User:Daniel.josifovski/An Insiders Perspective:The Role of Media play in the Business and Politics of sport in Relations to the National Rugby League

 Hi guys! Here is a link to my presentation in YouTube or you can view it on my page! Below you can see the format and transcript of my media presentation Hope you guys enjoy it

D.Josifovski BPS Presentation.

Introduction


This media presentation will discuss issue of the role media play in the business and politics in sport with relations to the National Rugby League also known as the NRL. The reason why this topic has been subjective to this presentation is that over the years the NRL has seen a spate of coverage for the wrong reasons. Many of the reasons are in relation to player behaviors which is tarnishing the image of the game, the clubs and the players themselves. It’s hard to say that the amount of pulling power rugby league has in the media. The fact is rugby league sells newspapers and rates exceedingly well on TV and radio so any rugby league news, especially a scandal will guarantee headlines and media revenue. This has seen the rise of a new breed of sports journalist more akin to being a gossip columnist than a journalist of sport. These young sports journalist have changed perceptions on the game which has given debate that politics in media affect the business of sport.

This presentation will help gain an insight into the actual life of a media personnel within the National Rugby League. Further discussion will highlight the politics of media in the National Rugby League and how media may affect business activity within clubs.

Transcript
I’d like to welcome Ben Pollack the media manager of the Canberra Raiders Rugby League Team who compete in the National Rugby League Competition to assist us in further discussion

Welcome Ben, First of all I’d like to thank you for taking some time away to help us discuss this issue.

1) Can you give us a quick description of your role at the Canberra Raiders

Role of the media manager here at the club is a couple of things. The first thing is servicing the media in regards to player and coaching interviews. It is very important for us as an organisation that we are in the public spotlight as much as we can, mostly for the good sort of things. Particularly the ways players are doing on the field also the good work they do off, obviously that the number one focus. Also looking after the clubs websites and the new social media strategies that we can in place and pretty much anything else media related we have at the club.

2) It’s evident across many of the countries newspapers and news bulletins that Rugby League has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years, do you think that the politics within media outlets on who can sell the biggest story is more of concern than actually concentrating on the game itself.

Definitely, there is huge competition between not only Print outlets but also TV and Radio on who can get the biggest story. You can see the competition not only within the organisations but also internally as well. The Daily Telegraph ( One of the biggest Newspapers in NSW) for instances, a lot of their reporters are in such high competition not only with other papers but with each other that they will go out of their way to try and find the biggest story and it does impact on the way the game is covered. Unfortunately controversy sells more than what good news does. So, the more stories that they can get out there, over something controversial they will get them out there as much as they can.

3) Being the media manager of the Canberra Raiders, do you feel your role is to protect the clubs image?

I don’t think it’s about protecting the image. I think it’s about more about giving a positive image of the club out there. You don’t want to be on the back foot all time trying to put out fires. I think it is important for us to show how good of the club we are and showcase the things like the incentivises we have in the community. We have some really good community based incentivises that go unnoticed a little bit. It will be a focus of ours in the future, promoting those types of things and also giving the players a voice and humanising them a bit. People like to know what players do off the field not just on it. It is important for us(the Canberra Raiders) to get those guys out there and show them that they are people and that they are good people and sometimes it goes unnoticed which is a disappointment.

4) Compared to last year the Raiders had a below average season this year. When clubs seem to be not doing so well, the media tends to point the finger at people and players within the club. Why is this the case?

I think it’s the nature of the beast, when things aren’t going right on the field. Questions need to be answered. Sometimes not only is the fingered pointed at the players but its pointed at the coaching staff, the management of the club, it is pretty unavoidable. I suppose the best thing that you can do from a media perspective is to get out there the positive that the players are doing. Let them know that the guys are putting it in at training they are trying new things at coaching levels as well and we are looking at brining new players and new things to the club at the top level. It is all about giving out as much information as you can but at the same time you need to keep things internal because that it’s not always the case that the public needs to know everything.

