The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Has sports journalism lost its way?

Roar Guru
20th May, 2013
12

Is it just me? Ok I’ll admit it, I think I must be getting old. The sports media seems to be becoming something that is exactly what it wasn’t ‘back in the day’.

“What are you mumbling about old man?” I hear you yell at your screens.

Why has journalism gone to hell in a hand-basket? The sporting media is no longer full of stories about derring-do on the field of play.

It appears to be consumed by misdeeds and off-field controversies, quickly followed by caustic bile regurgitated by the commentariat.

In the last couple of weeks we have had the More Joyous affair, the continuing Cronulla and Essendon banned substance debacles, the Tom Waterhouse embedded advertising brouhaha, match fixing in the IPL – (See Henry’s superb account) – the list seems endless.

When did it all go off the rails?

Is the media to blame?

Is the consumer to blame?

Advertisement

Why is the commentariat so full of vitriol and bile?

I used to think that sport was something that you either did, or you enjoyed as a pastime. Clearly it has moved beyond that. Well, maybe it hasn’t really moved past that, it’s just that people think it has.

Would it be possible to ever go back? To enjoy the games we watch for the skills and the excitement generated by the players?

Here is an idea:

Next time a Weidler or a Wilson or a Hadley or anyone one of that ilk start to profit by dragging sport through the mud, how about we all simply comment on the stories with “Lalalalalala, we’re not listening!” and refuse to feed their obsessions?

I am sure there is plenty of the good stuff to comment on.

When the bad stuff happens, don’t glorify it, merely ask the sports administrators to do their job and rid the game of the cheats/gooses/fools.

Advertisement

Who knows? We might even enjoy watching again.

close