Cricket is one of the most popular sports in Bangladesh, and the craze for the game throughout the country is unmatched. People of all ages and from all walks of life passionately follow the game.
A profession that is closely related to the cricket craze in Bangladesh is Sports Journalism. Although newspapers, magazines, and websites devote a lot of space to cricket news and analysis, TV journalism and video-based reports on cricket have the biggest impact on fans.
Many television programs and social media dedicated to the sport deliver reports and content on cricket. While sports journalists play an important role in keeping the public informed about cricket, some play a significant role in misguiding the fans, willingly or unwillingly.
Most TV and social media-based journalists create quality content, but the problem is that the more dramatic or intentionally 'over-spiced up' ones are the ones that sell the most among the fans. These reports and contents do not send a good message to the fans, especially those who know little about the game.
The role of some journalists in the recent 'Mahmudullah Riyad case' can be taken as an example. As the veteran Bangladeshi batter was not selected for the 17-man squad of the country for Asia Cup 2023, it was obvious that some of the fans wouldn't understand any analytical facts that justify the call and react emotionally. Not everyone would understand how decisions are made before the big tournaments.
Some platforms capitalized on it and tried to hype the case. Some fans gathered near the press club on August 16, demanding to include Mahmudullah in the mentioned squad.
A visual media platform presented this as a 'mega-event,' while the number of fans that arrived was actually smaller than the number of journalists covering the event, as said by many.
The mentioned platform kept on presenting some conspiracy theories against the Head Coach of Bangladesh, Chandika Hathurusingha, explaining how undeserving the selected middle order batters were and how unjust the selection was, while it was a logical one to most of the cricket experts of the country.
They are trying to show how big of an injustice it is to drop a veteran cricketer to make room for some young guns that performed magnificently well in the recent past, and most of the cricket fans in the country are massively manipulated by such reports.
Earlier, the same platform reported that Shakib Al Hasan would not be interested in captaining the Asia Cup and World Cup-bound side as he would supposedly like to focus more on the upcoming elections in which he would reportedly take part as a candidate. But in reality, he grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
These conspiracy theories sell, bringing many views and reach on social media. Now, who gets pressured the most due to these conspiracy theories? The answer: the young cricketers eagerly waiting for opportunities to prove themselves. The extra pressure of not being given a chance again after a couple of failures is always in their minds.
The coach and the captain may also be under pressure, although both Hathurusingha and Shakib Al Hasan are bold and don't care about what the media is up to.
Should journalists rely on such content instead of analytical, informative, and quality ones? Definitely not, because, in the end, it hurts Bangladesh cricket and the overall image of the quality of sports journalism in the country.
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