• NBC Responds: We Removed The Opening Ceremony Memorial To Terrorism Victims Because The Tribute Wasn
    135 replies, posted
[quote]NBC finally responded to overwhelming criticism of its decision to heavily edit coverage of Friday's opening ceremony with an answer that satisfied neither American fans nor Olympic organizers. Claiming "our programming is tailored for our American audience," NBC spokesperson Greg Hughes defended the network's choice to replace the "Abide With Me" memorial performance with a Ryan Seacrest interview of Michael Phelps. The segment's choreographer and visionary for the memorial to victims of London's 7/7 attacks reacted angrily at a press conference this weekend, being quoted by Reuters as having said: "Is it not accessible enough? Is it not commercial enough?" As our friend Louis said over on Gawker this weekend, it's a remarkably tone-deaf response from NBC. It does, however, demonstrate exactly how NBC views the Olympics and how differently it does so compared to the rest of the world's broadcasters. Everywhere else in the world—including places like China and Saudi Arabia—the Olympics are considered a major international news story, worthy of coverage as such and, thus, live and as uninterrupted as possible. Comparisons include the Royal Wedding (which NBC *did* show live in its entirety) or a natural disaster like a tsunami. Our editor emeritus Will Leitch says the Olympics aren't sports, but reality TV; he's right, only insofar as an American perspective goes, though. We're conditioned to think we should be fed our salad pre-tossed because that's how we've always received it; NBC has taken this liberty we've given them and used it to craft narratives that do not actually exist and to eliminate the ones they'd rather we not see. What NBC did with the opening ceremony is, then, simply a stand-in for the manipulation they engage in with all their prime-time coverage. What you see at night on NBC's Olympic coverage didn't actually happen, but is instead an NBC-forged simulacrum of what the Olympic day was like. They recreate a sequence of events that never actually happened by using footage of things that actually did. Maybe we're okay with that, but NBC dismissing complaints of anyone who isn't okay with it is not, well, okay.[/quote] [url=http://deadspin.com/5930048/nbc-responds-we-removed-the-opening-ceremony-memorial-to-terrorism-victims-because-the-tribute-wasnt-about-america]Source[/url] The Olympics, obviously made [B]in [/B]the US,[B] for[/B] the US. God bless. Seriously though, what?
jesus told me america is the best country in the world
Probably the worst response they could have come up with Seriously, they could have gone "oh man we didn't know it was 7/7 tribute, sorry guys some jackass didn't read the media program properly" they would have looked like idiots but this is so much worse
'Merica
Typical murricans
Wow.
are you shitting me
Because terrorism only happens in America. /NBC
I'm disgusted. Absolutely fucking disgusted.
NBC is really dropping the ball on the Olympic coverage. It would be nice if there was at least a little competition on the coverage.
I feel sorry for you americans.
Does NBC think americans are incapable of empathy?
That's fucking insulting. It's been said before but it should be said again, what if we cut out a tribute to 9/11? Would NBC be so forgiving or would we be plastered across the news?
Why does NBC continue to keep shitting on themselves.
Big Brother stats bra
ISn't that a little bit fucking selfish?
Wouldn't be surprising to see some people boycotting NBC content because of this.
Is it possible for me to apologize on behalf of the stupidity of a corporation that resides in my home country? If so, [b]we're so sorry[/b]. I mean, I joke about the whole "america fuck yeah" thing, but this is just too far. This is fucking ridiculous, and an embarrassment to everything that is public broadcasting. The founders of NBC are spinning in their graves fast enough to generate centrifugal force.
Wow the PR people at NBC are extremely dumb if they thought that was te appropriate thing to say.
wow if BBC cut a 9/11 tribute in a future Olympiad in america tables would be flipped and shit
oh boy another news story
The prime minister or something needs to say something about this, I don't want this to go unheard of, because it is fucking ridiculous.
[QUOTE=ewitwins;37008596]The founders of NBC are spinning in their graves fast enough to generate centrifugal force.[/QUOTE] Im sure if you attach a generator to them they can power all of London for the duration of the games.
I feel sorry for the American Olympic team. I hate to think how they must feel about this. But that truly is a disgusting reason to cut it.
[QUOTE=Cypher_09;37008708]The prime minister or something needs to say something about this, I don't want this to go unheard of, because it is fucking ridiculous.[/QUOTE] I don't think NBC should be allowed to broadcast the Olympics in the future, or at least shouldn't be allowed to have a monopoly on the Olympic broadcasts. Why is it that NBC is the only company that is showing the Olympics in the states?
The entire world(not including the US) has come together to disregard the United States, for they are not them.
alright you know what fuck it Can US users access the BBC's streams or do I need to go find a UK proxy? I'm tired of NBC's bullshit, I want the real Olympics.
Fuck them. Just fuck them. I've always assumed american television has this self-important opinion of itself. Not america related tribute? Cut it. Want to import a successful TV show? Remake it with americans, got forbid people can't understand [i]foreign[/i]. Most of the american podcast hosts (i.e. new media not television) hold the same view as everyone else seems to - it's fucking a ridiculous attitude, but TV still stays with it.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;37008767]I don't think NBC should be allowed to broadcast the Olympics in the future, or at least shouldn't be allowed to have a monopoly on the Olympic broadcasts. Why is it that NBC is the only company that is showing the Olympics in the states?[/QUOTE] If you're close enough to the Canadian border, you could get CTV's coverage OTA. They carry the majority of ours, and Rogers' channels (such as OLN and SportsNet) carry a small bit too.
Journalism at its finest.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.