Times' Landman Says NBC's Olympics Coverage Suffers From 'Oldthink'
More Landmania for you Friday afternoon!
As we wrote this week, NBC and The New York Times are going into the Olympics with different goals: NBC is covering the sports, The Times is waiting for a big news story.
Well, Jonathan Landman, The Times' deputy managing editor, laid out his own distinctions between NBC and the paper of record in his weekly memo. Even though Jeff Zucker believes NBC's coverage over the next two weeks is "the most ambitious broadcasting event ever attempted," with a planned 3,600 hours of coverage, including 2,200 hours live on the Internet, Mr. Landman isn't so impressed:
The formula for a great news and information Web site: Be interesting and useful. Does it get any more useful than this?
http://www.nytimes.com/olympicstrackerLet's stop for a second and gush. When it comes to giving readers a way to sort their favorite events out of the Olympic scheduling morass, and then to keep up with the things that interest them most, there's just nothing else close. Not even over at NBC, where they've paid several billion gazillions to lock up the video. It's an exceptional technical achievement, but much more, it's a brilliant feat of journalistic imagination.
And that's not all.
NBC didn't carry the opening ceremonies live on the Web because they're hoarding their video for prime time TV. Oldthink. We're here to help. http://olympics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/the-opening-ceremony-begins/
"Oldthink"? Try "programmed for women only". I always look forward in anticipation to the Olympics and used to enjoy watching world class athletes do what I never could as a second tier athlete myself. So this morning I have 3 channels on my cable package dedicated to the Olympics, I turned on the TV and what do I have to choose from? Ladies soccer, ladies volleyball, and ladies dressage. Are there no men's sports occuring? Im a 44 year old man, I could spend 6 months working out and walk on the field against any of these women. I may not win at their sport, but I would be the better athlete. Why would I want to watch slow players playing a game that has a better version being played? Once again, men are programmed out and when the numbers come back they will be presented as a success when in reality, the numbers could be phenomenal.
After all, how many people really watch the WNBA?
Dude, are you paying attention? Did you see the Chinese weightlifter win the gold, or her competitor? The woman that fought to lift the bar only to struggle, drop it, and settle for the bronze? That's what the Olympics is all about! Not if women or men are on. There will be plenty of time to see Phelps and Kobe do their thing, or to watch Tyson take on the Jamaicans.
And what are you smoking? Six months of working out and you'll do what?! You say you're a second-tier athlete. . .you obviously didn't hear about the current NFL player (first-tier, no?) who said he could probably beat his wife in a sprint, but she would take him in her middle-distance event, the 400. Sit back and appreciate or change the channel.
The practice of NBC/USA Network regularly cutting away for 90 seconds of commercials during an event such as the Argentina-Australia men's soccer seems to be another sign that NBC just doesn't get it. I'm all for advertising but not everything fits an NFL or MLB format.
alphacard - You obviously were not watching "ladies" dressage too closely. The equestrian events are the only Olympic events in which men and women compete against each other without regard to gender. In short, there is no "ladies" dressage.
My problem is this: is there not one athlete in all the Olympics that did not have to overcome some trial or tribulation or death in the family on the road to competing in the games??? Human interest stories are annoying and uninteresting.
Show me the athletes that just led normal, boring lives on their way to the games.
Oh, and die Bob Costas.
And what about all the fluff. The ONLY source on TV in Prime Time as the standard NBC channel (Channel 4 here). After getting home early and eating dinner, I turn on the TV to see the 7pm EST Olympic coverage and have to sit through over an HOUR of fluff crap, including coverage of John Edwards (who cares) and an in depth report of how to eat noodle in Beijing with chopsticks. I would have been happy with women's sports!
I think NBC's coverage of the Olympics has covered a great many events. I have been watching olympic games for many years and am greatly disappointed in NBC commentators--only saying derogatory things about every event the Americans are in where points are used--they seem to think the Chinese team is perfection in everything they do! Let's face it--the hosting country has all the advantages in the scoring!! NBC commentators must be afraid they are going to have their visas revoked and be sent home---Americans--they are not!!!!!!!!
