P07053

P 07053

Media Coverage of Minority Sports

I love sport.  I have played many forms and species of sport and have succeeded at many of them.  However, only a few of these various sports are covered by the media.  Therefore, I think that minority sports need more media coverage.  There are some important links between the media coverage that a sport receives and other factors of the sport.  One link is the ability for participants in the sport to view the skills on television or other forms of media and learn them through osmosis.  Another is the participation and interest levels in the sport.  By not receiving media coverage the sport therefore cannot obtain more participants and the money that comes with them.  These are the things that a sport needs to effectively develop its players and grow as a community organization.

An important element of modern day sport is its ability to invent and develop new skills.  One of the easiest and best ways to acquire new skills is to watch other people do it and then copy it.  Obviously to watch someone perform the skill on television or the internet would be the most successful way of showing the world and dispersing the knowledge of the skill.  But if you view a program on television then there needs to be media coverage and this is the first and biggest boundary for minority sports.  When so many people know about the skill many will feel the necessity to develop it so that they have their own individual talent and this will slowly develop that skill to its full potential.  It is also far more straightforward to watch and follow role models if people can view them on television.  It can also be very motivational to watch our national representatives compete on the world stage which could inspire young people to play more sport.  If minority sports could become popular among young people then that generation would comprise of a massive change in the attitude and popularity of minority sports.  But at this time when our national sport channels such as SKY SPORT and other sport highlight shows predominantly focus on major sports such as rugby union and league, basketball, soccer, golf, netball, cricket, and motorsport there will be no such change.

Another important link between sport and its media coverage is the link between the media coverage a sport receives and its participation and interest.  These can be clearly shown in the statistics found in a survey conducted by NZ Govt.  These are just a few of the results found by the investigation on sport participation and interest which surveyed 1704 males aged 12-17 years.

Rugby Union: Participation = 33%, Interest = 55%, Difference = 22

Rugby League: Participation = 14%, Interest = 46%, Difference = 32

Mountain Biking: Participation = 17%, Interest = 31%, Difference = 14

This shows how media coverage can effect the participation and interest in a sport.  Rugby Union and Rugby League are major sports.  The participation and interest in Rugby Union is huge while Rugby League has low participation and high interest.  These are two sports which receive high media coverage and will continue to develop and grow.  However Mountain Biking which receives little to no media coverage has average participation but low interest.  This means that it will be more difficult for the sport to develop and grow.  Even though Rugby League has less participation than Mountain Biking right now, in time it will have more participation than Mountain Biking because of the huge interest that it has. This clearly shows the link between media coverage and a sports participation and interest and shows that a well developed sport has a lot of media coverage.

One of the most important factors of high media coverage is the participants and the money that comes with them.  The statistics stated before show that sports which have high media coverage also have high interest.  High interest in a sport is very important as this is what brings young people and other participants.  These people are needed because they pay registration fees and help with fundraising.  The money they receive from this is often the only money they can use to get better playing fields, equipment and most importantly coaches.  Therefore high media coverage is vital for a sports existence in the community.  Rugby Union is a strong example of this.  It has huge amounts of media coverage and because of this it is immense in the community and is great at developing its players.  However, many sports with small amounts of media coverage cannot start the process of this development and struggle to become known in the community.  This is the most important factor of high media coverage and is the best way in developing the sport to great success.

There are many great sports to be played.  But only a few of the many are covered by the media.  Therefore in order to clean the slate and develop other sports there needs to be more media coverage on minority sports so that they receive something closer to an even amount.  This will develop minority sports in New Zealand so that we could hopefully become the leader in many not just a few.