The Olympics That Got Real? Television's Story of Sarajevo

Abstract

Qualitative analysis of 1,240 references to previous and future Olympics throughout the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, supplemented by personal interviews with five CBS production executives, revealed CBS's implied sanctioning of a political message about Sarajevo and the Bosnian War. Valent references to Sarajevo took the form of direct pleas to stop the fighting, calls for aid to victims, calls for remembering Sarajevo's past, stories of escape from the war zone, and images of the war's devastation, especially of the ruined sites of former 1984 Olympic glory. Although CBS's aims were commercial, it contextualized the war as an emotionally laden human-interest story rather than a military or political event.

The Games Through the NBC Lens: Gender, Ethnic, and National Equity in the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics

“…Only comments spoken by network-employed individuals were analyzed for descriptors and mentions of athlete names because this dialogue can be largely scripted and supervised by NBC editors and producers (see Eastman, Brown, & Kovatch, 1996). Those network employees included host commentators (i.e., Bob Costas), on-site reporters (such as Carol Lewis), special assignment reporters (such as Jimmy Roberts), color commentators (such as Scott Hamilton), and all play-by-play announcers for both individual and team sports (ranging from speed skating to snowboarding to figure skating to alpine skiing).…”

Framing Identities: Gender, Ethnic, and National Parity in Network Announcing of the 2002 Winter Olympics

“…As in previous studies, only discourse by network-employed individuals was analyzed for proportions of descriptors and mentions of athlete names. The focus was on the on-air speech of NBC employees because it was largely scripted and presumably supervised by NBC editors and producers (see Eastman, Brown, & Kovatch, 1996). Because they were employees, network staff could always be redirected and refocused, whereas guests who were not in NBC's employ could speak more freely.…”

Framing Identities: Gender, Ethnic, and National Parity in Network Announcing of the 2002 Winter Olympics

“…The focus was on the on-air speech of NBC employees because it was largely scripted and presumably supervised by NBC editors and producers (see Eastman, Brown, & Kovatch, 1996). Because they were employees, network staff could always be redirected and refocused, whereas guests who were not in NBC's employ could speak more freely.…”