NBC coverage is just awful! A complete disservice to Americans! I never imagined poor media could make me lose interest in the games.
It's frustrating to watch beach volleyball over and over again in prime time! Where are the basketball games? The soccer games? The live commentary is daft and annoying. The kill any sense of excitement.
The opening ceremony commentary featured great observations like how strange the "costumes" of non western countries seemed. Or how much money per year Eritreans make (what an jerk comment!) It makes America look bad!
This only happens once every four year, and NBC has ruined it!
What! Another beach volleyball game? Oh look! We get to see every single point. How many times do you think we need to see this!!! Tonight I turned it off and played WII tennis. NBC, when you get a chance, look at this link and maybe you will have an idea of all the different games being played in 2008!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Summer_Olympics
And another thing. Human interest fluff pieces annoy me (athlete overcomes adversity! China is so exotic!), but nothing about NBC's coverage annoys me more than their practice of showing medal ceremonies only when an American wins gold. It's an insult to the global nature of the games. I can get as patriotic as the next guy, but do we really need to hear the Star Spangled Banner 10 times a day? Horror of horrors if by some chance we might hear the anthems of some "lesser" country... Show 'em all or don't show 'em at all, I say.
I thought I didn't know where to look to find better coverage - but there is no other coverage! There are apparently only three events at the Olympics: gymnastics, swimming, and beach volleyball. Let's do these all again and again and.... And, frankly I was into Phelps until my daughter told me about his drunk driving charge and lenient sentence. I can't get into his "heroics" now. Finally, I agree with comments about the fluff. Don't talk about China's amazing buildings that left hundreds homeless - it's just polyanic propaganda. The best was time spent on Bush! Dear God, help us! It is not about him! Show the athletes and the athletes only! All athletes equal, all impressive. Bottom line: let's give the Olympics back to the sports channels who know how to cover sports. NBC is a money machine and Costas is trying, unsuccessfully, to be a journalist
I would have to disagree - every time I tune in all I get to watch is Beach Volleyball, swimming and gymnastics. Do we really need to see every single heat of every single swimming event? Skip the heats, go to some sport where medals are being fought for. And for once, could we see something where Americans are not in serious contention? Other countries coverage is much more balanced. Time to join the rest of the world America.
Beach Volleyball has to be the least exciting sport and they show it over and over and over again! So what if Americans are tops in it? I want to see real sports with people from whatever country competing. Show me handball, field hockey, dressage...shooting, archery.... Just not Beach Volleyball!!
Die NBC!!! I HATE YOU ALL!!! HORRIBLE, DESPICABLE, BIASED and by far the WORST EVER Olympic Coverage I've ever seen in my 43 yrs alive!!!
I have to agree that Bob Costas sucks, and this is the worst Olympics coverage I've seen. The xenophobia, personality cultism, and events bias
have ruined my interest. I've heard enough of Michael Phelps' superior genes, seen enough aquatic events, gymnastics and beach volleyball to last a lifetime. It's sickening.
On a day when history was made in track and field, not one event has been shown 24 hours after the fact.
I'm a big track and field fan. The fact that they are showing just about everything in track tape delayed and doing so bunching heats and finals together in one program demonstrates NBC's complete disregard for its viewers. I emailed them today telling them how disgusted I was with their coverage focusing so much on beach volleyball etc. I also told them I am not bothering to watch anymore. They have ruined the 2008 games for me and everyone I know is either about to stop watching or has already done so. I'll bet their ratings take a nice dive into the toilet. Screw 'em! Oh and yeah Bob Costos is an idiot. Since when did being the jacks champions in one's elementary school qualify one to do sports commentary?
NBC's coverage has been substandard to say the least.
Being from Australia and having been exposed to some of the best olympic coverage over the years I am somewhat disappointed with NBC and their draconian approach to sports broadcasting.
We live in an age of internet news providing latest and instantaneous coverage, however after waiting until 11:40pm for NBC to show the 100m track final (ie over 12 hours after the event) I have to say this is less than acceptable.
