The 2010 Winter Olympics, which were held in Vancouver, have a mark of tragedy amongst the excitement and memories. The Winter Olympics only come around every four years, and the much awaited games always start off with a spectacular opening ceremony, but with this particular round of Olympics a life was honored as well.
Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian luge slider, died after a test run on the track he was suppose to compete on. He was participating in a test run on Friday morning, the day of the opening ceremonies, when he crashed and hit a metal pole. Kumaritashvili was 21 at the time of his death. The crash was caught on film, and the way different news agencies decided to handle the incident sparked debate as to what was ethical and what was not.
ABC news explained that the rights to the video were giving to other networks, which is how the video spread so fast. ABC and CBS also showed the video. CBS Evening News chose to show the video three times during their broadcast, with the last time shown in slow motion. NBC muffled the video when they showed it but the other news outlets allowed the video to play with the audio, which meant that everyone who viewed the video heard the clank of Kumaritashvili hitting the steel beam. NBC, who hosts the Olympics, also decided to broadcast the footage during the opening ceremony.
NBC also showed the fatal crash on “NBC Nightly News”. They ran a disclaimer that said the video was “graphic in nature”. In an article from Huffington Post, an NBC News Spokesperson said "NBC News handled the video of the luge accident with the utmost sensitivity. As we have done in the past, we felt the story had reached a point where it was no longer necessary to show the video when reporting on this tragic story."
The Los Angeles Times published a poll to gage what viewers felt was the right thing to do, and those who participated where evenly split on the issue. 48% of those who participated in the poll said it was inappropriate t televise out of the respect for the family of the deceased. The other 48% said it was a news event and in that context on the Olympics broadcasts it had its place. The other 2% did not have an opinion one way or another. Many news agencies now create their own policy for these sorts of incidents, and follow their own protocol.
Nicole Dales - Journalism is my passion. I have been writing for the last 5 years. I wrote for my high school paper for three years and I had an ...
