Today, Aberdeen Journals' newspaper the Press & Journal printed a letter from (presumably) a Rangers fan that was wildly inaccurate and attempted to defend and deflect from the disgraceful actions of some Rangers fans this week in Manchester. It did this by comparing this week's shocking scenes with fantasized trouble involving Aberdeen fans in Munich, and by dragging up a 37-second-long incident* where five Aberdeen fans were arrested in Bradford from five years ago.
That the Press & Journal printed this letter without checking to ensure that its contents were facts is the final straw. Aberdeen-Mad is now starting a campaign to boycott Aberdeen Journals.
Aberdeen-Mad is sick fed up of the lies and distortion Aberdeen Journals' publications print about Aberdeen fans (click here for previous fae the EE, and that's by no means an isolated incident).
We get enough of it from the central belt press, but to have to suffer it from our local papers beggars belief, and it's time to hit them in the only way that will make them sit up and take note - stop buying their newspapers and stop visiting their websites.
This is not a boycott that will hurt us fans very much. Why do we need the Journals any more? With messageboards like Aberdeen-Mad's Stand Free forum, AFC-Chat, the Ultras, Inverness Reds and more, the rumours and indeed facts appear online well before there's time for Aberdeen Journals to put them on newsprint.
Even if the Aberdeen Journals newspapers and websites get hold of a story, it is frequently a) taken from the aforementioned messageboards, and b) inaccurate (see 'Lorenzo' Davids story yesterday).
RedWeb, the official AFC website, puts up the club's official press releases in its news section at around the same time as they are sent to Aberdeen Journals, therefore the official news is available online hours or even a day before it can be printed in the P&J or EE. The BBC Sport website has a dedicated AFC news page, as do many other news websites.
And then there's the AFC mailing list (if you ignore the drivel of one or two loudmouths) and of course good old word-of-mouth (or email) to pass accurate Dons information about.
What if you want to hear answers to difficult, searching questions from sports journalists? Well...when do you ever get that from the Journals reporters? It is always the same old quotes and same old stories ("Player X begs manager Y for a first-team chance" etc etc). Nothing of interest is ever added to the story obtained from a messageboard or press release.
And of course the Aberdeen Journals reporters cannot even be trusted to keep a decent relationship with their biggest local football club. Remember the players' boycott of the Evening Express when they gagged themselves from speaking to the paper in March? The root of this, although the EE tried to deflect from this with more lies, was when the EE named players that were said to be shown the door at the club which was based on pure guesswork, and ahead of the Scottish Cup clash with Celtic.
Then there's the occasional comment pieces from the likes of The Red Final's Chris Crighton. Well, you can always read The Red Final itself, and there is a rumour that the Red Final's website may be getting a major overhaul soon which will allow Chris an online mouthpiece. Aberdeen-Mad has its own fans commentator The Red Avenger (who also writes for the Scotsman's Fanzone), and of course the various AFC fans messageboards allow all of you your own area to comment on Aberdeen however you wish.
So - conclusive proof that if you buy any Aberdeen Journals products simply for Dons news, you do not need to.
So join Aberdeen-Mad and stop.
Stand Free Ed
*Source: Bradford Telegraph and Argus