Does media promote only cricket ?

`Role of media in sports promotion and does it really support from other than cricket?` was the topic of discussion at a sessions on the concluding day of FICCI Frames 2009 in Mumbai today. The session was moderated by Sonali Chander, sports editor and anchor, NDTV while the panelists included Olympic Gold medalist Abhivan Bindra, tennis doubles ace and MD Globosport Mahesh Bhupathi, sports commentator, anchor, columnist Harsha Bhogle, Ten Sports India head Rukin Kizilbash and Jaideep Sahni, screenwriter of Chak De, the Hindi film hit that was centered on women`s hockey. The session started on a very blunt note from Bindra, where he accused the media of not giving other sports its due importance as he said, “Media plays a very important role in promoting a particular sport, while the media covers the new hair cut Ishant Sharma has they should also follow on Indian Olympic players and give them their much deserved space in the media.” He also appealed the media to educate themselves on other sports, not just cover cricket. Bhogle also empathised with Bindra but at the same time defended the media by saying that cricket is popular because it is television friendly and easy to follow. Similarly, other sports need to package sport well and make it viewer friendly. He also pointed out on the fact that sports should not be governed by federations who are either corrupt or inefficient but be free so that private corporates can sponsor them and market each sport in a right way. Taking Bhogle’s side Kizilbash also pointed out the fact that cricket has a greater viewership than any other sports, “Cricket in India has a mass appeal. So as a media house it gets difficult to generate the desired ROI (return on investment) for other sports in India. Maybe in the coming years when other sports have similar popularity we would also telecast that. Meanwhile, we would do our bit in the best of our capacity to help other sports gain momentum just as cricket.” However, Jaideep Sahni had a totally different opinion. He appealed to people to encourage sports for its emotional, and health factor, as he said, “Sports needs to be encouraged by parents, schools on an individual basis. It must to encouraged because it build ones personality rather than as a career or for its commercial gains. We should not depend or wait for gold medals to give them media coverage but just play sport and enjoy it. We should also have more government support than any federations, we must have experts backing each sport that would help leverage the achievements to promote that particular sport.” Bhupati also seconded Sahni as he said, “We need to have a seamless system in place to promote sports. Sports is governed by the wrong people. We need the right equipment to support our players and the right coverage to support it. Sania Mirza helped tennis become a mass sport. Similarly we need to have a good product to sell.” (SportzPower)