Sports Journalism does not have a long history in Odisha. In fact, till 1970s many editors in mainstream Odia newspapers did not consider sports newsworthy. It was only after early Eighties that sports got wide coverage. There were two reasons. The first was the spread of television. People saw Asiad in 1982. India won Cricket World Cup in 1983. Interest for sports increased many fold.
The second reason was the arrival of offset printing, which made printing of photographs easy and cost effective. `Sambad’ started the trend of giving one full page to sports with large photographs. Other newspapers followed suit and soon it became a trend. `Indian Express’ has also been encouraging sports journalism from the inception of its Odisha edition. `Samaja’ used to publish sports news sporadically. But it devoted more space and attention to sports only in the last two decades. Several Odia sports magazines were published from early eighties, mostly in Cuttack, which happened to be the centre of sporting as well as publishing activity in Odisha.
Sports journalism is assuming greater importance in Odisha as interest of common people regarding sports is increasing. Athletes of Odisha are doing well in several disciplines. People want to know more about them and the sporting discipline. Media houses are trying to cater to the information need of people. Almost all mainstream newspapers and television channels have started having a separate sports desk with dedicated personnel. Although cricket is the staple of the sports page, other sports also found their way in. In fact it now occupies more pages. Coverage of tournaments in rural areas also finds coverage now, which was practically unthinkable before 1980s. The sports pages are replete with colour pictures, titbit about major tournament and players, columns by prominent sports persons.
Sport news and analysis is increasingly finding more space and time on television. Once an exclusive male bastion, it is now being frequented by female journalists as well, some of them doing exceptionally well. It is finding space on internet too. The first website on Odisha sports: www.orisports.com was launched on February, 2008.
Amal Ray and Bhairab Mohanty used to contribute reports and features on sports to `Samaja’. Shyamakanta Pattnaik was a football referee. He used to send sports news to `Samaja’. Later he joined `Samaja’ and handled the Sports Desk. Sanatan Pani (born 20 Jan. 1958), a Law Graduate started his career in sports journalism in Cuttack with a couple of sports magazines \ including `Sports Information’. He joined `Sambad’ in 1984 and worked there till 1995. He left `Sambad’ and did freelancing for several publications for two years and then joined `Indian Express’ in 1997. By early 2013, he was working as Principal Correspondent- Sports in Indian Express, Bhubaneswar edition.
Satish Sharma has been reporting sports from Rourkela, another major sporting hub in Odisha from early 1980s for several Hindi and English publications. Later he reported for Odia daily Sambad. Presently he is reporting for several media houses. Sambit Mohapatra started his career as a sports journalist from Sambad. Later he shifted to visual media and on end 2010 came back to print media. Among the other sports journalists active in the Nineties through present time, mention must be made about Sanjeeb Biswal, Suresh Swain, Niranjan Reddy and Devi Prasanna Mohanty.
Sports and Youth Services Department of Government of Odisha has instituted Biju Patnaik Outstanding Sports Journalist Award for distinguished Sports Persons and Sports Journalists of the State from 2001. Journalists who have won this award are Sanatan Pani (2002), Sambit Mohapatra and Ms Samikhya Pattnaik (2003). Samikhya Pattnaik was the first person from the visual media and first lady to have won this award. In 2004 this award was conferred on Himansu Shekhar Pati Mishra. Susanta Kumar Mishra won this award in 2005.
In 2006 it was given to Suresh Swain. Sanjeeb Biswal, Debi Prasanna Mohanty won this award in 2007 and 2008 respectively. D. Niranjan Reddy and Gyan Ranjan Mishra won it on 2009. Tapan Kumar Swain, Debasis Sundaray, Sarbeswar Mohanty and Umakanta Mishra were conferred this award for the year 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. Satish Sharma was conferred this award for 2014.
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Excerpted from Dr Mrinal Chatterjee’s book ‘History of Journalism in Odisha’ (Dr Mrinal Chatterjee, a journalist turned media academician presently heads the Eastern India campus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication located in Dhenkanal, Odisha. He can be contacted at mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com