I think I get it why theprof is complaining: it's the fact that there is an article out there on the Stuff website that includes both "Wellington Phoenix" and "spot-fixing" in one sentence. And yeah, with the short attention span of the scrolling generation, there is always a chance that it creates a wrong subliminal message in minds of people who will not read the article, just the headlines.
It brings to mind an old commie press joke I remember hearing as a child in Poland, from an uncle who was a journalist:
A subeditor asks his cadet journo: "is your copy ready, the one about the local Party boss embezzling public funds?"
Cadet journo: "yes, but the police say we got it wrong. He did not steal public funds, it was he who was the victim of theft, he reported that his whole wallet full of cash was stolen in public, down at the pub last weekend,"
Subeditor: "Hmmm... then we play it safe till we know more; let's print it under the heading "Breaking news: local Party boss involved in unexpected disappearance of a large sum of money, more to follow".
It brings to mind an old commie press joke I remember hearing as a child in Poland, from an uncle who was a journalist:
A subeditor asks his cadet journo: "is your copy ready, the one about the local Party boss embezzling public funds?"
Cadet journo: "yes, but the police say we got it wrong. He did not steal public funds, it was he who was the victim of theft, he reported that his whole wallet full of cash was stolen in public, down at the pub last weekend,"
Subeditor: "Hmmm... then we play it safe till we know more; let's print it under the heading "Breaking news: local Party boss involved in unexpected disappearance of a large sum of money, more to follow".
This guy gets it!
Press write a story and include the Nix so the locals will read it even though the Nix have zero to do with the story - is this not the very definition of clickbait?
Any Nix fan who watches the league knows the Davilla played for us and is already interested in the story so will read it. But for all those non-football fans who click and skim the story cos it's about a local player will create a link between his criminal activities and the Nix.