Is Joey Barton a media star or a footballer?

The saddest indictment of the QPR midfielder’s career to date is that to many he is renowned more for his Twitter feed than his sporting abilities. Barton has talent on the field, though perhaps not as great as he thinks it to be. Yet off the field he is relentlessly prolific, airing his thoughts on everything from reality TV to the quotes of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Last week he strayed into dangerous territory, with a stream of tweets relating to the forthcoming trial of Chelsea’s John Terry. Barton’s loyalty to his team-mate is understandable (Terry’s alleged crime took place during a match between QPR and Chelsea) but he fails to see how dangerous his actions could be.

The attorney general has since stated that no action will be taken against Barton, whilst reminding ‘those who publish material’ that proceedings for the Terry trial are active. Barton, who at last count had more than 1.2m people following his every word, is unapologetic. He seems to believe he is some kind of freedom fighter, determined to speak his mind and refusing to be restrained by authority figures. He even said he would 'gladly go to jail for a month, in the name of free speech. I have no problem with what I said. Make me a martyr'.

Barton is no Thomas Paine, George Orwell or Voltaire. He is a footballer with a prolific thumb and ignorance of the law. He is symptomatic of a general public that is increasingly able to broadcast its opinion but no less clueless about the influence it contains.

The man or woman on the street can emit a message to the world within seconds of it leaving their keyboard. This tweet-now, think-later trend often prematurely kills celebrities or links innocent people with injunctions in which they played no part. Barton is not to blame for this - indeed I have some sympathy for him. I doubt he has ever studied the minutiae of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 (apologies, Joey, if this is not the case) and cannot be expected to have the same grasp of media law that trained reporters are equipped with.

He is simply one of millions handed the keys to power but with no idea what responsibility that entails. He is a man with a megaphone preaching to over a million converts and he must realise the reverence with which his words are held by many. If Barton wants justice to prevail, as I assume he does, he would be well advised to steer clear of comments on this case. There are plenty of issues for him to exercise freedom of speech, but potentially spoiling a case involving his colleague is not the cause for him to chase.

With his team just a point away from the relegation zone in the Premier League, the martyrdom can surely wait.

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