Coverage of Sports in the Mainstream Print Media: Study of Trends with Special Reference to Cricket.

ABSTRACT

Owing to the commercialization induced shifts in news priority, sports in general and cricket in particular has gained more media attention, eventually leading to a consistent rise in media coverage of sports.Primarily for the huge money involved, and attempts for its branding, cricket has gained more attention compared to other sports in India. The growing public interest in cricket has made it a vital subject of media discourse. The readership of sports news is also on the rise indicating that sports reports contuse to be interesting to the readers. Against this backdrop this study attempts to explore the changing trends in the reporting of sports, cricket in particular in the Indian mainstream print media. Through an analysis of the media content this study discusses the changing nature of sports reporting in the Indian media which makes sports reports continuously interesting.