There is no getting around the fact that publicity is profit. Newspapers and television have long relied on the sensational and the negative to help grab the attention of their audiences.
The natural result of this is that news is now, like so much in society, a form of entertainment.
I say natural because, really, given the media are in the business of making money, it was only ever a matter of time before they adopted the easiest approach to making money.
For the newspapers and television networks, the easiest approach is sensationalism and negativity.
Easiest perhaps, but certainly not the smartest approach. The information game is changing and for rugby league fans in Australia, the 2013 Rugby League World Cup has really highlighted this.
Substandard television coverage of rugby league has been the standard fare of Australian rugby league fans for many years but until this year’s World Cup, it has only been a gut feeling among many that something was not quite right.
It took Channel Seven’s coverage of the World Cup to show, to really highlight, just how outdated Channel Nine’s monopoly coverage of the sport has been.
The station’s use of poor technology and its one live game per week approach to scheduling is archaic – extremely archaic – but in a short-term economic sense, one can understand their decision.
What is much more difficult to understand is the station’s persistence with its negative commentary team.
As this year’s World Cup commentary has shown, a positive approach to commentary and financial success are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
The same can be said for newspapers. Their rugby league ‘journalists’ have been shown up by amateur internet sports forum writers for the sensationalists that they are employed to be.
The internet and social media are both immediate threats to newspapers.
The breadth of their reporting, ranging – from the cringe-worthy to the sublime, is incredible. And they all provide options for the fan, options that serve to reinforce just how limiting the traditional newspaper approach has been.
Until now, Australia’s negative rugby league media has existed within a bubble. It has ranged from being naively oblivious to wilfully negligent of the potential of the world it hides from. It has worked hard to ensure its relevance by censuring the world around it.
The lesson the newspapers and television networks ought to be learning is that sensationalism and negativity does not set you up for a changing and ever moving future.
And make no mistake about it, The rugby league world is moving. The World Cup has shown league fans a glimpse of what is possible.
Scores of domestic leagues are now in existence. They may still be in their infancy but they are there.
There is interest for league in the world. In order to tap into that world potential, Australia’s media need to stop kicking its sport in the guts every time it gets up from a previous kicking.
Blatant lies and negativity are never productive. They are only a repetition of the same and in a fast-moving world, more of the same is rarely ever enough.
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