How long has television been around?
But the cold truth is today’s world likes looking at moving colour pictures much more than reading. That’s far too much like hard work. So television dictates its own terms. They charge exorbitant licence fees in some cases, they attract advertisers like bees to honey and they pay huge sums for broadcasting rights. So television commentators get all the nice parking spots at sports stadiums, they sit in the good viewing spots inside the stadiums, they are feted like kings by sports promoters who fawn around them adoringly. What can we print journalists do? Sweet Fanny Adams, if the truth be told. But the wire service boycott of the IPL represents a brave stand anyway. It’s just a matter of how much it hurts in the long run. And there’s the rub. Smit is sports editor.
