Dear Editors and Senior Journalists
Today is a very important day because the Paralympics Games will start. I am wondering how much the games will be covered by your newspapers and media outlets.
Adopted or inclusive sports practices are not yet popular but slowly they are gaining traction and becoming trendy but just for you to understand NBC Sport who covered the entire Olympic Games, events after events, with thousands of hours broadcasted, will cover something around 70 hours.
It is far better than the few hours of Paralympics games covered in London but still there is a huge divide between “mainstream” competitions and the ones played by athletes with disabilities.
Yet, at global level, people’s perceptions towards sports played by athletes with disabilities are changing and in a positive way and this also thanks to more news coverage.
Because the Paralympics Games were approaching, I found more and more stories about athletes with disabilities participating in the games being told by global media.
This is very encouraging. At ENGAGE we are currently busy in a “road show” where the athletes of the Turkish Airlines ENGAGE Empowering League, are visiting colleges and schools in the Valley to share their stories. Each interaction is followed by an exhibition game. We want to talk about inclusion and disability by showcasing the amazing skills of our athletes.
Today I did not find any stories in the national newspapers about the Paralympics Games. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. The fact is that no one really knows what these games are about nor people can imagine that there is also a small Nepal Team participating. All the Nepal team members, unsung heroes, deserve praise and encouragement.
This is an appeal to the media house to cover the Paralympics Games by at least dedicating update news on alternate dates till the end of the event. The coverage should be in the sport section and not be featured as a social features.
It is not a big deal assuring a bit of coverage here in Nepal. If you want, you can, it is really within your power to include some stories of the games.
Dear Editors,
please do cover the games, do cover the gestures and sacrifices of our athletes competing at Rio.
Your cooperation in assuring adequate coverage of the Paralympics Games will help making the country more inclusive.
Thanks for your attention
Regards
simone
Add new comment