Olympics on TV
Plenty of news going on, but NBC isn't covering it

By Jayda Evans
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Fearing viewers might be turned off by news of doping and judging scandals, NBC Universal has discovered a plan to calm them: Don't cover it.

In newspapers nationwide yesterday, the buzz was how the Athens Olympics surpassed the Los Angeles Games with 13 athletes ejected for drug offenses through 11 days. Also making talk around water coolers are judging mistakes in gymnastics, fencing, rowing and equestrian, making the Games fitting for one of NBC's "Law and Order" episodes as placing is decided in court.

Only NBC has decided this isn't must-see TV.

Late-night host Dan Hicks mentioned Hungarian Robert Fazekas being stripped of his gold medal in the discus, but it was nearly 2 a.m. local time when he went into a spiel about Fazekas having some religious problem with providing enough of a urine sample. And Hicks left it at that.

Hello? Some more information is needed here, such as what religion doesn't allow a person to urinate in a cup.

Also, given this is the first time since 1988 that two Olympic gold-medal winners have been stripped of their winnings (Russian shot-putter Irina Korzhanenko being the first this week), a discussion with some sort of official was needed. Instead nothing was provided on NBC Universal's cable channels, while a noncompetitive gymnastics gala was aired in prime time and an interview with beach-volleyball champions Misty May and Kerri Walsh was held with Hicks.

May and Walsh are an intriguing story and gymnastics is a beautiful sport, but since NBC made sure viewers knew both were going to be on Jay Leno's show next week, the interview could have been shortened to fit in the issues circling the Olympics.

It seems NBC Universal has left its news coverage to entertainment reporters Nancy O'Dell and Billy Bush on "Access Hollywood." Analyst Tim Daggett broke down the judging scoring for Bob Costas during the controversy circling American all-around gold medalist Paul Hamm and Korean bronze medalist Yang Tae-young. But it was O'Dell who delved into the issue with Hamm himself, finally getting him to respond, "I personally believe in my heart that I am the Olympic champion. I played by the rules and at the end of the meet I was at the top of the award podium."

Yet when encircled by controversy again regarding the high-bar score of Russian Alexei Nemov, which caused the crowd to boo vehemently until his score was raised, announcers spent more time feeling sorry for Hamm, who had to perform next, instead of talking in-depth of the judging problem.

In contrast, on the Canadian network CBC, Canadian IOC member Dick Pound, who is the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), had a thorough discussion about these issues.
 
Once again, NBC Universal seemed more interested in hawking products and forcing its image of the Olympics on viewers. During the gymnastics gala, announcer Al Trautwig actually pitched the gymnasts "coming to a city near you" for a traveling exhibition, while a graphic popped on the screen directing you to the Internet to purchase the Olympics gymnastics highlights on DVD.

Funny, isn't that what we watched all week?

The best example of NBC Universal campaigning its own agenda is coverage of the Iraqi soccer team. Adjustments were made to put the team on its cable channel, but rather than air the semifinal loss instead of a noncompetitive gymnastics gala during prime time, it was chopped into a docu-feature that omitted two factors. The first was that Australia secretly airlifted the team out of Baghdad, and the second was that the players are irritated that President Bush used their success in a campaign ad.

Costas quoted anonymous Iraqis who were pleased that their team will play for the bronze medal today, but, again, none of the athletes are interviewed for their side of the story.

It's a wonder NBC Universal is able to tally record numbers of viewers. Seattle and Western Washington came in at an average projected rating of 20.1 or 338,000 homes for prime-time programming (8 p.m. to midnight), according to Nielsen Media Research.

While that's an improvement from the Sydney Games (18.2), the area has dropped from its top-five standing from past Olympics. Nielsen Media Research attributes the dip to three letters: CBC.

Seattle and Detroit are the only major American markets to provide the Canadian network, which takes about 2 to 3 percentage points away from KING nightly.

Other cities simply go through what appears to be a newsless Olympics.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com