[net.misc] Biased Olympic Coverage

nunes@utai.UUCP (Joe Nunes) (08/08/84)

> ABC is producing two separate shows.  One is heavily biased toward
> showing US athletes and airs from US stations.  The other is neutral,
> favoring no single nation, and airs in foreign countries.  This second
> show was part of their concession agreement with the International
> Olympic Committee.
> 
>   -- Andrew Klossner   (decvax!tektronix!orca!andrew)      [UUCP]
>                        (orca!andrew.tektronix@rand-relay)  [ARPA]

   There are in fact many different "shows" being shown in different nations.
ABC films most of the competitions, and each nation can pick which particular
events to show. However, as a resident of a foreign country, I can tell you
that the coverage is far from neutral. You can only show what is actually
filmed, and since ABC insists on focusing almost exclusively on their own
athletes during most competitions, that's what the whole world sees. As an
example: CBC (which is covering the games for Canada) complained that during
the medal awards ceremony for the men's 100 metres, the camera was continually
focused on the the american gold and silver medalists, while the bronze
medalist (a canadian) was nowhere to be seen. As another example: in the
women's marathon the only time that the bronze medalist Rosa Mota was shown
in the last few kilometres was at the very moment that she was crossing the
finish line. She wasn't even shown entering the stadium.