Dear colleagues, we are living through a difficult, confusing, and violent time, but precisely for this reason we must react, find solutions, and explore new ways of practising our profession, which remains a guarantee for a cleaner and more educational world of sport for young people.
POLITICS Politics always tries to heavily infiltrate the world of sport, and therefore ours as well. We are currently experiencing a vibrant FIFA World Cup edition, but the eve of it was rocked by the political storm surrounding Iran’s presence. Fortunately, Iran was not excluded, but at the same time, it was not subjected to the normal conditions of other teams, yet we consider this presence highly significant.
POWER OF CHANGE I would like to remind you that 46 years ago, politics attempted to wipe out the independence of sport. Remember the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the subsequent 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Back then, sports, and we sports journalists, stood against political interference, and our action, combined with that of the sports world, saved not only the Olympic movement, which was dying in 1980, but the future of generations of athletes.
PARADOX Now we find ourselves in a situation that is not the same, but similar. We must react firmly against initiatives that seek to pollute the world we live in. Everyone talks about content creators and artificial intelligence; these are two realities we must live with without being influenced. Of course, new technologies require attention, and we must use them intelligently, because that’s how they can help us.
PROGRESS Progress cannot be denied, but we can tame new realities and make them useful to our profession. Pessimism doesn’t help; we must look to the future with confidence in our abilities. We are not obsolete, surpassed by technology; in fact, we still have great potential, but we must believe in ourselves.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Sports Press Association (AIPS).
