When is it considered crossing the line?

By LIZ TJADEN

The Summer Olympic Games. It’s every athlete’s dream for a chance to prove to themselves, their country, and their competition that they are the best. But is it more than that? Paul Farhi from the Washington Post has been enjoying the Olympic Games like any other fan but feels like we are missing out on the bigger stories around Beijing and the Games. He talks with Brooke Gladstone from On the Media.

This sparked an interest in me, not only because of my recent trip to China and Beijing, but also because that is how I felt while watching the games this past summer. Where were the stories of the people and their society, the pollution, and protests that have surrounded the Games? I know from experience that China is quick to cover up what they don’t want other people, especially people from other countries, to see. The government has a vision of China that they want to portray to others and they try their hardest to cover up the poverty, parts of their history, and anything that makes them stand out from others.

I noticed that NBC had little segments on the Great Wall, Three Gorges Dam, and the Forbidden City. But they were so small and insignificant. Farhi points out the spot that NBC did on the Three Gorges Dam. The problem with it was that it was only a few seconds long and failed to mention the 1.5 million people who were kicked out of their homes and forced to live on the countryside.

One could argue that the Olympics aren’t for news. They are for the athletes and the games themselves. But I think one of the great things about the Olympics, no matter what country, is that it gives people a chance to peak into a culture that they wouldn’t normally get to see without going there. Even during the cycling races, when the athletes are competing, they were biking through Beijing towards the Great Wall. I thought it was cool to just see the city and part of the countryside in the background of the race. Actually, I will be honest, it was more interesting than the race itself.

If NBC had taken this opportunity to not only show the games but also use it from an educational standpoint, I think a lot more people would have benefited from it. They didn’t need to bash China or point out everything that was wrong but a little more hard headed reporting wouldn’t have hurt either.