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More possible proof that NBC thinks that Matthew's historic gold medal does not mean a thingThis link will take you to NBC's their very own Beijing Plympics website (clearly owned by Universal/NBC) as they highlight the "winners" and "losers" of the Games. Look at the accomplishments of the athletes as winners. While there is an acceptable degree of nationalism as it's just a list directed at the US, you'll see that there are many names on the winning side that are anything but US-centric. It looks like Matt was not even at the Olympics, did not score the highest total EVER earned by any male in the history of male diving, or was the only out male athlete in the Olympics. We're talking about a young kid who in his last dive did something no one has ever done. Nothing against Mr. Phelps, although the web site's comment about his performance leaves much room for many alternative choices and does not address that not all of these medals came without the help of a TEAM. Was it a great feat sure, but heck Mark Spitz did almost all this stuff eons ago with a handle-bar mustache and none of the tricks of the trade that technology affords every new generation of athletes. If it were not for the gay media, and possibly more importantly gay/gay friendly fans, Matt's story would have been little more than a footnote. It reminds me of something that I never understood growing up: the need to document. I know that I'll never be a diary "type," but while the Internet is full of so much crap, it also lives up to all these elements that it's creators (like Al Gore - I am kidding) hoped it would foster. http://www.nbcolympics.com/newscenter/news/newsid=253661.html?GT1=39003
Submitted by Guillermo Serri... (3139 points) (810 posts) on Tue, 2008-08-26 12:38. |
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Reading a couple of things
I think you're reaching a bit there...
If there's any one single person that deserves such hype, it's Michael Phelps. Not necessarily for his accomplishments but purely in terms of getting the home viewers to tune in and watch. After all, the American networks care most about ratings and advertising dollars.
I think comparing the Phelps coverage on NBC to the lack of same for Mitcham is not a particularly useful exercise.
Also, Phelps would have gotten the air time regardless of his personal connections to Dick Ebersol because NBC knows anything featuring MP gets people to watch in droves.
That article doesn't prove anything
It focused only on U.S. athletes as far as winners were concerned, EXCEPT for the Jamaican sprinters who wiped out the previously dominant American side, and double gold medalist Rebecca Adlington, who's from the UK, the next host of the Olympics.
While the article made mention of the individual gold medals of American gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, it totally ignored the dominance of the team competitions by the Chinese men and women's squads.
Even China's amazing gold medal haul was not acknowledged.
I'm not saying NBC doesn't have bias against reporting about Mitcham but this article doesn't offer any proof for your assertion.
More "possible" proof, not irrefutable......
If you check out the site, none of the best ofs (and there are many) include Matthew. It kind of sucks as these events are newsworthy so by even ignoring the importance of the feat it takes away from the opportunity to even address the other historical accomplishments that are not being revealed.
I am with you that Phelps feat has nothing to do with Matthew or think that any relationship to Dick Ebersol added to the Phelps-focus as it's a natural fit. People want a hero and Michael was there after working his butt off just like Mary Lou and even foreign Nadia in their respective peak years.
I know that was not directed at my comment but wanted to get in in there as my point about Phelps was only a side-bar that their take on this being the greatest feat in the history of the universe (I am exaggerating for effect) undermines that there was a team that helped him earn some of those medals and that there have been individual accomplishments that could rival Phelps and/or Matthew. I still think what Phelps did was amazing and deserves all hoopla as he cannot be underestimated as he may have been the biggest draw bar none for a fickle US audience.
I just find it odd that there is no room for Matt in almost any post-event "best of talk." Not only did he accomplish two firsts in a sports that the camera loves, but the guy also speaks English, comes from a country that the US loves, and is a charmer to boot. It's also annoying that the bad boys (one Cuban and the other possibly from a Nordic country) will also be remembered while an entire world will never know that the cool guy who scored the highest score ever is an out gay man. What a great opportunity to move beyond the stereotyping of flamboyant side-kicks or victims of some hate crime in the news.
After reading Michael's interview with what I interpreted as a very defensive-sounding spokesperson from NBC, leads me to believe that none of the post Olympics milking will focus on Matthew as an athlete and much less the only one who was out.
Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.
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Mitcham
Mitcham's Outness
However, when you look at the videos taken outside the Water Cube it's very clear that Mitcham is not hiding anything. He snuggles up to his partner Lachlan repeatedly. In one of the clips I noticed that he looked directly at the camera while doing so. he seemed very much aware that he was being filmed and very unconcerned, even pleased, about it. This is in addition to him embracing and kissing Lachlan in the stands after the medal ceremony.
While he's not waving a Pride flag around he's also being very open about his relationship. Indeed, he's seemed rather actively public with it. To me that's just as significant a statement of gay pride.
The issue with NBC is their glossing over all of this. He did set a record for single dive score at an Olympics and did beat the Chinese, who were so heavily favored in the event that their victory was almost taken as a given.
My personal belief is that NBC just really wasn't following this as a potential story and has no intention of going back and doing anything about it now. There's no question it was newsworthy. But since he isn't American and he is gay, I think they just steered clear of it altogether.
I do think that
I do think that this neglect has less to do with the gay thing than we are making it seem. Most of these games concentrately solely upon our athletes. Very little time and attention was given to athletes of other countries. Yes, there were exceptions, but not many. I also heard that given the Chinese domination of diving throughout the games, those covering the diving were caught off guard and unprepared to deal with anything other than another Chinese gold.
All that said, I ultimately agree that homophobia played a part in this. Besides Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt(who I found repulsive), it was one of the biggest stories in the games. It's unfortunate too that it happened at the end of the competition when NBC was celebrating the fruits of their ratings victory. The coverage in total was noticeably weaker over the last few days of the games.