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NBC's Olympics coverage cared so much about Simone Biles, it failed to promote American track stars

posted 3 years ago by TMC-4 (20123)
2 replies | jump to latest

https://slate.com/culture/2021/08/nbc-olympics-track-sydney-mclaughlin-athing-mu-coverage.html

"Why hasn’t NBC made more of these extraordinary athletes—not just on the day of their events, but over the course of the entire Tokyo Games?" asks Justin Peters. "By all rights, McLaughlin, Muhammad, and 800-meter gold medalist Athing Mu, who also won gold for the U.S. in her event on Tuesday night—the first time an American woman had done so since 1968—would have made for excellent breakout stars of the Tokyo Games. All three are telegenic, diverse, and extremely talented within their events, which exist as part of a sport that is one of the marquee sports at every Summer Games. And yet, as far as NBC has been concerned, the three American track stars and many of their cohort have been but momentary diversions from the real story of the Games: Whatever Simone Biles is or is not doing at any given moment. Biles is a transcendent star and her emotional journey has been the story of the Tokyo Olympics. But the American track stars who excelled on Tuesday also had credible claims for their stories to also be the stories of the Games. Instead, they have labored in relative obscurity as NBC has focused much of its coverage on swimming, gymnastics, and swimming and gymnastics. The disparity between the quality of the track athletes’ performances in Tokyo and the quality of the television coverage that they’ve received this year has been frustrating and confusing. If the Olympics are, as I’ve suggested before, primarily a television show, then why does NBC have such consistent trouble turning American track stars into main characters?"

[–] TimMC (9143) 3 years ago

NBC is pure failure.

[–] TMC-4 (20123) 3 years ago

How NBC can fix its Olympic coverage

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-08-06/tokyo-olympics-2021-nbc-peacock-how-to-fix

"It’s fair to argue that it’s not apt to use this year’s Games as a standard for what’s good and what’s bad about Olympics coverage when many things went wrong or were out of control — the COVID-19 pandemic, athletic disappointments and shortfalls, horrible weather, the absence of energy from live fans, and more," says Greg Braxton. "But there is much room for improvement. This year’s coverage was used as a tool to promote a relatively new streaming service, Peacock. NBC showcased skateboarding and golf while sidelining the live coverage of the match where Naomi Osaka, arguably the greatest female athlete alive, was ousted from her home Games. By spreading itself over so many channels, viewers were constantly confused as they battled a maze to find out when and where to watch. The other main area for improvement? Olympic coverage cannot act like the Games are taking place in a bubble. A cloud of racism came alongside the dramas of (Simone) Biles and Osaka, but that fact was scarcely dealt with during the broadcasts. There were numerous opportunities to develop stories about the topics raised by the numerous controversies coming into the event, from marijuana use to rules governing apparel. . And at a moment when anti-Asian bias has reached a troubling pitch in the country, much could have been made of how the triumphs of gymnast Suni Lee might bring much-needed joy to counter the hatred. The Olympics are an international event with real-world connections and ramifications, and NBC should make more of an effort to underscore that truth."