Relationships between New Zealand Rugby and sports reporters have sunk to a new low. Do journalists 'want blood?' Or are they just doing their job?
All Blacks coach Ian Foster. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
It's more than a week since that history-making All Blacks loss to Ireland, and fans and media are still seething.
"I don't think I've seen a week as out of control as this from an organisation that likes to be in control," says Scotty Stevenson, freelance writer and broadcaster for Spark Sport. He's been covering rugby since 2007, on radio and TV.
Even Friday's announcement of the lineup for next month's South Africa series followed by a press conference and the sacking of two coaches at the weekend is not enough to satisfy the fans.
Stevenson says for a team that stands for fronting up and walking towards challenges, to not front and answer tough questions "undermines the very thing that you've tried to create and that others have created over 130 years of history".
As the All Blacks prepare for their South Africa tour, Stevenson says they still don't have the answers as to why the team is not performing to its potential and to the expectations of the very organisation it works for.
"They'd be natural questions to ask of a politician or a CEO in any other business that was underperforming."
Stevenson thinks there's been a big shift from both the public and those journalists covering New Zealand Rugby, the parent organisation.
"There's not a lot of empathy for how this organisation is going about its business right now in terms of its justification for its actions, in terms of the way it is treating the media cohort around the All Blacks, the protectionism involved in that, and the lack of transparency."
He explains to The Detail the extraordinary events that contributed to a week like no other - from the press conference immediately after the match that was cut short, to the surprise cancellation of Sunday's presser, to the LinkedIn message from media manager Jo Malcolm putting her hand up as the one who cancelled the press conference.
"That's how the world discovers who cancelled a press conference. It doesn't seem well thought out and it hardly seems professional to get into a scrap with a former staffer on ostensibly a social media page when you've got the interests of a very big brand in your hands at that particular moment."
The "scrap" he's referring to involves the former All Blacks media manager, Mike Jaspers, who raised the matter on LinkedIn.
The Detail wanted to hear about it from both sides, and at the end of last week Malcolm agreed to talk about the job as All Blacks media manager, but she later cancelled. Jaspers also turned down a request from The Detail.
Being the media manager for the All Blacks is a tough job, says Stevenson.
"It has become a problematic position because you find yourself as the wedge between the journalist looking to develop storylines and interview players and of course the organisation that is looking to protect their own interests."
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