Good trip then...?

The Guardian is drawing fire online for an article that informs us "the heat is on Fifa to give the 2022 World Cup to Qatar", not least because the article itself appears to be lead cheerleader for the bid.

It is written by Guardian journalist Louise Taylor who recently visited Qatar as a guest of the emirate's 2022 delegation.

Commenting on Twitter, one journalist, Grant Wahl from Sports Illustrated in the US, branded it evidence of "why journalists should never accept free trips from the people they cover".

Others have been more blunt and certainly the article's clear endorsement of Qatar's bid could hardly have been more on-message if its words had been sponsored all the way onto the page.

We are told "the technological wizardry" that will bring air conditioning to stadiums not yet built "is already virtually foolproof" though it's unclear whose assessment that is.

However, "the really exciting thing about such innovation is its potential geopolitical and historical impact".

Because "if the 40C June heat no longer presents an insurmountable barrier... an unprecedented opportunity awaits to forge fresh, enhanced understanding with the Arab world... It is surely not impossible that greater regional rapprochement could be achieved through impromptu political talking shops convened alongside the football fields of Doha."

With such an opportunity to broker lasting peace in the Middle East we are reminded it would be nothing less than a "failing" on the part of FIFA not to award 2022 to Qatar.

And why not? Taylor tells us "everyone I spoke to said: "Qatar winning this would be about far more than just football.""

It's unclear who all these people are. If they are simply the delegation presenting Qatar's bid to FIFA then their party line is predictable and their optimism laudable but it's hardly the stuff of balanced journalism.

It's unclear throughout in fact who is putting the aforementioned "heat on FIFA" to award the 2022 tournament to Qatar, other than the emirate's bid team and the journalist behind this article.

The only person actually quoted in the piece is Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson - a man not best-known for his knowledge of the Middle East peace process.

The article also unquestioningly praises a number of other bold claims from Qatar's bid before descending into the kind of promotional schtick usually reserved for advertorials in in-flight magazines.

"...fabulous beach-front hotels, ancient souks, modern shopping malls and the capital's excellent Museum of Islamic Arts..."

You get the idea.

All it lacks is a video montage featuring a wholesome couple falling in love again under an Arabian sun.

At no point are we told what rival bids exist to Qatar's, or what their own merits may be. But then presumably that doesn't matter.

FIFA must not allow itself to be distracted by talk of other bids. Instead, as the article tells us, football's world governing body must now "muster the bravery to hand Qatar 2022".

Updated: The Guardian has now closed comments on Taylor's article but not before it published a two part "full disclosure" from sports blogs editor Steve Busfield...

However, it was quickly pointed out that "full disclosure" had ignored the all-important question as to who had paid for the trip. Cue a second, follow-up message...

 
We'd never have guessed.

Comments

[Magpie]

If I can add...Ms Taylor is despised by the fans of the clubs she reports on - most specifically Newcastle United fans as she has admitted to supporting rivals Sunderland and has on occasions written for their match programme.

Last year she upset an awful lot of people by writing a horribly negative piece about South Africa in the run up to the World Cup:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/jul/07/louise-taylor-south-africa-2010-world-cup

Later - when she was asked to appear on South African radio to defend her position she replied:

"Seem to have caused quite a fuss. As I stated in piece I've never been to South Africa - but would love to go - also perception and fact can be at odds but just wrote it the way it looks from here. I was called by an editor who wanted a blog, it was the first thing which came into my head - after chatting to someone who'd been to SA and was frightened - but I told editor I wasn't really qualified to write it. No matter, I was told to so I did and, having written in a way intended to provoke debate, the rest is on the blog.........
I'd do a phone interview but, as I say, I'm not really qualified......."

The general consensus appears to be that her ignorance and gift for ****ing up is actively utilised by the Guardian sports desk as she gets a huge number of comments (and obviously hits) on anything she writes - most are normally very negative indeed.

At one point she rather amusingly appeared to have a very public crush on the old Sunderland manager Roy Keane,

She's even star of her own Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/#!/guardianlouise

[Jeff Domansky]

I hear they're looking for a replacement for Geraldo...

[Cathie Haithcock]

Look at all all those Manutd supporters... I could always remember finding comments about "sell berbatov, he's a flop at 30m, he cannot produce, blah blah blah" previous season", and from now on treating him as a god cause he have a slight run of form this season. Similar applies to Rooney, few months back with a bad run of form and some controversies, stuffs like "sell roo, we don't need him etc, blah blah blah" could be viewed... Pity that these real manutd supporters who's image have been smeared by these types of gloryhunters.