A press conference is a meeting/gathering, usually organized to officially distribute information to the media and answer questions from reporters. A general press conference is led by the management of an organization, agency or ministry.Most of the times, it is done to get people acquitted with a particular information that may be of public interest and serves as a tool for public relations strategy.
In the world of sports, it has become a mandatory thing to do, before and after matches coaches face the media to explain their tactics and other issues related to their teams.
Club or sports bodies release information to the media almost on daily basis knowing fully how the media helps in shaping the image of their clubs.
In Nigeria, Clubs hardly release information about their clubs, they have media departments that only focus on giving update and match reports.
The case is difficult to comprehend in Gombe state. Our sports Commission has become like a sacred shrine where activities taking place in the Commission are mostly hidden for a reason best known to those in charged.
We have had several sporting activities were Gombe state have been part of in different part of this country but nobody knows about our presence. There are a lot of good things the Commission can relate to the public but people are left in the dark.
There has been several issues that has painted the Commission black and made people not to trust the commission again, yet, the commission refused to use such public relations strategy to remake and create a good image for itself. There were several activities that would have required publicity but you will always put your ears on the ground waiting to hear anything about it, but your ears remains buried and hears nothing.
Press conferences are good avenues we can explore to tell the whole world what we have done and how we did it. No wonder! our athletes receives no publicity, therefore, no one notice their effort.
This problem is not only resting on the Gombe state sport commission alone, our sports associations, sports clubs, football clubs and sports stakeholders also contribute to the problem.
These lack of press conferences and proper publicity our sporting activities receives have caused more harm than good to the growth of sports in Gombe state.
I use to wonder if our Sport Commission and clubs have media team, if they do, what do they do? give us match results? as a media team, you need to know your responsibility surpasses that of giving us results of matches. Your Communication skills should tell us more about your organization, its daily activities, what is new, what has changed and who is doing what. You must learn to serve as a link between your organization and the populace that follows your team. Do not assume that people that follow sport in Gombe are ignorant of the fact that the place of most of the media teams in the Sport commission and various clubs have been relegated to a mere traditional position, they need to be active, be creative and come up with good ways of disseminating information to the general public.
I'm not asking the Sport Commission or clubs to organize a very large and expensive press conferences but they can do better by organizing a mini press conference and invite some of the media organizations around or the sport writers within the state, they can do what you never expect or you can distribute a press release, any of the two can serve your purpose.
People often think that the media have nothing to offer when it comes to sports but trust me, we possess the power to change the mindset of people about sport in the state. who told you that the English Premier league is the most watched league in the world? the media of course! so what are you saying? the media can do the same with sports in Gombe state.
A typical Gombe state sports lover will prefer to go and watch an English premier league match than go to one of the local governments to watch his local stars play, why? because his mind has been programmed by the media to believe that it is the best league. We can do the same.
Stop hiding information from the media, they are not your enemies if you are truly transparent in your activities in the Commission or Club.
Mark Nuhu Mabudi
marknuhu27@gmail.com
07038005173
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