Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version VT3.3 7/21/84; site vortex.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!vortex!lauren From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Olympic sportscastings -- some wire service items Message-ID: <373@vortex.UUCP> Date: Sun, 5-Aug-84 07:38:55 EDT Article-I.D.: vortex.373 Posted: Sun Aug 5 07:38:55 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 6-Aug-84 03:29:45 EDT Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles Lines: 259 n093 1826 03 Aug 84 AM-OLY-IOC (Sub Dateline) (Sports) By JANE GROSS c. 1984 N.Y. Times News Service NEW YORK - The president of the International Olympic Committee has protested what he calls the overemphasis on American athletes in ABC's television coverage of the Games. Peter Ueberroth, the president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing committee, characterized the protest as a ''stern message'' that ABC, with its flag-waving emphasis on American athletes, threatened to diminish the ''international flavor'' of the Games in the eyes of the American public. The president of the international committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, made the formal protest in a letter to the Los Angeles committee. Ueberroth said that the letter repesented ''quite a consensus'' of the nine-member I.O.C. executive board and that he had urged the network ''to consider trying to give a good focus'' to its coverage. ''I think you'll see their focus change,'' Ueberroth said, describing the network's reacation to the complaint as ''sensitive.'' Neither the network nor the I.O.C. made any formal statements about the incident Friday afternoon from their Los Angeles headquarters, nor did they release the text of Samaranch's letter. An I.O.C source, who requested anonymity, said the unusual personal appeal was made ''in the spirit of Rule 51 of the Olympic Charter,'' which mandates ''unbiased'' media coverage fair to all countries participating in the Games and which ABC is expected to honor under the terms of its contract with the Los Angeles committee. Tom Osenton, ABC's manager of Olympic publicity, said he believed the I.O.C. complaint, and previous objections raised in recent days by non-American athletes and coaches, was based on the ''misconception'' that ''what they're seeing on television in Los Angeles is what the world is seeing.'' The American network, which paid $225 million for the exclusive television rights to the Games, is recording almost every minute of competition in all sports. In addition to its 180 hours of broadcasts in the United States, the network offers its entire 1,300 hours of coverage to countries around the world, who then edit to fit their needs. Another ABC official, who asked that he not be identified, reiterated that ''each country has the opportunity to pick out what they want'' and also defended the American coverage as an accurate reflection of the competition, in which the Americans have won more than twice as many medals as any other country. ''We cover, as all nations do, the medal winners,'' he said, ''and we don't feel we should be in a position of apologizing for what the Americans are doing. They're cleaning up and that's what we're covering.'' Going into Friday night's competitions, American athletes had won 24 of the 42 gold medals awarded. Ueberroth said that he had not seen very much of the television coverage and had ''no personal complaint,'' but added that he had received ''several'' letters from the general public objecting to ABC's coverage. Similar negative opinion has been expressed by American television reviewers and by many people who have been watching the Games in large and enthusiastic numbers. Apart from concentrating on American athletes, which can be justified by their domination so far, the ABC telecasts have resonated with other sorts of partiality. When the American men's team won a gold medal in gymnastics, their euphoria on the victory stand was shown, with the National Anthem playing and the flag raised. When the Romanian women won the team medal, the network elected to pass up the victory ceremony and switch to a delayed newscast. The ABC commentators - among them Jack Whitaker, Chris Schenkel, Frank Gifford and Kathleen Sullivan - refer repeatedly during American telecasts to ''our'' chances in a given event and how ''we'' won this or that competition. Friday morning, during an interview with Jeff Blatnick, an American gold medalist, who had recovered from cancer, Miss Sullivan wept openly. The American coverage has prompted denigrating comment in newspapers around the world, including The Daily Mail and The Guardian in London and Le Monde in Paris, all of whom characterized ABC's approach as self-centered. Friday in Britain, BBC commentators, whose words accompany ABC's pictures, described with