NBC ran streaming coverage of the Closing Ceremony for the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics at 7 a.m. yesterday.
This marked the end of coverage that began with the Opening Ceremony on March 9.
Alas, the competitive events did not command much interest or coverage. In fact, it did not take long before I was asking friends not “What events have you watched?” but “Have you watched any events?” And chances are that, like them, you didn’t watch a single one.
To be fair, NBC hardly made it easy to do so. After all, it provided 2,500 hours of coverage for the PyeongChang Olympics – the vast majority of which was aired on its widely accessible network station.
By contrast, it provided only 250 hours of coverage for the PyeongChang Paralympics – the vast majority which was streamed on its far less accessible sports app and website.
But nothing reflects this diss quite like the dedicated “Olympic Channel” covering the FIS World Cup finals from Sweden instead of these Paralympics. After all, this counterprogramming featured many of the same able-bodied skiers (like Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States and Marcel Hirscher of Austria) who got hundreds of hours of coverage just weeks ago at the PyeongChang Olympics.
And I suspect that, for many Paralympians, IPC President Andrew Parsons only compounded this diss when he paid singular tribute to Stephen Hawking at their Closing Ceremony:
One man who had a dream was the late Professor Stephen Hawking, a genius of a man, a pioneer and inspiration to us all. …
While Hawking tested the limits of his imagination, Paralympians, you have once again pushed the boundaries of human endeavour.
(Paralympic.org, March 18, 2018)
Just imagine the consternation among Olympians if IOC President Thomas Bach had paid similar tribute to Billy Graham at their Closing Ceremony. After all, Hawking had no more in common with Winter Paralympians than Graham had with Winter Olympians.
Not to mention that Parson’s tribute made a mockery of the frustrations people with disabilities vented at the “ableist” platitudes that littered so many tributes to Hawking. But I digress …
I first commented on this media coverage (or lack thereof) in “In Defense of NBC’s Olympics vs. Paralympics Coverage,” September 14, 2012. I clearly took the decidedly unpopular side.
This is why it has been so interesting over the years to observe other commentators ape my take. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find any who published anywhere near as many commentaries on the Paralympics as they did on the Olympics.
Below is an excerpt of some of the unassailable points I argued in that commentary six years ago. Granted, I made them about the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. But they pertain in every respect to the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
I trust these points explain why commentators now show the same disinterest in the Paralympics as (many of) you, NBC, and I do – even if they (and you) dare not say so.
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I have no idea how much NBC paid for the exclusive rights. But it’s an indication of the level of interest NBC banked on that it contracted to provide 3,500 hours of Olympic coverage, but only 6 hours of Paralympic coverage.
Unsurprisingly, people are criticizing the network for this limited Paralympics coverage, almost as much as they were criticizing it for broadcasting the Olympics on tape delay. What’s more, much of the criticism in this case is laced with accusations about discriminating against people with disabilities. Even I joined friends in venting reflexive, high-minded outrage.
Upon reflection, however, I believe criticisms in both cases are as unfair as they are uninformed. For I suspect exhaustive market research indicated that interest would be such that broadcasting any more than 6 hours would be a waste of capital resources.
I can personally attest that NBC made the right decision in both cases. Because I was so eager to know the results of premier events at the Olympics that I went out of my way to find them online. Moreover, my interest was such that, just as NBC calculated, knowing the results did nothing to diminish my interest in seeing its tape-delay broadcasts.
By instructive contrast, I’m ashamed to admit that the only time I became interested in anything related to the Paralympics was when the poster boy for these Games, Oscar Pistorius, suffered a surprising upset in the men’s 200m. And this was only because Pistorius received so much media attention during the Olympics for being the first double amputee to participate.
Indeed, the greater is my shame that nothing but schadenfreude stoked my interest in actually seeing him humbled. …
At any rate, I’m not sure what it says about me that I was so interested in watching 3,500 hours of the Olympics, but so uninterested in watching just 6 hours of the Paralympics, let alone searching the Internet for timely results.
I have family members with disabilities. Therefore, I fully appreciate that the last thing Paralympians want is for their performances to evoke sympathy or, even worse, pity. Except that, as admirable and life affirming as their performances might be, a confluence of sympathy and pity is all I feel when I see people with disabilities competing in sporting events. …
I would bet my life savings that 99 percent of you who tuned in to the Olympics did so to watch Michael Phelps and/or Usain Bolt compete. On the other hand, I challenge you to name a single Paralympian (who is not a relative or friend) who you wanted to watch compete.
Not to mention that people who rave about the performance of athletes with disabilities always come across like annoying parents raving about the first baby steps of their children. Which is why much of the celebration of the Paralympic Games strikes me as patronizing, disingenuous, and even a little guilt-ridden.
I don’t know if this constitutes discrimination on my part. What I do know, however, is that hundreds of millions of people feel as I do. Which is why nobody should criticize NBC for making the undeniably sound business decision to provide such limited coverage of the Paralympics.
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Related commentaries:
NBC Paralympics…
Stephen Hawking…
Billy Graham…