By Nana Kwame Bediako
Sports has become one of the greatest tools that pulls massive numbers from all corners of the world to come together and share a common goal as they cheer their preferred teams and athletes on during gamedays with a sense of joy and passion dropping down through the veins and capillaries of supporters.
With sports gaining huge recognition in the European space, Africa has also, in recent years, impressively taken the baton in delivering standard coverage and reportage on sports on the continent. Although sports have been one of the strong force in galvanising athletes, countries, continents, and fans to come under one umbrella as they sphere head a common purpose.
Over the years, the African media has created a huge space for football reportage, bending the importance of some sports, which has not been of interest to some sports enthusiasts. The constant reportage on football has eventually taken a lot of interested and dedicated sports fans away as they turn to give their attention to European media sports reportage.
In the Ghanaian media, sports programmes and reportage open up or give little space to sports like hockey, volleyball, tennis, golf, table tennis, etc. Based on thorough analysis and research, there isn’t a single programme that strictly dedicates much of its airtime to broadcasting more sports content, which supersedes football reportage in the Ghanaian media and most media houses in Africa.
Africa can only attract interest from all over the world if they start to sell their sports reportage in an all-around manner to suit the sports media system and not shift or give much attention to one particular sport. An effort to work and report accurately on most sporting events in a different way with an African touch has a higher chance of putting African sports reportage in a progressive way moving forward.
Not to discount some impressive progress the African media has made when it comes to sports reportage, sports on the African continent over the last two decades has taken a good turn, with African games providing an avenue for more sporting disciplines in recent times.
This has helped the African sports reportage in the African media to take a different spin, attracting numbers, with individuals discovering interest in more sports, and not necessarily football.
The sports umbrella will always continue to hold each discipline together, as that’s the only pathway that brings people with different interests in sports together and cheer on with the same sense of excitement, joy, and unity that sparks the euphoria of the game.