5) The NRL has many community incentives to encourage and support Rugby League at grassroots levels, the media tend to let these go unnoticed compared to an issue that has negative impact on the game. Why do you think this is the case?

I don’t know if they rather scrutinise the game it’s just sometimes like I said that those bigger type of off field issues do sell a lot of papers. Sometimes the good work stuff isn’t as interesting to those big news outlets to what the bad stuff is. I think as a game its important for the players and clubs to keep pushing the barrow of the excellent work that they do they in the community. We have seen things like the Ken Stephens medal being brought in, which is a award given to a player who does outstanding community work. They actually have a awards night which is called One Community awards which is a whole night dedicated to what the players do. And at the Raiders level we will be looking at introducing a new award at our presentation next year to recognise the best community involvement by a player within the club. As long as we can keeping pushing these types of incentivises, the good work we do will start to get pick up more.

6) Many Australian players who have been scrutinised in the media and have left the NRL to play there trade in countries such as England, do you think that some of these players are pushed out by the media or is it a business move? 

Depends on the circumstances i know that there has been a couple players who have played at this club who have been forced out due to some off field issues. One was Todd Carney who was sacked by the club for a number of off field indiscretions. He actually wasn’t allowed to go to England because he had some legal issues hanging over his head. He was forced to play in a competition in Queensland before coming back to the NRL unfortunately for Todd we can still see him suffer some off field troubles.

The other one was Joel Monaghan who was involved in a disturbing incidents you’d say. He was forced overseas. I think the reason he went was to escape that spotlight (from the media). Players going to England is something to lessen a little bit. I think its a number of factors not only on the way on how the game is going (in Australia) but also the monetary wise it’s not the golden egg that it use to be going over  there playing. I think with things like the new TV rights deal and more money coming into the game we are going to see a lot more players stay here in the NRL which is a good thing because a lot of these guys can go over there too young.

7) Do you think that players in say the Super League in England receive the same amount of attention then our players do or do think the EPL (English Premier League) would overpower the Super League?

There is no doubt that the Premier League Football ( English Premier League (EPL)) competition is their ( the media) number one ticket item when it comes sports news in the UK. For anyone who has been over there and witnessed it, I have been lucky enough to head over there and look at it on how it works. The amount of coverage in England in that competition (EPL) compared to Rugby League it’s really a minnow over there in England. Even hear in Australia you see, the AFL dominate the Victorian market compared to rugby league. The Storm battle hard to find the media space in Victoria. So you just don’t just see it overseas. I think rugby league over there definitely the players i wouldn’t say get away with more because you always encourage them to behave but its definitely not scrutinised heavily what it is here particularly in the Sydney market.

Conclusion
In conclusion of this media presentation. It is evident to say that politics within media plays a role that effects on aspects of business in relations to the National Rugby League. As Canberra Raiders media manager Ben Pollack mentioned that there is huge competition within media outlets whether it is print, TV or radio and who can sell the biggest story.

It is clear say that news reporters are in such high competition and go out of their way to sell the best story and in the case of the NRL, these stories tend to be the ones that involved controversy  rather than noticing the good things that happen in the game. The role of media personnel at club level is a complete contrast to the role of commercial media. As Ben pointed out the role of media at Club level is so give the club a positive image and how well the club is going. It is about giving players a voice not on the field but off the field. Community based incentivises that players do go unnoticed and it’s important that club notices these things to show people that they are good people rather what the commercial media depicts them to be.

As Ben also pointed out, some players in the NRL have been forced out of the league due to scrutiny from the media and a personal monetary move. However escaping to another league is not what it used to be. The business of Rugby League is beginning to involved and more and more money is being injected through TV rights.

It is clear to say that  depending on location of a particular sport will deem the media coverage that it will receive .As the sport of  Rugby League is saturated in the Sydney market media coverage on international and national scale is nothing compared sports such as Soccer in the UK and AFL in Victoria.

I hope this media presentation gives you a insight perspective on the political and business role media play in the National Rugby League