The powers that be in NBC's decision process are so out of touch with what viewer's expect is it any wonder television's future is questionable at best.
This was absolutely the worse Olympic coverage I have ever seen in my entire life!
The mens 100m race was one of the major highlights of the Olympics! However NBC didn't give it get ANY live coverage on their 3 cable networks or their live streaming video channels. Instead, American viewers had to watch it on YouTube or wait till nearly midnight to watch basically a 10 minute highlight on TV. It's like being feed table scraps after everyone else has enjoyed the main meal.
This is the worse olympic coverage I have ever seen in my life. The olympics are ruined for me thanks to NBC. The track and field coverage is just awful. How can it be that they show the women's marathon for 1.5 hours and don't show the sprint heats? I am totally disgusted with NBC and will boycott the network.
I hope ABC someday has the Olympics again! Years ago events
received better coverage.The equestrian events were on at
insomniac hours,on paid Oxygen TV or not at all! If I hear
one more thing about Phelps-I swear I'll fill in my backyard pool! As for the guy who doesn't like warching
women's sports - GROW UP! Women weight lifters could throw
you into the next county!I also wasn't thrilled with track and field coverage!
NBC's Olympic programming is so cowardly. The MILLIONS of opportunities for REAL drama possible if they just showed more competitions, instead of spoon feeding us their claustrophobically narrow "..marketing research tells us that americans want..." phelps/patriotism/talk/gymnastics/beachWTF/patriotism/talk/phelps. Soooooo Many sports - so many athletes - so many winning efforts requiring completely reckless abondonment and pure surrender to the moments challenge to win - so many face to face, body to body, mind to mind competitive struggles, and we get track and field coverage - in this year of David and Goliath matchups (Jamaica vs THE USA) - that seems an afterthought - like someone at NBC realized a few World Records might have occurred and maybe they shoudl run a clip later the next day just to be sure they didn't forget anything - SHOW EVERY SPORT - a simple motto - one which they have the technical ability to do and which they have two whole weeks to schedule it all in - SHOW EVERY SPORT - SHOW EVERY SPORT - simple - even if Badminton only is shown as a highlight reel - one that includes the real stars of these sports NOT JUST THE AMERICANS FOR GODS SAKE!! And one serious question for all of humanity - does anyone really give a hoot about the medal ceremonies?
In judged sports - the most common faces shown by the competeitors are stoic or eerily robotic - or worst of all - plastered fake smiles, In swimming you can rarely see the facial expressions that are so wide open in most sports - especially track and field- but so many of the prevailing atheletes in Track and Field have NON-white faces - and so many of the expressions are of something quite different from NBC's cowardly vibe of ""everything is just great here in China - isn't it!?"" What has happened to Wrestling and Boxing?
NBC's Olympic programming is so cowardly. The MILLIONS of opportunities for REAL drama possible if they just showed more competitions, instead of spoon feeding us their claustrophobically narrow "..marketing research tells us that americans want..." phelps/patriotism/talk/gymnastics/beachWTF/patriotism/talk/phelps. Soooooo Many sports - so many athletes - so many winning efforts requiring completely reckless abondonment and pure surrender to the moments challenge to win - so many face to face, body to body, mind to mind competitive struggles, and we get track and field coverage - in this year of David and Goliath matchups (Jamaica vs THE USA) - that seems an afterthought - like someone at NBC realized a few World Records might have occurred and maybe they shoudl run a clip later the next day just to be sure they didn't forget anything - SHOW EVERY SPORT - a simple motto - one which they have the technical ability to do and which they have two whole weeks to schedule it all in - SHOW EVERY SPORT - SHOW EVERY SPORT - simple - even if Badminton only is shown as a highlight reel - one that includes the real stars of these sports NOT JUST THE AMERICANS FOR GODS SAKE!! And one serious question for all of humanity - does anyone really give a hoot about the medal ceremonies?
