Boria Majumdar
As I fly back to Delhi and then Kolkata for a few days, it is also time to introspect and reflect on the work the team has been putting together in England for the last one month and more.
When we planned the coverage, there was no template in front of us. While for a multi-discipline event, it is now a tried and tested formula, for cricket it was entirely new. Why are you taking such a big team to the UK in the summer when the costs are exorbitant? Many had asked me the question. I had my reasons but it was prudent not to spell them out and make a reason.
At an Olympics, you have many events going on at the same time. It is the very same story with the Asian Games. If you really want to cover these Games well, no one or two reporters can do justice. You need a team and you need to have them at multiple venues. That’s what works for real-time news coverage. We have done this at the 2022 CWG, 2023 Asian Games, and 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. We know it works and people love it. But what about cricket and why? It is one sport and the action is all concentrated. So why?
At the end of the month, I think people know the answer. The feedback is overwhelming and the industry has taken note. People have come up to us everyday in England and have spoken about our coverage. Journalists from across India have reached out and asked if they can join the team and most importantly, my own people who were given the opportunity of travelling to England for the first time, Subhayan, Rohit, Gargi and Rohan have turned a new leaf and are better off for it with the experience. As their editor, that’s what you expect of them and that’s what you need.
Let me share an experience from the day before. We had finished the post-day live and also recorded some stuff for the following morning. As is the practice, Gargi sends it back to the back-end team in India and Trisha advises on the production. While they do so, I leave for my apartment to write my morning copy. It is all very streamlined and planned. As I was walking back, an Indian family, two men and two women with a child, were walking down St John’s Wood Road and met me in front of the Danubius Hotel. One of the men initiated the conversation and said he loves the work we do. It has happened countless times and each time you feel humbled. As I responded with a polite thank you, the lady got into the conversation. “We just finished watching your show. We are now addicted to the shows. The moment the game ends we switch RevSportz on and listen to you and the young girl who joins you on the shows. It is fantastic to hear candid talk, which is not sensationalist,” she said.
It was music to my ears. This is exactly what I have been saying all this while, that you don’t need to be making a fool of yourself to be noticed. There are platforms which are peddling total rubbish and in doing so are misleading fans and stoking fire. They are case studies why social media stands discredited.
When such riff-raff exists, people sitting in a studio and talking complete nonsense, you know there is a need for proper engagement with people – fans who are rational and keen, who are knowledgeable and who follow the game. They could be fewer in number but they are your constituency. None of them will come and blame KL Rahul or Ravi Jadeja, or claim Virat Kohli could have won the game for India.
Going back to the Indian group, they were insistent I join them for a drink which I had to politely decline. By then, a young man from Hong Kong had come and joined the conversation and as it turned out, he too is a regular viewer. Finally, as I said my many thank yous and had started to rush back, did an old man ask me to stop. “I live in Finchley and am Indian, but was born in South Africa,” he said. “I watch every show of yours on RevSportz. I knew you would be doing the post-day show from here and hence had come to say thank you. Seeing you with some people I was waiting here for you to get free.”
It was kind of overwhelming. Earlier people would come to me and say they watched my work. But it was a personal thing. Now a lot more people come up and say they watch RevSportz. From telling Trisha in a mall in LA that our Olympics coverage stood out to stopping me at Brighton beach and asking if we will cover para-sport with the same verve going forward, RevSportz has now become the multi-sport platform that I always wanted it to be. And for aspiring sports journalists, it is a symbol of hope. A platform by journalists and for journalists. No frills and no nonsense. They know that at RevSportz people, junior and senior, will get opportunity and that’s the mantra.
While the series has been intense, we too have been playing our own game. And unlike India, who are down 1-2, I can say with certainty that Team RevSportz has indeed turned a new corner with its coverage and created a new template. From here on, it is about staying rooted and continuing with the hard work. And that’s what the team will do in the next three weeks.
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