I love the olympics. I make it my priority (after my family) to watch as much of it as I possibly can. I have even dvr'd the stuff that comes on primetime (in the US) so that I can watch it the next day. However, I have noticed a few things that are really different between US coverage of the Olympics and German coverage of the Olympics.
For starters, there are an absolutely ANNOYING amount of commercials with the US coverage...but I kind of expected that, so it really isn't too much of a surprise.
The other thing that I have noticed (in the bit that I have watched so far with the US coverage vs. German coverage...remember, this is just the 3rd day of the Olympics) is that there is really only a focus on US Olympians. There aren't really any interviews with or stories of Olympians from the other countries...I saw maybe one with the US coverage. Of course, the US they give a bit of background on every Olympian that is at the starting line, which is quite interesting, I must admit. Right now I'm watching the luge, and they just had a cute story about the German dude that was up. But really, other than that, there isn't really anything. Last night while watching ski jumping (one of my favs) and biathalon, the Germans had a few stories and interviews with about 5 of the Olympians from other countries. This is probably a bit of an odd observation and will most likely change when we get into the BIG events (downhill, figure skating, etc), but for now, this is one of the things that I noticed that just made me go, "Hmmm."
The other thing that I noticed, that really got on my nerves, is the immense focus from the US coverage on medals. "How many gold medals do WE have comepared to every other country..." I thought that the focus of the Olympics was the focus on sport and good sportsmanship while in competition, not "Haha...my country is better than your country because we have a gazillion meadals compared to your 1." I just watched a report on the women's moguls from last night. That is awesome that the American won, but the report basically called all Canadians pussies. That kind of annoyed me. It gave me the, "Wow...we are bad winners" taste in my mouth.
Now, don't get me wrong, I will probably continue to watch the Olympics from my Slingbox (God how I LOVE my slingbox!), and hopefully, I will be wrong about my observations thus far. We'll see. Please prove me wrong US coverage. (Oh, and with watching this on my slingbox via the DVR, I can skip the commercials, so one down, two to go...)
***Update*** OK, I take that back about the US coverage not really talking about the Olympians from other countries...They did a much better job during their primetime coverage last night (which I am now watching in the a.m.). But the emphasis on the medal count is still there...
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Ah, I see we share many observations about the Olympics! I, too, agree about the venerated "medal count" and the focus primarily on American athletes in the American coverage. http://www.residentonearth.com/2010/02/an-olympic-sized-heimweh/
ReplyDeleteAnd oh man, I wish I had a Slingbox at this point (but only for the Olympics). But I guess the shameful truth is that I didn't even really watch American TV when I was in America so I don't usually even miss it. Sick, I know. ;-) Though The Mann and I have recently become totally addicted to watching "Lost" and are ripping through the DVDs at an alarming rate. I'm only several years behind the curve on that one. Ha ha.
I was on a German subway platform the other day, and there was an electronic screen showing news. The screen showed the medal count (including the U.S. at the top of the list, and the countries that immediately followed it on the list). So apparently it's not just of interest to Americans.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: Well...yeah. They're not going to NOT show the medal count...I heard it on the radio today as well. It is the extreme emphasis that the US puts on the medal count. That was my point. I know it is not just "of interest to Americans".
ReplyDeleteHey - wow - Germany today - first place medal-ranking - yeah. cant comment us coverage but i like the german - interviews with my favorite biathlon star: bjoerndalen - norge. if you dont have such interviews in us media you miss a lot olympic spirit. and advertising: olympia isnt the right place for that - look at all places, clothes etc: no ads in canada.
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