Rigorous journalism

In yesterday's Guardian Media, from the Media Monkey Diary:

When the BBC said it wanted more rigorous journalism in its sports coverage, Monkey's not sure this is what it meant. In the interests of investigative journalism, Match of the Day 2 reported that Everton FC charges people pounds 3,000 to be a matchday mascot at Goodison Park. After "numerous complaints" from fans and the club itself, the BBC will exclusively reveal in Sunday's programme that, er, Everton has never charged for the privilege of being a matchday mascot, the journalistic equivalent of a 10-0 home defeat.

The Guardian's sister paper, the Observer, in its 'For the Record' section on August 27 :

In 'Premiership club charges £3,500 to be a mascot' (News, last week), we said that Everton FC requires payment from the families of young supporters who want to be mascots. This is inaccurate.

In fact, the club has two quite different schemes: a traditional match-day
mascot scheme and a corporate mascot scheme. The match-day mascot is, and always has been, free; those selected are drawn from the club's supporters' section or are nominated by local charities and children's hospitals. These match-day mascots also get free tickets for the whole family and a tour of the stadium. The corporate mascot is nominated by a sponsor as part of a luxury package which includes executive seating and hospitality. We are happy to clarify this and offer our apologies for any embarrassment caused. In the same article, we neglected to say that Tottenham Hotspur offers some free mascot places and mistakenly said that Manchester City charges on some occasions. It does not.

That will be the journalistic equivalent of two 10-0 home defeats then...