EDITORIAL: NBC's games (07/28/96)

EDITORIAL

NBC's games

The New York Times columnist Richard Sandomir had it right when he wrote on July 23 that NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympic Games is jingoistic. "We know NBC's coverage is not fair. ... A foreign athlete rarely gets the hero treatment..." In NBC's coverage of the women's 4x100-meter swimming relay, "No mention was made of which country finished second or third, let alone the names of the swimmers. No reaction shots were shown of the silver and bronze medalists. No graphic listed the final placements and times. Jingo bells, jingo bells, partisans all the way."

Honestly, you'd think the U.S.A. is the only team seriously competing in the Olympics. Take the July 23 coverage of the women's gymnastic team finals. Yes, the U.S.A. turned in a stunning, dramatic and, in the case of Kerri Strug, heroic performance. Yes, it was a thrill to watch the "Magnificent Seven," and they surely made us Americans proud. The squad deserved to take the gold.

But, where's the context? Do we honestly know, from NBC's skewed coverage, how good the American women's competition was? Viewers saw precious little of the athletes from Russia, Romania or Ukraine. If Liliya Podkopayeva of Ukraine is, as one of NBC's commentators said, one of his favorite gymnasts, then why did we see so little of this star athlete, who just happens to be the reigning world all-around champion? The athletes from Russia and Romania didn't fare any better in terms of coverage. And these were the silver and bronze medal winners! Most of what we were told about the performance of the Russians consisted of inanities like: "The Russians have just fallen off the beam..."

The previous night's coverage of the men's team gymnastics was just as poor. What did we see of Vitaly Shcherbo of Belarus? We saw him falling off the pommel horse. And, we heard about the Chinese men repeatedly falling off various apparatuses.

Again, no context in which to appreciate any team's victory.

In other sports, the story of the coverage is much the same. The athletes of other countries are shown only if they happen to be competing against the Team U.S.A.

And, believe it or not, we actually agree with the Russians (for once) on the issue of Olympic coverage. The Open Media Research Institute reported this week that Russian newspapers have charged the Atlanta Olympics have been marred by jingoism and favoritism for U.S. competitors. "Politics always played a leading role at the Olympics, but judging by the way they have started, politics have eclipsed all else at these Games," Izvestiya quoted Vladimir Lukin, a former Russian ambassador to the U.S., as saying. Reuters reported that Moskovskiy Komsomolets noted that "the Americans, without any restraint, give the impression (as always) that non-native sportsmen do not exist." ITAR-TASS complained about the NBC television coverage of the Games, saying U.S. athletes receive a disproportionate amount of air time.

The blatant favoritism and NBC's poor news judgment is also a major topic of discussion among viewers, especially those fans who just live for the Olympic Games and all that they stand for. On one of the forums that is part of The New York Times site on the Internet, there is a section devoted to that very topic. And the comments all reflect dissatisfaction with NBC's games with the Games. One discussant wrote in that the network had "apparently decided that 170 of the 197 countries are not to be seen unless they are competing against the U.S." Another noted the "lack of respect shown by NBC towards most of the countries of the world." Still another opined: "It is clear that the editorial choices they have been making are generally poor and fail to convey a sense of the competition."

Really, the TV audience deserves better. And the American public is not as jingoistic as NBC thinks we are.

Let's hope NBC does justice to the Olympics in the days ahead.

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