the person sending out the emails.

He said: “Members that LEAK information EARLY on social media will be excluded from future player signing emails.
Taipans HQ have received numerous complaints about certain members spoiling the news, and ruining the exclusivity and benefit for others.”

The capitals for leak are Stone's, the capitals for early are mine.

I see little wrong with that if certain members have the benefit of being informed earlier and in return have agreed to keep it off social media until it goes public.

"And if the same person/people are responsible for those actions, then it stands to reason that something has gone wrong with Cairns basketball (be it the QBL team, or the Taipans)."

For crying our loud, it's not the same person. Try to wrap your head around that. Nobody complains that Melbourne United have screwed up when Basketball Victoria do something stupid. Same thing. Got it? Good. Go back to speculating about player salaries if this is all too hard for you to follow.

And from my memory, the Taipans didn't 'threaten' anyone. The members with more expensive memberships get a few tenuous benefits beyond their great seats. One of those benefits is being informed earlier about key news as it breaks (like, an hour earlier max usually) . In return for that they just need to agree to keep it off social media until it goes public. If you don't agree to play along you get taken off the priority email list as it makes the whole exercise pointless.

Don't worry the bloggers will report it all.

What is going on in Cairns? Is the Post's reporting shithouse?
Can't tell who is being shortsighted. Is it the basketball clubs or the paper? QBL aside, did the Taipans approach the Post and voice their concerns and warn them to pull their head in? And is what the Taipans doing warranted?

Manu - My view is that Cairns Basketball over reacted taking away the Cairns Post's QBL media accreditation.

Where the Taipans issue is concerned, I don't particularly like the way the Taipans have gone about making their coaching and player announcements and I feel they shouldn't be involving their members and fans in their conflict with the Post.

However, right from the early days of his reporting on Taipans matters, Jordan Gerrans has tried to throw his weight around. My impression has been that the relationship between him and the Taipans has never been great. In the lead up to the new coach and player announcements, Gerrans was very critical of how the Taipans handled the letting go of Fearne and he claimed the Board was divided on the matter (which it probably was but Gerrans was giving the impression that things were not great on the Board).

Personally, although very frustrated and concerned about how long they took to get around to making a decision on Fearne and then finding a new coach, I thought the Taipans handled the Fearne situation with a fair amount of integrity. Troy Stone was clearly annoyed about Gerrans criticism and denied the Board was divided (which I realise doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't). Not long after this, when Gliddon and McCarron both had made known their intentions to not return, Gerrans got stuck into the Board again about losing them. After this, once the coaching appointment process was underway, Gerrans appeared to be pushing for Shaun Dennis to get the gig and was making claims about how far down the track Dennis was with the Taipans (which the Taipans came out and denied).

When the Taipans announced Mike Kelly's signing, the Post were not happy they had been avoided and Gerrans was given the Editorial space to vent their displeasure. He said it was a good signing and claimed he would have given the Taipans front page coverage with photo, etc. and went on a similar spiel to what Jennifer Spilsbury did in relation to the Cairns BasketballQBL issue.

What annoys me about all of this is the Cairns Post's claims to have nothing to answer for. The Taipans have not dealt with the situation well but the Cairns Post are not blameless (as they make out to their readers). CT's view that all the parties need to pull their heads in and sort it out is spot on IMO.

Sorry Twinkletoes but you're not doing a great job separating the two. They may be different entities but if there is at least one common demoninator AND questionable media practice has taken place under both entities. You can’t pretend that one decision that gets made by one isn’t going to get made by the other.

Exactly anon above, the two happening at the same time aren't a coincidence.

I'm not pretending anything. There are two separate issues at play and two different courses of action being taken. The Taipans issue has been going on for some time whereas the Cairns Basketball issue only happened a few days ago.

What are you, an Egyptian Crocodile? Because you're in da-Nile

What is going on in Cairns?

Is the Post's reporting shithouse?

Can't tell who is being shortsighted. Is it the basketball clubs or the paper? QBL aside, did the Taipans approach the Post and voice their concerns and warn them to pull their head in? And is what the Taipans doing warranted?

I get the feeling that the basketball administrators in Cairns is something of a boy's club. Same thing happened in Townsville and it ruined them

Both parties need to pull their heads in and Jordan Gerrans needs an editorial slapdown as it's his shitty content which is at the heart of this. I honestly think half of his basketball reporting involved trawling hoops.com.au and twitter for gossip and then spinning it into something he can submit to print.

