Hey Unc.

First, I was watching NBC Nightly News, not the Olympic coverage, which technically hasn't started yet. And my comment was about the news department, which is supposed to be separate from programming, looking askance and downplaying the disastrous lead-up to the Games and its myriad problems. 

And now to earn the opprobrium of most normal people - which I never claimed to be - I absolutely despise the Olympics. I consider them an unutterable waste of time and money, and a showcase for dirty politics (as evidenced by the Russian doping scandal and the IOC's ridiculous put predictable response to it.)

In the winter, it interrupts the prime time season for two endless weeks, forcing other networks into reruns. And in the summer, the sports being covered are so bland, I'm not even sure I could name them all. I never watch a single second of either, although given the media saturation, it's impossible to get away from them.  

While I have nothing against the athletes, per se, I lament the waste of taxpayer money spent to finance their efforts. And I definitely don't buy into this nationalistic BS that "they're playing for me." They don't know me, never will and the truth as I see it is that they're only doing what they're doing for their own glory, not mine. If I get a raise at my job through hard work, beating out someone else for the bucks, are they suppose to say, "wow, he did that for all of us?" No, and it would be foolish to even think that was the case.

Overall, these next two weeks can't pass by fast enough. 

And now, like Olympic archery, I've likely made myself a huge target. So fire away. But it won't change my mind about this bloated, overly expensive, unnecessary and totally corrupt event.

Since you asked! 

I see your point, but I consider coverage of the Games themselves - which is exclusive to NBC - vastly different from the news surrounding them, which all networks are free to cover. It's the "everything's OK, nothing to see here" attitude of the host network that's bothering me. There are a ton of problems in Rio and IMHO, they're getting very short shrift on NBC News, so as not to ruin the feel good atmosphere that helps the corporate story line that everything is wonderful. .  

By the way, speaking of CBC's upcoming coverage, this is from Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News. It's fairly typical of how Americans view the coverage from here. 

"Much has been made about NBC’s decision to tape delay Friday’s  opening ceremonies, starting its coverage at 7:30 p.m. Most Buffalo viewers have the choice of watching the ceremonies live 30 minutes earlier on Canada’s CBC. However, since CBC’s coverage is usually dull by comparison, I’d wait the hour and watch NBC’s Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Hoda Kotb. They are bound to be much more entertaining than CBC’s announcers. CBC also will provide much more live coverage throughout the games than NBC, though it often focuses on Canadian athletes who have no chance to win. However, since there is only an hour time difference between Rio and the East Coast of the United States, there should be plenty of live coverage on NBC."

Olympic tips and teachable moments for viewers of the Rio Games

Last edited by RadioActive (August 5, 2016 7:30 pm)

Alan Pergament is the longtime TV critic for The Buffalo News. He breaks a lot of stories, but yes he's not a fan of the CBC's Olympic coverage. Let's face it, most broadcasters are homers when it comes to the Games, although few are as obvious about it as the Americans. Perhaps Canada's somewhat less blatant boosterism isn't what he's used to.    

I knew NBC News was in bed with its programming department, but I never thought they'd stoop this low. While watching their 6:30 national cast on Tuesday, anchor Lester Holt was very careful to say 'we're not going to tell you what's happened in the Olympics up to this point.'

Meanwhile, over on CBS, Scott Pelley was gleefully announcing the breaking news that the U.S. Women's Team had just won gold in Rio. He explained to viewers something to this effect: 'We can't help it if the coverage is delayed, but this is just breaking and you need to know about it.'

So in essence, NBC knowingly and deliberately buried an actual news story just so they could protect their own programming department.

Does this mean they would willingly delay, say, the President announcing he was sending troops to some foreign country on a war footing just because they weren't ready to present that story right now? Yes, that's an obvious extreme but it's also a terrible precedent when a news department becomes a shill for its programming counterpart.

This is happening a lot more in so-called TV journalism these days (like when CTV does a three minute segment on its nightly newscast about "The Amazing Race Canada" or City TV puts up a "story" about "The Bachelor Canada" during CityNews.) It's crowding out other likely more important news, but at least in those cases, they could choose not to run it if there's something more pressing. 

But NBC is taking it to extremes this summer.   

I used to respect the Peacock's nightly output.

Not any more.

Last edited by RadioActive (August 9, 2016 7:25 pm)

RadioActive wrote:

I knew NBC News was in bed with its programming department, but I never thought they'd stoop this low. While watching their 6:30 national cast on Tuesday, anchor Lester Holt was very careful to say 'we're not going to tell you what's happened in the Olympics up to this point.'

Meanwhile, over on CBS, Scott Pelley was gleefully announcing the breaking news that the U.S. Women's Team had just won gold in Rio. He explained to viewers something to this effect: 'We can't help it if the coverage is delayed, but this is just breaking and you need to know about it.'

So in essence, NBC knowingly and deliberately buried an actual news story just so they could protect their own programming department.

Does this mean they would willingly delay, say, the President announcing he was sending troops to some foreign country on a war footing just because they weren't ready to present that story right now? Yes, that's an obvious extreme but it's also a terrible precedent when a news department becomes a shill for its programming counterpart.

This is happening a lot more in so-called TV journalism these days (like when CTV does a three minute segment on its nightly newscast about "The Amazing Race Canada" or City TV puts up a "story" about "The Bachelor Canada" during CityNews.) It's crowding out other likely more important news, but at least in those cases, they could choose not to run it if there's something more pressing. 

But NBC is taking it to extremes this summer.   

I used to respect the Peacock's nightly output.

Not any more.

I saw that too. Couldn't believe what I was hearing. John Chancellor is spinning violently in his grave.
 

RadioActive wrote:

I knew NBC News was in bed with its programming department, but I never thought they'd stoop this low. While watching their 6:30 national cast on Tuesday, anchor Lester Holt was very careful to say 'we're not going to tell you what's happened in the Olympics up to this point.'

Meanwhile, over on CBS, Scott Pelley was gleefully announcing  to viewers something to this effect: 'We can't help it if the coverage is delayed, but this is just breaking and you need to know about it.'

So in essence, NBC knowingly and deliberately buried an actual news story  
 

 

  
 

   

Somewhat related...I can recall some discussion not that long ago involving Darren Dreger of TSN sports. The "hockey insider" would make an appearance on the afternoon radio show to promote the upcoming television 6 p.m. network coast-to-coaster.

And on occasion like any reporter Dreger would have a scoop. But while he might allude to his new/inside information/story on the Toronto-centric radio show...he'd "save  it" for an hour or two for national t.v.

Dreger didn't want to "scoop himself" on the TSN flagship radio outlet with the t.v. show coming right up but this policy did raise questions. I don't know if he/the network  still does this but obviously it was done with his bosses approval...

So when is breaking news breaking news ?? And was/is  the TSN policy of holding back info any different than what NBC is doing this week ??  Inquiring minds want to know...















 

Last edited by unclefester (August 10, 2016 12:20 pm)