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AFL Media is an Australian
sports media Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...
company operated by the
Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...
(AFL) to provide coverage of the league and the sport of
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
.


History

Established in 2012, AFL Media provides content to AFL.com.au and the AFL Live
mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...
, and formerly published the ''
AFL Record The ''AFL Record'' is the official matchday programme of the Australian Football League (AFL). The publication began as the ''Football Record'' in Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian ...
'' from 2012 to 2018. Although
Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...
currently holds the digital media broadcasting rights for AFL games, there is an agreement in place that allows AFL.com.au to host video content from
Telstra Media Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecom ...
. Telstra also receives the advertising revenue from the website. Although AFL Media is located in the same building as the AFL's headquarters in
Docklands, Victoria Docklands is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the western end of the Melbourne central business district, central business district. Docklands had a population of 15,495 at the 2021 Australian census, 2021 census. Pri ...
, it employs an independent editorial and journalist team to report on the league and produce content on its various mediums. Since its inception as a business, AFL Media had published the match-day ''
AFL Record The ''AFL Record'' is the official matchday programme of the Australian Football League (AFL). The publication began as the ''Football Record'' in Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian ...
''; however Crocmedia acquired the publishing arm of AFL Media in July 2018, and will assume the operations of producing the ''AFL Record'' and its related brands from 2019.


Controversy regarding the standing down of Mitch Cleary

The standing down of Mitch Cleary was a controversy was a dispute centred around AFL Media's decision to stand down journalist Mitch Cleary for posting a tweet revealing Brooke Cotchin, the wife of
Richmond Tigers The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, the club comp ...
player
Trent Cotchin Trent William Cotchin (born 7 April 1990) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is an All-Australian, a three-time Jack Dyer Medal, Richmond be ...
, had breached the
Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...
‘s (AFL)
social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...
rules in the interstate "hubs" that all Victorian and New South Wales AFL teams were in following a resurgence of COVID-19 in Victoria and
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
. The move was widely condemned as a “betrayal of journalism”, and it led to widespread public backlash, with many figures urging AFL Media to reinstate him to his position. Among the figures calling for his reinstatement was Brooke Cotchin, who voiced her support for Cleary in a tweet. Due to the backlash, AFL Media eventually walked back on their decision, reinstating Mitch Cleary to his previous position.


Reactions and aftermath

Journalist Caroline Wilson recommended that Cleary, who she deemed a "serious journo", should stop working for AFL Media. After the incident, fellow AFL Media journalist Damian Barrett declared his support for the AFL’s decision, a statement which was widely criticised. The controversy resulted in a significant worsening of approval towards AFL Media, with several figures, including president of the
Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...
Eddie McGuire Edward Joseph McGuire (born 29 October 1964) is an Australian television and radio presenter, journalist, Australian Football League commentator and former TV executive. He is also an occasional ''Herald Sun'' newspaper columnist. He hosted C ...
and radio broadcaster Gerard Whateley, stating that it had undermined the image of AFL Media as being independent from the Australian Football League. Journalist Rohan Connolly deemed the event a "disaster", and he stated that it was the product of a gradual decline in the quality of AFL Media's reporting. He went on to state that the event could undermine public confidence in the AFL.


Content

AFL Media provides content for a range of digital products including AFL.com.au and the 18 clubs' official websites, the AFL Live mobile app and the various social media channels operated by the AFL on platforms such as
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
,
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
,
Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia social media and instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of the app are that pictures and messages, known as "snaps", are usually availa ...
and
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
. It also produces a range of
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
s and online videos analysing various aspects of the AFL, as well as operating the league's photography and film departments: AFL Photos and AFL Films, respectively. It has been speculated that AFL Media could potentially control the broadcast of AFL games in future broadcasting agreements, and either directly sell to audiences itself or on-sell the content to free-to-air and subscription television networks.


Criticism

Due to its direct affiliation with the Australian Football League, AFL Media has received criticism from rival media outlets and journalists questioning whether it can truly provide independent coverage of the league, and that it is not just a
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
tool. Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas publicly reiterated this criticism in 2016, stating that AFL Media was "avoiding" reporting on several controversial issues to protect the AFL's brand.


References


External links

* {{Official website, afl.com.au Australian Football League Australian rules football mass media Mass media companies of Australia Mass media companies established in 2012 2012 establishments in Australia