Getting sports coverage right

BY S R KHELKOODKAR| IN Opinion | 09/03/2009

FROM THE STANDS

S R Khelkoodkar

I have been told, caustically, that sports is covered by the regional English papers as well. So brace yourself, friends, here goes. Let’s see how the Deccan Chronicle, Hindustan Times and Daily News and Analysis (DNA) did this week.

There have been two major events in the sporting world recently that should, by rights, occupy prominent positions in all sports sections of all papers, whether regional, national or international.

The first is the attack on the Sri Lankan players in Lahore. Of some small importance, wouldn’t you say?

The second, though not as serious, is important nevertheless. This is that IPL’s second edition is in trouble. Lalit Modi and the BCCI have had to change the dates for the series due to the upcoming elections. The changed dates are still not decided yet, but the state police chiefs have all rejected the alternate dates, saying they would not be able to provide security at the matches as well as at the elections.

The pride of place in the Deccan Chronicle went to the India-NZ ODI,  tenth in the order of smalls, as it happened. The main lead was ‘The Blues look to rev it up’. Automobile analogies in a cricket story? Eye-catching, doubtless but, a cricketing analogy would have been more stylish, no?

The second lead was about the Kiwi PM greeting the ‘Men in Blue’. Important? Who is he Kiwi PM and how does it matter, especially if you had the Sri Lankan players getting attacked and their reactions and recollections of the incident. Yes? The SL players were relegated to the second sports page. Good news sense, chaps, well done. The issue of the IPL dates was also on the second page. Not just that – the paper reported old news. With a headline saying ‘IPL sends revised schedule to Ministry’, the report focused on the schedule sent to the Home Ministry by the IPL a few days back.

The Hindustan Times was more on the ball. The lead was a blow-by-blow account of what happened regarding the IPL on Thursday. With the amount of money that has gone into the IPL, the second edition of the series is of great importance to the cricket-lovers and IPL’s investors alike.

The bulk of the page was devoted to the Sri Lankan players and their accounts. The fact that ace spinner Muralitharan hinted at the fact that the attackers received insider help is important, regardless of its validity. The ODI series in New Zealand also received adequate space on the second sports page. Granted, that HT is much bigger than the Deccan Chronicle, but this is surely irrelevant to news sense?

Thanks, perhaps, to Ayaz Memon, DNA gives three pages to sports, two for local and national sports and one for world sports. The first sports page focused mainly on the ODI, with large photographs and reports. The second page was mostly filled with the aftermath of the attack on the Sri Lankan players. The IPL was also featured on the second sports in a prominent manner.

DNA seems to have a good sports desk, which has an excellent sports sense, giving all the important issues more than adequate space on the pages. This would have been made possible by the fact that there were three sports pages, so that all the issues could be dealt with adequately.