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Olympic fallout
The Olympic endeavors of athletes and a television network are prominent in this week's mailbag. There's still some fallout from my column condemning NBC for a lack of live Olympic coverage in the U.S., plus a mention of Australian 400 meter gold medalist Cathy Freeman and the drugs story surrounding American shot putter C.J. Hunter, who is married to Marion Jones. I've been following the controversy about NBC's "coverage" of the Olympics with some amusement. Here in Bulgaria, I can see nearly 24 hours a day of Olympic broadcasts on Eurosport and on Bulgarian national TV, much of it live. Best of all, I haven't suffered through a single "Doctors told her she'd never fire the 10-meter running-target light air rifle again, but she remembered the tearful promise she made to her dying sister, and refused to give up" story. Here's a possible solution to the problem faced by US viewers. Starting with Athens 2004, break the TV rights into two parts: (1) rights to broadcast the Olympics, and (2) rights to gooey athlete profiles, medal ceremonies, and heavily-produced segments showing American athletes winning events. Since NBC thinks no one wants the first one, it shouldn't object to letting someone else have it, right? Or Americans could just plan a two-week trip to Bulgaria for the Summer Olympics in 2004. Excellent TV coverage of the games, and on-the-spot, in-depth reporting about doping scandals involving the Bulgarian weightlifting team. What more could anyone want?
I'm glad you're basking in some Olympic television glory. Your comments on MSNBC reflect one important aspect of American media. There seems to be a strong interference over what the media needs to show by the US government. This can be seen by the fact the US is one of the few countries where BBC is not available even through cable TV. This also applies through sports and news coverage. You don't see international news and of course you don't see cricket. Don't people want them? The answer is yes. This country is after all a nation of immigrants and many of whom who still maintain the ties with their respective home countries and are certainly interested in news outside this planet (the US i.e.).
My comments were more aimed at NBC the network as opposed to the cable station MSNBC, but I take your point. I'm not sure the U.S. government is to blame, but do agree that there are many expatriates over here who would dearly love to see more international news and sport. The first network to truly tap into this market will be on to a surefire winner. Also, to be fair to NBC for once, they do show many profiles on international athletes -- not just the Americans. Hurrah Hurrah! NBC's Olympic debacle of the Olympics needs to be replayed in their faces constantly. Has anyone asked NBC to make a real-time change and telecast something live, regardless of their agreements?
I don't know if changing their plans was ever suggested by NBC hierarchy, but there has been no hint of a change in policy publicly. They believed they had a winning recipe and stuck to it, not quite realizing their fare wasn't best for public consumption. Dear Phil, I would like to ask you what has been the most awe-inspiring or emotional moment that you have had to report or write on during these Games In Sydney?
I have to say (and indeed have talked about it in my latest column) Cathy Freeman's women's 400m victory was truly memorable. For inspiring awe and emotion, her triumph in front of her home crowd has be the best moment for me. Talking of which, here's a comment from the Gold Coast on said subject... Congratulations for your honest and in-depth article on Cathy Freeman, She is indeed a wonderful person and her attitude to her win will do more for reconciliation than any other event in the struggle for the aboriginal to be fully recognized.
After the discovery that the husband of Marion Jones is caught using drugs. Do you think there are other cheaters in the US team?
Let me first start by saying C.J. Hunter claims the positive tests for steroids were a result of taking nutritional supplements. That said, I believe there are sportsmen and women across all sports and all countries who cheat. We've seen enough other examples at these games, from the Bulgarian weightlifters to the Romanian women's hammer thrower, to know doping exists in sport. The big question is: to what extent? We'll likely never know that for sure. That leads to an air of suspicion hanging over competitors who've never cheated when they do something extraordinary. If Marion Jones won five golds in Sydney, are there not sure to be people out there thinking that as her husband's tested positive and coaches her, she has to be guilty by association. That's unfair and sad for Marion, but the way of a drug-affected sporting world. So to a couple of other topics finally... Dear Phil, I am an American who is living in Sweden. I wish that CNN would broadcast the domestic US CNN sports program seen every night in the States at 11:00 pm EST/EDT live on the CNNI European feed. It would be seen here in Europe at 5:00 AM. The only segment of the European viewing market that it would come close to prime time would be in Moscow, where it would be seen at 6:00 AM. With all the Americans living there, I think most would be delighted. The people who run CNNI may think that this is too much of an emphasis on American sports, but I must tell you that here in Europe, no matter what their market research may say, people here will ALWAYS consider CNNI an American news source. People in Europe WILL NOT watch CNNI sports to see what has happened in Europe, they will watch their own sports programming in their own languages. Most people here do not have the English skills to understand that CNNI is not primarily an American news channel.
I don't share your confidence that all people in Europe believe CNNI is a totally American news source... no more than others might suggest the BBC is a totally British news organization. But I know how many ex-pats miss their American sports and would definitely push for an American sports show for CNNI, even if it was only a weekly roundup. The NBA show, made domestically, is shown internationally. What about some coverage by CNN of Gaelic Football and Australian Rules Football? Both these games are similar fast free flowing tough exciting codes, which despite their minnow status in world sports -- manage to still be the most popular sports in their respective countries. Although the Olympics is fabulous and dominates here at present, quite a deal of sporting attention will switch to Dublin on the 8th and 15th of October when the All-Australian side takes on Ireland in a fairly newly created version of football called "International Rules Football."
We do show Australian Rules Football, but only brief highlights. We hope to have coverage of the contest you talk about as well, but again in edited form on our World Sport show. Also, we carried a feature on a Gaelic footballer who tried his hand at Aussie Rules not so long ago.
That's all for another week. Until next time...
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