Comments on: Olympic Coverage- China and the US http://mattschiavenza.com/2008/08/17/olympic-coverage-china-and-the-us/ From the Dragon to the Apple- A Sinophile in New York Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:30:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: chriswaugh_bj http://mattschiavenza.com/2008/08/17/olympic-coverage-china-and-the-us/comment-page-1/#comment-30633 chriswaugh_bj Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:30:49 +0000 http://mattschiavenza.com/?p=315#comment-30633 Wow! You come to China and discover the national broadcaster focuses on Chinese sports! Incredible! Shit, judging by what they're putting online, if you had to rely on the New Zealand media you'd think the rest of the world had fallen off the face of the earth. To CCTV's credit I have managed to watch NZ's two golds and a goodly proportion of our silver and four bronzes being won- and Usain Bolt shattering the world record. Not saying their coverage is perfect, and they absolutely do have a China focus (what else would any reasonable person expect?), but CCTV's providing pretty decent, varied coverage, really. But Matt, I think you and this Shih person go a little astray when you ascribe CCTV's China focus to politics. Sure, politics plays a role, and if the government had ordered a harmonious world olympics, we would have seen more harmonious coverage featuring athletes of the whole world, regardless of nationality. But naturally the Chinese people want to see Chinese athletes, and the days of mass movements and uniform people marching through The Square waving little red books are long over. I suspect CCTV's China-centric coverage is as much economics as politics. Supply must meet demand or find itself out of business. Wow! You come to China and discover the national broadcaster focuses on Chinese sports! Incredible! Shit, judging by what they’re putting online, if you had to rely on the New Zealand media you’d think the rest of the world had fallen off the face of the earth. To CCTV’s credit I have managed to watch NZ’s two golds and a goodly proportion of our silver and four bronzes being won- and Usain Bolt shattering the world record. Not saying their coverage is perfect, and they absolutely do have a China focus (what else would any reasonable person expect?), but CCTV’s providing pretty decent, varied coverage, really.

But Matt, I think you and this Shih person go a little astray when you ascribe CCTV’s China focus to politics. Sure, politics plays a role, and if the government had ordered a harmonious world olympics, we would have seen more harmonious coverage featuring athletes of the whole world, regardless of nationality. But naturally the Chinese people want to see Chinese athletes, and the days of mass movements and uniform people marching through The Square waving little red books are long over. I suspect CCTV’s China-centric coverage is as much economics as politics. Supply must meet demand or find itself out of business.

]]> By: Jascha http://mattschiavenza.com/2008/08/17/olympic-coverage-china-and-the-us/comment-page-1/#comment-30338 Jascha Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:40:34 +0000 http://mattschiavenza.com/?p=315#comment-30338 You forgot beach volleyball. Seriously, Olympic coverage absolutely blows here in the States. I don't have cable, so I have one shot. I gather I have turned on the Olympics probably 20 times, and I have only seen swimming (which I have probably seen over half of the time), gymnastics, basketball, beach volleyball, and once diving. It would be pretty cool to see fencing, rowing, judo, or, wrestling. I don't understand why swimming is fun to watch. It is the same motion over and over again. No variety. And I am sick of hearing about Michael Phelps. I agree that he is probably the best swimmer ever, and he is absolutely amazing. But it is an accepted fact here that he is the best Olympian ever because he got more golds than anybody else. It is my belief that the amount of medals he gets is irrelevant when compared to anything other than swimming. He can win 8 golds because there are 8 events he can compete in. A boxer could only compete for one gold. An archer could maybe win one or two. A gymnast or a diver could probably win a handful. But a swimmer has a ton of events he/she could compete in. Its no coincidence that the record he broke was that of another swimmer. You forgot beach volleyball.

Seriously, Olympic coverage absolutely blows here in the States. I don’t have cable, so I have one shot. I gather I have turned on the Olympics probably 20 times, and I have only seen swimming (which I have probably seen over half of the time), gymnastics, basketball, beach volleyball, and once diving. It would be pretty cool to see fencing, rowing, judo, or, wrestling. I don’t understand why swimming is fun to watch. It is the same motion over and over again. No variety.

And I am sick of hearing about Michael Phelps. I agree that he is probably the best swimmer ever, and he is absolutely amazing. But it is an accepted fact here that he is the best Olympian ever because he got more golds than anybody else. It is my belief that the amount of medals he gets is irrelevant when compared to anything other than swimming. He can win 8 golds because there are 8 events he can compete in. A boxer could only compete for one gold. An archer could maybe win one or two. A gymnast or a diver could probably win a handful. But a swimmer has a ton of events he/she could compete in. Its no coincidence that the record he broke was that of another swimmer.

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