The efforts of non-rights holders to cover the Games
were examined by David Barron of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE.
ESPN/ABC Sports' Robin Roberts: "This has been the most
challenging assignment of my career. My first Olympics was
1992, and it's amazing how much more difficult it has become
eight years later. You feel like you're breaking the law."
Roberts is one of only two ESPN reporters in Sydney.
Meanwhile, CNN/SI's Nick Charles is one of two reporters in
Sydney for the network. Charles: "People are interested,
and they want the best, but if you're not Bob Costas and
NBC, the athletes aren't going to come to you, even if they
want to." Roberts: "You have to make contact with agents,
sponsors, people with the different sports groups. The
tennis and basketball people have been tremendous. ...
You're more concerned with getting in touch with the support
group or agent than you are watching the action." Charles:
"They should have an Olympics for non-rightsholders. Now
you're going to swing the rope over the alligator-infested
stream, then climb this wall with nails on it, but you're
going to get the story" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 9/24).
DEAR DIARY -- OOPS! In a front-page story in today's
N.Y. TIMES, Felicity Barringer profiles the efforts of the
IOC to control Web coverage during the Games. K.C. Star
Sports Editor Mike Fannin, on the IOC banning athletes from
keeping online diaries: "I would assume that it is their
ball and if you want to play, you play by their rules. The
readers miss that connection with their local athlete." But
IOC Dir of Communications & New Media Franklin Servan-
Schreiber said, "I don't think the I.O.C. can be seen in any
way limiting speech about the Olympics." Barringer notes
"at least one newspaper" has printed a diary "without
repercussions," as the Newark Star-Ledger ran an account
Thursday from runner Joetta Clark Diggs (N.Y. TIMES, 9/25).