dismay a decision to re-schedule the final in the three-day equestrian event, to the inconvenience of viewers elsewhere in the world, because American competitors were unexpectedly involved. Compared to American telecasts, the broadcasters in other countries are apparently rather more even-handed and different in tone. In France, according to one viewer, the tone is ''self-mocking,'' including remarks like ''we did extremely badly in this event, but what did you expect?'' In Britain, where the BBC broadcast more than 11 hours Friday, considerable air time is devoted to British competitors, but more to pre-eminent athletes regardless of nationality. ''The British swimmers, even though they haven't won, are being watched closely,'' said Jonathan Wright Miller, a British freelance television director in a telephone interview from London. ''But, in gymnastics, there's no point looking at English people so we're looking at the Japanese, Chinese and Americans. We're also seeing a lot of Edwin Moses, because quite rightly everybody wants to look at him, but when our commentators talk about Edwin Moses they talk about Edwin Moses, not another win for America. Also, we don't see the flag go up, not even our own, because we're not interested in that aspect. We have a cooler atmosphere about the Olympics.'' nyt-08-03-84 2124edt *************** !a214 1121 04 Aug 84 AM-American Olympics, Bjt,820 Are the Games Too Red, White and Blue? An AP Extra By SCOTT KRAFT Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) - These Games of the XXIII Olympiad have become an American Olympics, a red, white, blue - and gold - crescendo that has almost drowned out those 139 national anthems that don't begin, ''Oh say can you see...'' The United States has won almost half of the gold medals contested thus far, and even some U.S. fans are embarrassed by the riches. ''It's a shame we don't have more competition,'' said Dorothy Malo, of San Diego, watching track and field competition at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the Olympic Torch burns. Certainly the Games of Los Angeles, which reached their midway point Saturday, have been a big, brassy celebration of Americana. The torch relay was the longest ever. The opening ceremony was hailed as the most dramatic. The American team quickly won more medals than anyone else. A lot more. Too many more, some thought. ''Americans do like to see Americans win medals, but it's gotten to the point where you want to see the other competitors win some,'' said Jim McKay, ABC-TV's Olympic anchorman. The cheers are louder for the Americans. The crowds are bigger when the Americans are in contention. The stands are usually a sea of American flags. ''We are much calmer in our countries, not so full of patriotism,'' said a Swedish official who asked not to be identified. ''We're used to spectators screaming, but this is a bit too much.'' The International Olympic Committee, worried that the Games were losing their international flavor, had asked ABC to tone down its pro-American coverage. But after meeting with top ABC officials, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch changed his mind. ''We are very happy with the coverage,'' he said. Nevertheless, Roone Arledge, president of ABC news and sports, conceded that Samaranch had a point. ''There is some validity with this complaint,'' he said. ''I'm trying to get across to our people that we're not here to root Americans home.'' Not only is the United States grabbing much of the gold, it is reveling in the victories. But few countries would be doing as well if the Soviet Union and the 13 Warsaw Pact nations it led on an Olympic boycott were here. The Soviet Union's official press has been haranguing the Games from afar all week, reporting some Olympic results but reminding its citizens that many of the world's top athletes are not in Los Angeles. That, along with some stunning U.S. performances, has fueled patriotic feelings that peaked Wednesday night when a sextet of clean-cut young gymnasts upset China for the men's team gymnastics title. It continued Friday night when a capacity crowd at Pauley Pavilion joined 16-year-old gold medalist Mary Lou Retton in singing the national anthem after she upset Romanian Ecaterina Szabo in the women's all-around gymnastics competition. Clara Ruckman, of Covina, Calif., who was waiting for a shuttle bus to take her to another Olympic event, said she has been heartened by the flag-waving. ''I'm thinking about the '60s, when kids wouldn't have been caught dead with an American flag in their hands,'' she said. ''I think patriotism was here all the time. We just needed something to bring it out.'' For non-Americans, though, all the attention is bothersome. While Petra Van Staveren was winning Holland's first gold medal, in the women's 100-meter breakstroke on Thursday, the Dutch