The QBL is the immediate obvious loser in this; there isn't massive coverage of the Qbl as it is, so the board can't go around pissing off one of the few traditional media outlets who will report on their teams. And say what you want about digital platforms but a good proportion of the qbl crowd are over 50 and aren't going to be getting their qbl news from twitter, so what the CP, win news and channel 7 do is still relevant and important.

The Compost has a price to pay in this too though; it has precious little localised content as it is and seems to have been locked in a death spiral since they moved their printing down south and sacked half their local staff. this is just another reason for people to skip the paper in the morning, especially if the Marlins can come out of this looking like the victim somehow.

frankly both parties need to sit down and sort this out as soon as possible as its not a good look for either side.

Exactly anon above, the two happening at the same time aren't a coincidence.

Sorry Twinkletoes but you’re not doing a great job separating the two. They may be different entities but if there is at least one common demoninator AND questionable media practice has taken place under both entities. You can’t pretend that one decision that gets made by one isn’t going to get made by the other.

It's not a good look in a small town to lose/alienate support of the one local paper but at the same time this is typical of the bullying approach taken by News Corp papers, it's Murdoch 101.

Cairns Basketball and the Cairns Taipans Board are two different entities and have two different functions. Mike Scott is the only common denominator between the two. Troy Stone is the President of the Cairns Taipans Board and runs things there. Mark Beecroft is not a member of the Cairns Taipans Board. He answers to them.


Cairns Basketball cancelling the Cairns Post media accreditation applies to the Marlins and Dolphins in the QBL. They do not make decisions for the Taipans.

From the article itself...

Cairns Basketball general manager Michael Scott says the move follows two reports, one of them a four-line comment piece, that weren’t to his liking.

It is a journey being taken down a similar path as the NBL’s Taipans, of which Mr Scott is also a board member. (The Taipans CEO, Mark Beecroft is also the president of Cairns Basketball and therefore Mr Scott’s boss.)

My LK comment was about the Taipans night time press releases. Stupid behaviour.

LK needs to have a word to Cairns about this. Absolutely ridiculous, especially in a small market with only one newspaper

As CT has pointed out previously “there's a lot of people here assuming that Cairns Basketball and the Cairns Taipans are one and the same entity..”. They are not. Cairns Basketball oversees the Marlins and Dolphins and has cancelled the Cairns Posts media accreditation for QBL games involving them (NOT the Taipans).

What is going on between the Cairns Post and the Taipans is a separate issue. It may seem absolutely ridiculous to you but, as I mentioned in a previous post, the Cairns Post are not blameless in the conflict between themselves and the Taipans. I would also make the point that there are 2 tv stations that provide coverage of Taipans news. The Cairns Post is not the only media outlet up here.

It could well be pertinent for LK to have a word to the Taipans about this but if you are dealing with a media outlet like the Post that feels it has nothing to answer for then it becomes a very difficult situation to resolve.

My view of the Taipans - Cairns Post conflict is that both parties are at fault and they should be putting their heads together to find some common ground to enable both parties to benefit. The Taipans (and Cairns Basketball in their conflict with the Post) need to understand they have to be able to accept criticism although I do understand the Taipans frustration at what has been written at different times. Nevertheless, it is their members and fans that are becoming pawns in all of this and the same can be said for the Post. They are shortchanging their readers by taking the attitude they currently are.

With a new coach in Mike Kelly on the scene, perhaps there is the opportunity to smooth things out between the 2 organisations. Kelly comes across as a person who will communicate with the media in a much more relaxed manner than Aaron Fearne did.

LK needs to have a word to Cairns about this. Absolutely ridiculous, especially in a small market with only one newspaper.

I think a sporting club needs good relationships with the media. The media need people to read/watch/view what they present so advertisers will advertise and the club needs the promotion. There's no better PR than seeing some sports person visiting some sick kid with cancer in a wheel chair.

Yeah we cant have accredited journalists being accredited. Makes perfect sense.
You really think bloggers are actually going to go to a game, rather than give their expert opinions from analysing a score sheet?

I don't know the specifics of this situation, but some of the media handling around some NBL types is amateurish at best. Some seemingly see their role as discouraging the media from writing about the NBL which is the exact opposite of what they should be doing.

