Swam to handle all sports media awards
Delegates to the Sports Writers Association of Malawi (Swam) annual general meeting held over the weekend in Blantyre have resolved that from now on all Sports Media awards should be handled by the sports journalists’ body.
The resolution was made during the first ever Swam AGM, which preceded the Swam Anti-Hooliganism Workshop sponsored by TNM.
During the AGM, members noted that most sports media awards are not administered professionally, resulting in some sports journalists doing PR jobs for sponsors or competition organizers at the expense of media ethics.
It was observed during the gathering that sports journalists have been failing to expose weaknesses or scandals within the sports administration circles for fear of being sidelined during media awards
administered by sports bodies.
Re-elected Swam chairman Peter Kanjere advised journalists not to take such awards seriously but aim for credible media awards like the annual Namisa Sports Journalist of the Year, Cosafa Media Award and CNN Media Award.
“I have won more than ten of the so called local sports media awards but I do not take most of these awards seriously because of the manner they are organised,” said Kanjere.
Kanjere noted that most of the awards administered by non-media professionals mainly centre on quantity of stories filed by journalists rather than quality.
He applauded Standard Bank and OG Issa for involving media professionals in determining media awards for the Standard Bank Cup and OG Issa Netball League respectively.
To curb the practice of sports journalists doing PR jobs for sponsors or tournament organizers and ensure professional reporting, the media gathering resolved that the sports journalists registered body should be handling all sports media awards.
