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OPINION
By: Muhammed Lamin Drammeh
Sports journalism in The Gambia continues to face a long-standing perception problem that can no longer be ignored.
For decades, this profession has been casually categorized as “soft news,” often placed beneath political, economic, and governance reporting within newsroom hierarchies. This classification is outdated and fundamentally flawed. In my view, it reflects a narrow understanding of modern sport and an incomplete appreciation of journalism’s role in accountability, governance, and public interest reporting.
Clearly, these consequences are not theoretical. They are visible in newsroom practice. Go to most newsrooms in the country, sports desks are often under-resourced, under-prioritized, and excluded from investigative agendas. This limits not only how sports are covered, but also how power within sport is scrutinized.
It is time to correct this misreading of the field.
Sports journalism is not soft news. It is hard news reporting within one of the most politically, financially, and socially significant sectors in contemporary society.
At the global level, sport is governed by powerful institutions such as FIFA and the Confederation of African Football, CAF. These bodies are not merely organizers of competitions. They function as regulators, financiers, and political actors within a global governance system that shapes national associations and influences state-level decisions.
Their operations include broadcasting rights, sponsorship agreements, disciplinary systems, development funding, and electoral governance. Decisions taken within these structures affect national reputations, institutional credibility, and the distribution of financial resources across countries.
The corruption investigations that emerged within FIFA, particularly around World Cup bidding processes, demonstrated how deeply power is embedded in sport. The reporting that exposed these issues required investigative rigor, financial analysis, and cross-border collaboration. It led to prosecutions and bans, proving that sports journalism is capable of producing real accountability outcomes at the highest level.
CAF operates in a similar governance environment. Its competitions, including the Africa Cup of Nations and club tournaments, are shaped by administrative decisions, financial negotiations, and regulatory frameworks. Persistent controversies around officiating, eligibility, and competition management often raise deeper questions about transparency, fairness, and institutional integrity.
If sports journalism at global and continental level consistently interrogates power, then treating it as “soft news” is not an analytical mistake alone. It is a professional misclassification.
In The Gambia, this reality is even more immediate.
The Gambia , for example, The Football Federation (GFF) is a central public interest institution. It manages domestic football, national teams, international funding, and representation within FIFA and CAF structures. Its decisions directly affect players, clubs, and the development pathway of young athletes.
Alongside it, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Council play critical roles in funding allocation, policy direction, and governance oversight. These are public institutions operating with public resources and public expectations. They are therefore accountable to the public.
Yet despite this, sports reporting in The Gambia is still too often limited to match results, squad announcements, and post-match reactions. These are necessary, but they are not sufficient.
Because beneath every fixture list is a governance system that is rarely interrogated.
Questions about funding transparency, federation elections, infrastructure delivery, and athlete welfare are not being consistently pursued with the same rigor applied to other sectors of reporting. For example, public debates around football governance, leadership contests, and resource distribution in Gambian sport regularly surface in the public domain, but are not always followed by sustained investigative reporting that tracks accountability over time.
This is where the gap lies.
However, perception change alone is not enough. It must be matched with professional transformation within the field itself.
One of the core structural challenges in The Gambia is that sports journalism is still widely treated as an entry point into media practice rather than a specialized discipline requiring advanced competence. This perception has limited investment in training, editorial seriousness, and long-term career development within the beat.
If sports journalism is to be taken seriously as hard news, then sports journalists must be equipped accordingly.
This requires deliberate and sustained capacity building. Sports journalists must develop strong competencies in investigative reporting, data analysis, governance systems, media law, and digital journalism. They must also understand the operational structures of institutions such as the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Gambia Football Federation, volleyball federation and all other sporting organizations in the country , not only at surface level, but in terms of how power and decision making actually function.
Equally important is a shift in professional mindset. Sports journalism must move beyond description and result-based reporting toward explanation, scrutiny, and accountability. It must answer not only what happened, but why it happened, who benefits, and what systems allowed it.
Importantly, Media institutions also carry responsibility in this transformation. Sports desks must not be treated as secondary units within newsrooms. They require editorial investment, investigative space, training support, and institutional recognition equal to other reporting beats.
A newsroom that sidelines sports journalism is not reflecting public interest. It is underestimating a sector that shapes national identity, youth opportunity, and international representation.
The benefits of change are substantial and measurable.
Stronger sports journalism improves transparency in sporting institutions, strengthens accountability in the use of public and private resources, and exposes inefficiencies that affect athletes, clubs, and national development. It also elevates athlete welfare issues that are often overlooked, particularly in areas such as contracts, medical support, and career security.
In a country where sport plays a central role in youth engagement and national cohesion, this form of journalism is not optional. It should be a governance necessity.
The shift required is therefore both cultural and professional.
Sports journalism in The Gambia must move decisively beyond the scoreline. It must become more investigative, more analytical, and more institutionally engaged. It must be recognized not as entertainment reporting, but as a core pillar of public interest journalism.
As Secretary General of the Sports Journalists’ Association of The Gambia, I consider this a defining moment for the profession. Recognition must now be matched by professional responsibility, both within the media and within the profession itself.
Sports journalists must consistently demonstrate rigor, ethical discipline, investigative curiosity, and analytical depth. Media houses must provide the environment that allows these standards to be achieved and sustained.
Only then will the outdated classification of sports journalism as “soft news” finally lose its influence in our newsrooms.
The message is clear and overdue.
Sports journalism is not soft news.
It is hard news, operating at the intersection of governance, finance, accountability, and national identity, and it must be treated with the seriousness it deserves.
About the Author
Muhammed Lamin Drammeh (ML Drammeh) is a Gambian journalist and communications professional currently serving as Secretary General of the Sports Journalists’ Association of The Gambia (SJAG). He recently completed his master’s in journalism and communications in China, with professional experience spanning sports journalism and institutional communications.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Fatu Network’s editorial stance.
