NBC was credited for not having its announcers infringe upon the tension during White's competitionGETTY IMAGES
U.S. snowboarder Shaun White's "pressure-filled performance" in today's men's halfpipe event, in which he claimed the Gold Medal, "likely will be the most-remembered moment of the Pyeongchang Games for an American television audience," according to David Bauder of the AP. NBC "seized that moment, mostly by letting it breathe." The camera "focused on White as he psyched himself up for his performance and, afterward, as he waited for the score -- creating exquisite tension" that NBC's Todd Harris and Todd Richards "didn't intrude upon." White's "tear-filled hugs with his parents were heart-melting." NBC should have been "better prepared for the F-bombs, and not abruptly cut away to figure skating during the celebration, but those were small faults." It was a "broadcast to savor" (AP, 2/14). The N.Y. Times' Christopher Clarey wrote on Twitter, "Kudos to NBC for letting that golden White moment unfold without overproduction or much commentary at all. Sensed the tension. Experienced the emotion. Less was more." Bloodhorse's Jeremy Balan wrote, "Great broadcasting by NBC ahead and after the Shaun White final run to let the moment breathe and let the audience take in the silence and tension, rather than having the commentators talk over it." But the Philadelphia Inquirer's Mike Jensen wrote, "Tip to NBC: When famous guy you've been showing all night wins gold, is bawling his eyes out, don't cut to canned feature. You're welcome."
NBC SHAPING THE NARRATIVE: SLATE's Levin & Peters write the past two nights, NBC "didn't show its viewers a snowboarding contest." Instead, it "broadcast the Shaun White show, directing all its star-making apparatus towards the promotion of White as a singular talent" for whom the Pyeongchang Games were the "final act in a clichéd redemption arc." By focusing so intently on White, and by "peddling the fiction that White’s toughest competitor was himself, the network undersold what will surely be one of the most dramatic, tightly contested events in Pyeongchang." Meanwhile, NBC "studiously avoided mentioning White’s unpopularity with his fellow snowboarders, or the sexual harassment lawsuit he settled last year, or anything else that might dispel the hero myth the network had spent so much time and money crafting." The net's coverage shows it is "incapable of acknowledging that the greatest athletes can sometimes be the biggest jerks" (SLATE.com, 2/14). THE DAILY BEAST's Amy Zimmerman noted it "makes sense that NBC would invest heavily in the Shaun White story; the only thing that makes a proven winner more compelling is a comeback." It is also in NBC’s interests "to slalom around this potential scandal" (THEDAILYBEAST.com, 2/13). Lawrance Bohm, the attorney for the female drummer in White's band that sued for sexual harassment, said that he hopes NBC will "eventually recognize the allegations" (N.Y. POST, 2/14).
WHITE DOESN'T ADD MUCH: White appeared on NBC's "Today" following his win, and his interview with Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb was punctuated with questions about the sexual harassment lawsuit, which was settled last May. Guthrie said, "I don't have to tell you not all the headlines today have been positive." White said he was "truly sorry" he used the word "gossip" to "describe such a sensitive subject in the world today." He otherwise did not address the lawsuit, focusing instead to say how he is a "changed person" and "proud of who I am today" ("Today," NBC, 2/14).
