American network coverage of the Olympics was....well....American. Typically, if the event didn't feature an American, it wasn't covered. And if an American got bronze, no mention was made of who won silver and gold. It was pathetic, but typical.
Herald columnist Karin Klassen wrote an excellent piece today about the egomaniacal Americans and pointed out that NBC chose to cover the birthday party of Kathy Lee Gifford's son instead of the Canada/US hockey game. Kathy Lee Gifford, for G-d's sake -- a first-class loser if ever there was one.
I was proud of the CBC and its coverage. We covered everything and did so in a very fair and "Canadian" manner. Good on us.
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Regarding the Canada/US hockey coverage specifically: it's the simple economics of ratings. Except for a few regional areas, Americans do not share Canada's passion for hockey. To broadcast a low-interest sport to a female audience on a mid-to-late Friday morning would not make sense. Like you, I am not Kathie Lee fan. However one cannot argue with success.
ReplyDeleteRegarding coverage in general...far from perfect, the US is guilty of all the economic and poliical faults Ms Klassen managed to include in her article about Olympic coverage. Americans are very patriotic. Egomaniacal? Well that depends on your point of view.
Americans are single-mindedly patriotic, barely aware other countries exist, much to the chagrin of Canadians, desperate to be recognized by the US as doing something better.
The US is very isolationist, always has been. No matter what anyone else does, the US never recognizes outsiders as doing something better. I am glad they don't know Ted Cruz is a Canadian -- very embarrassing! To me he's more "American" than any "real American".
ReplyDeleteThe Dallas Morning News "outed" Ted Cruz in August last year. His mother was American, he was born in Calgary giving him rights to Dual Citizenship. He left for the US when he was 4.
ReplyDeleteHe says he has now renounced his Canadian citizenship.