Abhinav strikes gold and media glitters

So finally India has won a gold medal in Olympics. The whole country is in such a jubilant mood that hardly anyone noticed India’s series loss to Sri Lanka in cricket. The gold that Abhinav Bindra has won has not only created history but has turned the mood of the country. At least for the time being, people, including Abhinav’s parents are not complaining about India’s dismal training facilities and politics in sports. All are celebrating India’s first ever individual gold in Olympics.
As expected, media went berserk giving more than due importance to the event. There were copious reports and photographs dotting the front pages of most newspapers with dramatic layouts and designs. Most news channels covered the event the whole day and more. Most part of the prime time news was devoted to Abhinav, with reports of his hard training, state-of-the-art facilities provided to him by his father, the unassuming nature of the gold medalist himself and so on.
Why not? Media were doing the right thing. Even if they were going overboard, for the time being, at least, they could definitely be excused. No one is really complaining about the media this time, as every one wants to know about Abhinav.
Granted that media normally are falls in love with winners. Losers have very little space and time devoted to them. Even that can be accepted as well. But it is sad and a difficult matter to accept that media do not have space and time even for the fighters. It is only now, after he has won the gold that the whole country has come to know who Bindra is. It is only now that we know the efforts that he has put in. Media had no time or space to tell us the fighting sprit in such people.
Winning or losing is part of the game. But what makes the difference is the fighting sprit of the athletes, the hard work that they put in and the amount of sacrifices they make. Such efforts sure have to be given their due place by the media. It is only through such ways that the younger generation can be inspired and motivated. Sadly, media do this only for the winners. Losers and fighters are rarely noticed by them. No wonder, India Today magazine once made a rather ‘candid’ acknowledgement as regards its inability to put Vishwanathan Anand on their covers when he failed to win the World Chess Championship. The editor said, “Only winners make covers”. Perhaps Anand took serious notice of that statement. The very next year he won the same championship in style and he was on India Today’s covers. When fighters also make covers India can expect more medals in the years to come.