Sunday, December 5, 2010

Is there a lack of local sporting coverage in the local media?

By K. Wilson
The people of Trinidad and Tobago have been described as 'banwagonists', especially when dealing with sports and I believe that a big reason for this is the lack of sporting coverage by the media. This, in my opinion, has resulted in an ‘out of sight, out of mind syndrome’ where we only become interested when a national team does well on an international stage or a big international event is on the horizon such as the Olympics, FiFa World Cup and the Cricket World Cup. It’s like this because this is the period when the media become interested and  in our society we tend to follow the hype.

Yeah, sure we get highlights in the  sportscasts, but, who really knows what’s going on with swimming, what about athletics? What’s the latest with Mark Burns? Can Devon Joslin produce the kind of form for T&T that helped the Defence Force capture the Pro League title this season?  These are all questions that the average person cannot answer because they are not well informed. As a matter of fact people know more about Digicel Rising Stars and the next T&T Top Model than they do about any local sporting league or events.
I admire the Americans, the British, South Americans and the Europeans because they understand the importance of sports in a society. To them it’s a big deal and they treat it as such. This is probably why they are always at the top of the game in many different disciplines. There are numerous sporting TV and Radio stations such as Sky Sports, ESPN, Fox Soccer Report and Fox Sports that are entirely about the different sports that are engaged in their countries. Most of our local ‘sports journalists’  are a waste of time, in my opinion. You can tell by listening to them that they are unfamiliar and do not have a sporting background or even a broad handle on sporting jargon. Maybe it’s the media’s fault we’re 'banwagonists 'and maybe it's time the media give sports its due justice.
New sport on the rise in Trinidad and Tobago, Extreme Cycling
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