National Olympic Committee here got a call from Holland complaining that television coverage had suddenly switched over to gymnastics because the Americans were in the lead. ''All we ever seem to get on television is America, America and more America,'' said Truus Van Amstel, a spokeswoman for the Dutch committee. Tom Osenton, ABC's manager of Olympic publicity, said the U.S. telecast ''reflects what has happened. The Americans have dominated the Olympics early, and the show has reflected that.'' He noted also that ABC broadcasts were tailored for each country's needs by native broadcasters. In staying home, the Soviets said the United States couldn't guarantee their security during the Games. Security precautions last week included concrete barricades on roads leading into the Olympic Villages, skies full of police helicopters and SWAT teams stationed on rooftops near Olympic events. This is the first Summer Olympics in the United States in half a century, and Los Angeles had plenty of pre-Olympic nightmares about choking smog, gridlock and terrorist attacks. None of those nightmares has come true. But the city's good dreams - a business boom for merchants, rental car agencies, airlines, hotels and restaurants - haven't come true either. City officials blame the worries about problems during the Olympics for scaring off potential non-Olympic vacationers. But Mayor Tom Bradley was philosophical. ''The tourist who would have come this summer will come another time,'' he said. ap-ny-08-04 1421EDT *************** !a253 1650 04 Aug 84 AM-Olympics Coverage,530 ABC Not Alone in Being Criticized For Home-Team Coverage With AM-American Olympics Bjt Eds: A version moving on the sports wires. By The Associated Press ABC isn't the only network in the world being criticized for home-team boosterism in its Olympic coverage. Viewers in Australia complained that coverage beamed there dwelled too much on Aussie competitors, and Italian columnists ripped that country's commentators for a pro-Italian stance, especially one broadcaster's pat on the back for an Italian athlete accused of cheating. Many countries are carrying pictures and commentary supplied by ABC, but the British Broadcasting Corp. and West German television each have cameras in Los Angeles. The BBC, which said there was ''no danger'' of its programming becoming ''Americanized,'' was in turn ripped by Kenyans for failing to cover African athletes. ''Admittedly, television coverage of the Los Angeles Games is an expensive affair, but it is beyond the means of any one African nation to bring live coverage of its national team's performance to its television viewers,'' wrote editor Hilary Ng'weno of the Independent Weekly Review. ''But going to the other extreme of taking any old material that is offered is no answer to the problem,'' Ng'weno added. The International Olympic Committee issued the loudest objection when it wrote a letter to Peter Ueberroth, president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. The letter said ABC's coverage threatened the international flavor of the Games. IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch met Friday with ABC officials and later said he believed ''international broadcasters have received appropriate coverage of the Olympic Games.'' The London Daily Mirror and Mexico's Televisa S.A., among others, admitted that ABC can hardly avoid a heavy American tilt because U.S. athletes have won about 40 percent of the gold medals awarded so far. ''They have been covering first places,'' said Televisa S.A.'s Gullermo Gonzalez said. ''If the United States is in the first place, that's not their fault.'' However, the Daily Mirror added, coverage is ''creating ever-mounting criticism. They (ABC) are burying the Games beneath a Stars and Stripes flag.'' And British journalist Michael Thompson-Noel of the Financial Times railed against the ''nonsensical frenzy of some of the commentators of the ABC, who psyche and flagellate themselves into such a lather of over-kill at the merest scent of an American victory that the distinction between programming and puffery became so finely etched as to be rendered invisible.'' Australia, a country traditionally strong in swimming, has been mixing the ABC feed with its own footage from six Australian cameras. ''Almost everything we need we've gotten from the ABC,'' said John Davies of Network 10. He said there are no complaints about a pro-American bias. ''If anything, we've had complaints on just the opposite,'' he said, noting several complaints alleging a pro-Australia bias in local feeds. Italian broadcasters have been criticized in their home press for an ignorance of the English language - they had no idea what ''welcome'' meant during coverage of the opening ceremonies - and for scoring rules of lesser known sports like Greco-Roman wrestling. ap-ny-08-04 1950EDT