In judged sports - the most common faces shown by the competeitors are stoic or eerily robotic - or worst of all - plastered fake smiles, In swimming you can rarely see the facial expressions that are so wide open in most sports - especially track and field- but so many of the prevailing atheletes in Track and Field have NON-white faces - and so many of the expressions are of something quite different from NBC's cowardly vibe of ""everything is just great here in China - isn't it!?"" What has happened to Wrestling and Boxing?
NBC Coverage is the worst in the world. The quality of the program is good but very little substance.
They cover only swimming, gymnastics and beach volly ball during prime time. Most other athlets are not prime time worthy in NBC business mind.
I get to see more of Mysty May/Walsh ass on TV than any other sports.
When did Beach volly ball became a prime sport in US?
SHAME ON NBC!!!!
The coverage on NBC is absolutely diabolical. Here are the main complaints -
1) They dont show events live in many cases. Delaying the 100M final by 12 hours or whatever so it can be in prime time is falsifying the whole event. Do they think people wont know the result? Of course not. Show it live, then repeat it in primetime if you have to.
2) They only show events where Americans win or have a chance to win. This is the cheapest and nastiest form of patriotism. The Olympics is a global festival of sport, celebrate it.
3) Dont allow your news anchors to become cheerleaders. Its demeaning to them as 'respected broadcasters' and its demeaning to your channel.
4) Dont break up events with commercials when the event doesnt have a natural break (e.g. soccer).
5) Ridiculous fluff stories about US athletes. Again, its demeaning to them, and to your audiance. Of course everyone takes inspiration from their mothers/fathers/teammates/coaches, do you really need to keep repeating the same story with different athletes? This was put into perspective by the one decent story about the swimmer from Zimbabwe and what she had to go through.
Its embarassing that this is the best US TV can do in covering an event like this.
And forgot to add -
6) Stop showing niche, nonsense sports, just because Americans are in them. Beach volleyball??! Only about 3 countries in the world even take this remotely seriously. Tonight, we will see a new low as they show BMX in primetime.
Words cannot do justice to this.
Most Americans who live near the Canadian border watch the CBC coverage. Way more live coverage. A wider range of sports are covered. It is proof that you don't have to spend megabucks to put out a quality product.
And best of all...no Bob Costas!!! He is truly pathetic the way he sucks up to everyone.
It is truly a relief to know that actual American Citizens are aware of the flagrant disregard that NBC has for the efforts of most of the athletes in Beijing. Fortunately for us here in Jamaica, we have our regional (Caribbean) feed that we get olympic coverage from. Gone are the days when our local tv stations had to carry NBC's biased feed and all we would hear about was what made every single American competitor better than their opponents (whether or not this was proven at the end of their respective events).
For those of you who missed the mens and women's 100m finals...I feel your pain. It was truly an amazing display of raw talent, will power and true Jamaican Spirit.
Bob Costas...yes we hear his comments here from time to time...is indeed unable to see that when athletes celebrate their victories, they are celebrating for their country as well. When Mr Usain Bolt with palms outstretched neared the finish line in the men's 100m and the crossed the line slapping his chest, that was a representation of Jamaica saying,"Yes, we are the best right now and the time has come for us to take our place in history" Make no mistake Bob, his sentiments were echoed from the streets of this island throughout the Jamaican diaspora across the globe.
Congratulations to our girls who swept the 100m medals, GOLD, SILVER, SILVER!! Now, if that is not greatness then what is???
Well, i hope all this blogging will enlighten NBC about how its viewers really feel about their less that satisfactory coverage.
And if this blogging doesn't enlighten NBC, writing to nbcolympicsfeedback@nbcuni.com might help. (I just wrote)
Absolutely disgraceful. We have to wait to get the results of major track and field events 12 hours later than the rest of the world. Track gets little coverage. Lots of other sports that we don't particularly care about. Example beach volley ball.
Why is it that we view dive after dive, all of which look pretty much the same to the average viewer? And gymnastics routines ad nauseum, all of which also look pretty much the same. And the championship wrestling match in which an overachieving young American wins the gold? Maybe a ten to fifteen second blip. Where are your priorities?