Does badminton get the recognition it deserves in the media?

Perhaps the question should be asked of badminton players. What do they expect badminton to get in the media? And which would they rather see get coverage? A Super 14 rugby match or for instance the Waikato Badminton International. Which should get more coverage? I'll leave that with you. There is no right or wrong answer, just opinion.

There is no doubt badminton should get more coverage than what it receives now, however the sport has to continue to do well and has to prove it is not just an Asian sport in New Zealand. When Dan Shirley and Sara Runesten Petersen were doing well there was a reasonable amount of coverage, but more recognition for the sport should have been put aside. There are varying reasons for the lack of attention. For one, the sports editors are generally quite old fashioned in their approach to what is covered and firmly believe badminton is something which is played at the holiday home or by Asians only and that it's not a 'traditional' Kiwi sport. There are many media who would rather stick with 'traditional' sports as they don't know anything else and it would take too much work doing research into anything else going out of their comfort zone. The only way to change attitudes like this is success...and beating Australia just doesn't cut it anymore.

Many badminton halls don't lend themselves to media use i.e. they are dark, cold and not always crowd friendly. Combining sports together such as table tennis, badminton, tennis and squash might be a good solution, then each sport can feed off each other.

At times badminton is played at hours which doesn't help it gain coverage. Deadlines can be early for newspapers at around 6pm, so matches played after that time don't necessarily make the cut for the next days paper.

Even though you may not believe it some in the media say the sport actually gets too much coverage. Of course this isn’t true when you consider sports such as rugby, league, cricket, America's Cup and how much resources and money is put into their coverage. Voting with your feet or remotes does help. Low ratings for some sports definitely affects their coverage. If badminton makes it on TV for the 2008 KLRC international and receives good ratings then it will be a lot easier to get more TV time in the future. Also if advertising are keen to put money around the TV coverage that is also in the favour of the sport.

In reality badminton needs to publicise itself within the already interested sections of the community, any publicity outside of that is a bonus. Badminton needs to put a concerted effort into making sure regular results are sent to the appropriate media and that they are written in correct text

Just remember to ask yourself, does the sport deserve the publicity? Do your neighbours care about badminton? It may be a passion for you, but not for them. Am I doing something about supporting the sport and spreading the word about it?

And do I like watching the Warriors, Super 14 and alike or would I rather watch top badminton and should I tell people at the local papers or television that is what I’d like to see...the shuttle is in your court.