Good morning!
Princy Parikh’s week started well. Her work was finally paying off as she got invited to watch the India-South Africa match. Hell, she even got a chance to meet the players, and shoot a fun little video with David Miller for her social media.
And then, her life came crashing down with anonymous (and vicious) rape and death threats from across the Internet.
Oh, sorry, I missed a step here. A few influential journalists added fuel to the already toxic fire of the Internet by sharing her video and blaming Parikh for all the ills of the ICC – particularly the lack of access granted to journalists, while influencers get a chance to make dumb little videos.
I’m not going to name the people I saw attacking this poor woman – because, I have no interest is causing the same shit storm they did for Parikh – but I think it is important to acknowledge what’s going on.
Cricket access has been dwindling for decades. The match-fixing scandals of the 1990s can be directly traced to the ease of access to players – you could literally get their hotel numbers from administrators! – so that was shut down.
The rise of the IPL meant that Indian cricket had enough money to market itself in any way possible, and that it no longer needed the eyeballs that the mainstream media brought it via coverage. So, it could start ignoring the outlets and journalists who wrote negative stories.
Finally, the rise of the Internet – along with the Jio revolution that put smartphones in the hands of hundreds of millions of Indians overnight – meant that even the gate-kept access to stars was no longer the domain of the journalists who spent years cultivating sources and relationships. Players and administrators could post updates directly to social media. You don’t need Sportstar anymore.
These annoyances have been made worse during this World Cup because of the stupid decisions of the ICC and the broadcasters. We’ve covered the insane nonsense of the Skill Scale in depth, but there was also the horrible India-South Africa promo that we’ve all been dragged into inadvertently promoting by talking about it so much.
Instead of stories that we can appreciate, we’re living in a dystopian clickbait universe.
This is deeply frustrating to the journalism community. Years of hard work, decades of experiences, and centuries of ideas about the fourth estate are all irrelevant. Now, some random woman on the Internet gets to spend time making dumb videos with Miller, while you – the hard-working, good-for-the-world journalist – are stuck scrambling for an opportunity to ask the South African a single question.
But, here’s the rub. None of this is Parikh’s fault. Singling her out does not change the media landscape and the terrible priorities of the ICC. All it does is signal to the Internet trolls that this influencer needs to be bullied.
Cricket journalism – and all journalism – is changing. The powers that be don’t need us anymore because they can reach the public directly.
I’ve helped built a newsroom from zero viewers to 2 million-plus. I’ve written for outlets that have 10 million urban readers every month. I’ve been part of media companies that have 20 million app downloads in rural India. Nothing – and I mean nothing – changes the simple fact that journalism’s access is reducing.
You will never have a bigger audience than a social media giant, and you will never have the access of a compliant influencer who refuses to ask questions.
The answer to this conundrum is to lean into journalism’s best practices. Treat your sources like hostile witnesses, like every good political and financial reporter does. There are great stories out there if you look hard enough. Hell, we published a great one on the future of Nepal earlier this week, and there’s a couple of fantastic stories about Auqib Nabi & the future of Associate cricket in today’s edition.
You know what’s not the answer? Bullying some woman on the Internet. Let her be. She got to meet a cricketer and make a video with him. It should’ve been the highlight of her week instead of the lowlight of her life.
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🏏 Cricket Roundup: Sanju-Abhishek works, SA’s risky bowling strategy, & Nabi decimates KA.
IND beat ZIM by 72 runs, & SA beat WI by 9 wickets.
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🇮🇳🇿🇼 | Venkata Krishna B on why Sanju-Abhishek work as IND’s opening pair, Deivarayan Muthu on Brian Bennett’s incredible innings, & 🔒 Jarrod Kimber on whether Abhishek Sharma is an outlier or the vanguard of a new generation.
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🇿🇦🌴 | 🚨 Our team went beyond the headlines on SA-WI; Dom Murray on SA’s high risk-high reward PP strategy, Tarutr Malhotra on WI’s analytics revolution, & Dom Murray on Aidan Markram’s improvement v pace.
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Pratyush Sinha writes an ode to the Premadasa, which has given us a balanced pitch that has tested batters and bowlers all WC long.
KA trail by 364 runs in the Ranji final.
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Aayush Puthran on Auqib Nabi’s three-wicket spell in dire batter-friendly conditions, & Shivani Naik traces the roots of this J&K team to the turmoil in India’s northern most state in 2019.
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Louis Cameron profiles Marcus Harris’ work in domestic cricket since he last played for AUS four years ago.
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Hugh Fort has a hilarious look at the angry characters he has met in village cricket over the years.
📚 Best Features: How Nabi became amazing, the masseuse who healed Bradman, & a realistic plan for Associate cricket.
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“The swing transformation”
✍️ Aadya Sharma has a deep profile of Auqib Nabi, and how the formerly one-dimensional bowler has turned himself into a force of nature. -
“The Hands That Healed Bradman”
🔒 Gideon Haigh profiles one of the earlier instances of sports science; the ‘steel-fingered’ Ernest Saunders who cured Don Bradman’s back. -
“Beyond the Boom-Bust”
✍️ Edward Fitzgibbon has a detailed, realistic take on how the Associate cricket system can be built in the next decade.
That’s it for today!
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