This definitely doesn't apply to everyone -some media managers are great, but there are some that do more harm than good.

Cairns Basketball's ban on the Cairns Post's media accreditation applies to Marlins and Dolphins games in the QBL. The offending article was about 2 players (1 man, 1 woman) returning to play for Rockhampton against the Marlins for the first time on Friday. One of those players, James Mitchell (a former Taipans development player) left the Marlins in acrimonious circumstances before the commencement of last season. This was covered by the Cairns Post at the time.

Mitchell was injured when the Marlins v Rockhampton game came around last season, so Friday night was the first time he played against them back in Cairns. Fridays Post carried a big back page splash about the 2 players, leading to the article inside the paper which mentioned the fractured relationship between Mitchell and Cairns Basketball and had Mitchell saying it wasn't the Marlins team he had a problem with it was management he didn't really care for. Jordan Gerrans (the journalist who this centre's around) also had a dig at Cairns Basketball in a snippet elsewhere in the Sports section of the paper.

To me, it seemed to be a gross over reaction by Cairns Basketball however I suspect this was the straw that broke the camels back with them as far as Gerrans goes, as he has at different times over the last couple of seasons written articles which haven't painted the Taipans (who have connections to Cairns Basketball) in a good light. The Taipans have come out on a couple of those occasions questioning the accuracy of what he was saying.

It seemed to me that Gerrans didn't endear himself to the Taipans in his early days of taking over from Murray Wenzel. Prior to the commencement of the 2016-17 season, when Jawai had injured his finger and wasn't scheduled to be back until a few weeks into the season, Gerrans wrote a snippet in which he basically accused the Taipans of lying to him and the fans, because the Taipans (Fearne, I presume) were telling him Jawai may return earlier than expected (which is exactly what happened). It seemed to me that from then on, Gerrans was given little first hand information from the Taipans.

Jennifer Spilsbury makes some fair points about the situation in her Opinion piece however to title it “The truth above all else” as she did on the website, and put across that they're entirely blameless in all of this, is highly questionable and to claim the Post is a fearless and truthful reporter is stretching it. It's all about selling newspapers these days.

Run by the same people, isn’t it?

there's a lot of people here assuming that Cairns Basketball and the Cairns Taipans are one and the same entity..

This is really baffling, Cairns are already dis-engaged with their fans (see MVP night example), yet they want to go further to eliminate on of their main sources of press and publicity?

The Cairns Post doesn't have a record of reporting negatively on the Taipans, in fact more often than not the spin is positive.

I don't get the rationale nor what the pay off could possibly be?

Sorry.

Taipans’

Small market. Check.

Community owned team. Check.

Run a team on a budget. Check.

Shmooze all the important people in our community. Yeah... nah.

Communicate our message with our community in all possible ways. Yeah... nah.

It doesn’t matter how long this editor’s been in town.

It doesn’t matter what anyone at the local rag did or failed to do to upset Taipan’s management.

The relationships with local media are crucial to the survival of a small market, community- driven team.

Cairns basketball needs a shakeup been the same people running the organisation for far too long in my opinion it wasn’t just Fearne that needed the boot. No matter what side of the fence for cairns basketball to shut out the only local paper is disgraceful and will only prove detrimental to cairns basketball

Good on them, thats their job. But taking away media accreditation narrows the readership so they’ve just cut off their nose to spite their face.

And what was last months issue? Anyone forwarding a Members Only email would be removed from the mailing list? This is completely not how you do PR, and if this carries over to the NBL then the league needs to step in and stop these shenanigans.

""No-one reads the Cairns Post anymore. Cairns Basketball on the otherhand livestream QBL games for free"

No idea how those two things are meant to be related."

The article referred to the Cairns Post covering QBL and how by taking away their accreditation they are stifling local coverage of the sport. Yet Cairns Basketball are providing more coverage than Cairns Post ever did, in a timely (ie live) manner using a current technology platform.

Jeez, that's pretty shit, really... I didn't read the article the way that Wilson did, in that the Cairns Post is suggesting they're the reason they're still around, more that they supported them through the dark times...

Without knowledge of the specifics, it's hard to think of a reason why Cairns Basketball would shoot themselves in the foot like this in a community driven town...