ACTION ITEM: Coverage of Sydney Olympics (09/24/00)

ACTION ITEM

Coverage of Sydney Olympics

Dear Fellow Ukrainians:

I don't know if you had a chance to watch the men's team final in gymnastics, but the coverage was so discriminatory, so blatantly anti-Ukrainian that even though Ukraine's men won the silver medal, almost nothing was shown or mentioned about the Ukrainian gymnasts.

I sent the following e-mail to NBC and I think that we should let our voices be heard. We have to continue to try to educate the network and to bring pressure to bear on NBC.

- submitted by Stephanie Zachary, Strongsville, Ohio.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Please send your own comments on NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympiad to: [email protected]. You may also check out the network's Olympic website at nbcolympics.com and go to "help/feedback" section to register your comments. Viewers may also phone NBC to register their comments regarding its Olympic coverage: (212) 664-2333.

Another site where viewer/reader feedback is welcomed is the Sports Illustrated website at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/.

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Following are excerpts of the letter sent by Ms. Zachary to NBC.

... I am a first-generation Ukrainian American. I watched your coverage of the men's gymnastics team finals tonight and must say that I was truly disappointed. Sure we Americans want to see and hear about our American men. Sure the Chinese men's story was a historic moment. Sure the Russians had to battle just to make it to the podium.

But what about the Ukrainians? Their story is no less triumphant than that of the Russians, and definitely no less historic than that of the Chinese. Ukraine has lived in the shadow of the Russians for decades, and now, even after being a sovereign country for almost 10 years, and after beating the Russians, it still does not get our due respect! Shame on you!

So who are these Ukrainians? Just how good were their routines? What do they look like? How big were the smiles on their faces when they, in a truly historic moment, beat the Russians? How did they celebrate? We'll never know because your cameras failed to capture these moments. We were awarded only a brief glimpse of two of the team members during the three routines you chose to show... It was a well-deserved victory, and to leave the Ukrainian team out of your coverage is disgraceful.

My only hope, as the 2000 Summer Olympics continue, is this: that you take to heart this letter, and the dozens of others that I'm sure you will be receiving, and attempt to redeem yourselves by showing more coverage of well-deserving victorious teams.

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