Live or taped? Media critics are not through with their
assessments of NBC's packaged approach in its prime time coverage
of the Games. The N.Y. DAILY NEWS' David Hinckley: "They asked
Joe Klein if he wrote 'Primary Colors.' He pretended he didn't.
CBS fired him. For a week and a half, the entire NBC Olympics
team has pretended it doesn't know the outcome of events that
happened hours earlier. They are the toast of the company" (N.Y.
DAILY NEWS, 7/30). NEWSDAY's Steve Zipay: "It all gives me the
creepy feeling that NBC Sports is becoming much too conditioned
to tape-delayed production. I'm beginning to wonder if the
Peacocks can ever return to good old live footage" (NEWSDAY,
7/30). The MIAMI HERALD's Barry Jackson calls not identifying
what's live vs. taped NBC's "biggest error" (MIAMI HERALD, 7/30).
The N.Y. TIMES' Richard Sandomir calls Bob Costas "a subversive
force" for implying on-air that some footage was taped (N.Y.
TIMES, 7/30).
PEACOCK KNOWS BEST: NBC Research Dir Nicholas Schiavone:
"People will say they want all sports and all live. But you have
to listen to what people mean more than what they say. What they
really want is not live but alive; not sports but stories about
sports" (USA TODAY, 7/30).
BRING BACK THE TRIPLECAST: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's James
Sterba notes the in-house fiber-optic broadcast of all sports, in
unedited form, for the media, and quotes a BellSouth official
who says "there is no impediment" to getting the feed into homes
(WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/30).
PICKS AND PANS: The L.A. DAILY NEWS' Tom Hoffarth praises
Jim Lampley's work on the night of the bombing and calls him "one
to trust" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 7/29). In Baltimore, Milton Kent
criticizes NBC's track announcers for creating a "sense of
underachievement" after gold medalist Michael Johnson did not
break the world record in the 400 (Baltimore SUN, 7/30). In St.
Pete, Ernest Hooper picks winners (Costas, Ebersol, Enberg, Tesh,
etc.) and losers (led by Jim Gray) (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 7/29).
OTHER MEDIA NOTES: ESPN returned to its broadcast space on
the roof of the Chamber of Commerce building, which was cleared
due to the bombing investigation (WASHINGTON TIMES, 7/30)....The
CBC's ratings have been "enormous," according to the TORONTO
STAR, and that is without Donovan Bailey's gold medal run in the
100 counting towards the ratings (TORONTO STAR, 7/30)....USA
Today is selling about 100,000 papers in the Atlanta area on an
average weekend day -- 25,000 more than expected. While Sports
Illustrated would not release local sales figures for its SI
Olympic Daily, SI Publishing Dir Steve Shure said it is selling
"extraordinarily well" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 7/30).
