Boria Majumdar in Birmingham
On World Sports Journalists Day, the intent is to unite as a fraternity and not be divided. Stories will come and go – our legacy is in our hands.
Today is World Sports Journalists Day. All that needs to be said is it is a very small fraternity. And yet, a deeply divided one. While there will be competition and it is only natural, we need to be united and back each other up. There is a larger cause – document stories as storytellers for millions to feel inspired. While we compete, we must also have each other’s back; else we will all lose out.
The entire fraternity is discriminated against at every level, by news editors and political editors who always claim the cherry – once there is a significant sports event the sports journalist is expected to facilitate interviews for the 9pm TV anchor. One wonders why? It is not the anchor’s story. And yet, this is the norm. Unless we raise a voice against discrimination within our own fraternity, such rubbish will continue.
If you see people from the fraternity who get to cover events outside of India, you will know. A lot of my colleagues from across media platforms have come up to me in the last few days to say RevSportz is a breath of fresh air. My point is RevSportz is for all of them. For every sports journalist. To aspire and dream and then go ahead and fulfil it.
Budgets are always an issue. And it’s very natural. I will be keen to see how Indian media covers this tour in entirety. When it comes to the Asian Games or the Olympics more so. And also the Paralympics. While bilateral cricket tours are still covered, Paralympics is not. Why? Why are budgetary reasons cited for sport when political coverage always gets budgets sanctioned? Sport is soft power and the world recognises that.
It is time to forget the short-term gain. That one exclusive interview will not define us. I have done a few thousand exclusives in life. But the larger goal is to enrich the fraternity, strengthen it, back each other and leave it stronger. Send colleagues to cover events and help them grow. It is easy for me to go to every event and be seen, but then it is not about me. Never was. It is always about the team and giving them opportunities.
From a team of four in 2021, we are now a team of 50 at RevSportz. We have established Hindi and Bangla to go with the English and will keep expanding. The website www.RevSportz.in has become a platform for quality writing on multi-sport.
The world is ours if we want to embrace the challenge and make it ours. The choice is also ours. Whether we want to stay united and grow or be divided and fight. That’s what I think is our biggest challenge today. With a huge 2026 round the corner, let’s do some fantastic stories. Shaping the narrative for sport is the prism through which we understand a country better, a society better and that’s why we are who we are.
To all my sports journalist friends and colleagues, more resolve and more power. Do some great stories together.
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