Sports journalism tends to be optimistic by nature
Someone once said, and I’m genuinely sorry that I can’t remember who, that ‘the front pages of newspapers are usually occupied by the failures of men and to look for the successes of men, you have to go to the sports pages’. Or go straight to the front pages of sports newspapers, one might add. In sports reporting, the adage that only bad news makes the news does not apply. It has its place, yes, but the most consumed news is positive and good, the news that exalts the physical and moral values of the human being and the raison d’être of this branch of journalism, was born.
Florentino Perez’s disappointment
Sports journalism is optimistic by nature. It lives on heroes, records, feats, on flashes of beauty and emotion. This is the standpoint of the sports press, and regarding the Mbappé affair they picked up on and ran with a news story that ultimately never happened. Throughout the saga, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was always an optimist, convinced that the club would secure the striker’s signature and is the first person to feel aggrieved by the disappointment of the player electing to stay with PSG, no matter how much he pretends not to be.
Burnt fingers
The sports press in general, and the Madrid press in particular, have been burnt by the episode and not only by the absence of countless Mbappé column inches that would have filled the immediate news horizon. Madridistas are disappointed because they were convinced about Mbappé's arrival and those who are not Real Madrid fans have endured an immense level of hype (press, radio, TV news...) and have every reason to feel irritated by the space that was stolen from their teams (or other sports) to inflate what turned out to be a soap opera ‘bubble’. Today’s good intentions from the sector just may be put to the test however in three years’ time.