If Western Sydney football hooligans riot, and nobody is there with their smartphone turned horizontally to record it, will it make the nightly news?
An internal email from Ten chief of staff Alicia McMillan requesting anyone attending the Melbourne Victory-Western Sydney Wanderers match last night to "please keep your smartphone handy in case crowd tensions boil over" has drawn fire on social media.
"News would be interested in any amateur vision shot of flares / push and shove / security evicting people / verbal abuse etc etc. inside and outside the ground," the email reads.
"The last request is that you please tip your phone on its side to film … so any vision is captured in landscape. Please email me ASAP at this address if you manage to film something."
Some have criticised the email as "utterly pathetic" and even "ambulance chasing", while others defended the request as "journos doing their job", and that "it's effectively like an email from coach to players reminding them to wear boots."
"So there was a civil disturbance last time, but the media should not be prepared to capture the same?" another wrote. "It recognises the higher probability of it happening tonight between the same two clubs. It's shit but warranted."
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