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Who is right - Teddy McCook or the Observer?
Such nonsense, Mr McCook
Friday, November 02, 2007
Mr Neville 'Teddy' McCook is not your average Jamaican. Mr McCook has, over many years, distinguished himself as one of Jamaica's most successful sports administrators and is currently the chairman of the North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC), as well as a representative of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF).
So when Mr McCook, a former president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), speaks we all tend to listen.
In yesterday's edition, Mr McCook was reported to have complained that the local media do not give pride of place to Jamaican athletes over their overseas counterparts, even when the Jamaican athletes finish behind the foreigners.
"I feel that a finalist from Jamaica is worth the prime position over any medallist," he is reported to have told guests attending a dinner on Monday in Trelawny in honour of Jamaican athletes from that parish.
"I still believe, and I find it unacceptable, that we have a Jamaican getting a bronze medal, an American getting a gold medal, and the picture of the American is in the sports pages," Mr McCook said further.
Mr McCook also complained further that a newspaper carried a story on Vincentian track & field official Mr Keith Joseph who earlier this year challenged him for the post of president of NACAC.
The temerity of the newspaper!
Going by Mr McCook's complaint, the local media should, as he claimed is done in the United States and Canada, not speak about the opponent.
Frankly, we haven't heard such balderdash since the run-up to the September 3 general elections.
What Mr McCook is demanding of the Press is that we should abrogate our responsibility to the public and practise the sorry excuse for journalism that he said he listened to on a radio station from the former Czechoslovakia during the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich, Germany.
"All I could hear was our boy came 10th, our boy came eighth, our boy came 16th. We never heard who won the gold medal, it was all about their boy," Mr McCook said of that broadcast.
If Mr McCook's description of what he heard was true, not only was that broadcast petty, but it flew in the face of one of the principles of sports, that of improving relationships between the world's peoples.
Fortunately, we must disappoint Mr McCook. For even as we do focus on our own athletes when they perform on the international stage, we cannot give incomplete reports of the events, as to do so would be a betrayal of the trust which the public places in the media to provide accurate information.
In fact, if Mr McCook had sought to be honest about the Jamaican media's coverage of sporting events, he would not have spoken such nonsense on Monday. For any examination of the local Press' reportage of major sporting events will show that a lot of ink and airtime are given to Jamaican athletes, even when they do not medal.
Maybe Mr McCook was overwhelmed by the occasion which, we acknowledge, was an excellent and moving gesture on the part of the organisers. Or maybe he simply didn't think carefully about what he wanted to say. Whatever it was, the comments were quite unbecoming of a man of his stature.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Mr Neville 'Teddy' McCook is not your average Jamaican. Mr McCook has, over many years, distinguished himself as one of Jamaica's most successful sports administrators and is currently the chairman of the North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC), as well as a representative of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF).
So when Mr McCook, a former president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), speaks we all tend to listen.
In yesterday's edition, Mr McCook was reported to have complained that the local media do not give pride of place to Jamaican athletes over their overseas counterparts, even when the Jamaican athletes finish behind the foreigners.
"I feel that a finalist from Jamaica is worth the prime position over any medallist," he is reported to have told guests attending a dinner on Monday in Trelawny in honour of Jamaican athletes from that parish.
"I still believe, and I find it unacceptable, that we have a Jamaican getting a bronze medal, an American getting a gold medal, and the picture of the American is in the sports pages," Mr McCook said further.
Mr McCook also complained further that a newspaper carried a story on Vincentian track & field official Mr Keith Joseph who earlier this year challenged him for the post of president of NACAC.
The temerity of the newspaper!
Going by Mr McCook's complaint, the local media should, as he claimed is done in the United States and Canada, not speak about the opponent.
Frankly, we haven't heard such balderdash since the run-up to the September 3 general elections.
What Mr McCook is demanding of the Press is that we should abrogate our responsibility to the public and practise the sorry excuse for journalism that he said he listened to on a radio station from the former Czechoslovakia during the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich, Germany.
"All I could hear was our boy came 10th, our boy came eighth, our boy came 16th. We never heard who won the gold medal, it was all about their boy," Mr McCook said of that broadcast.
If Mr McCook's description of what he heard was true, not only was that broadcast petty, but it flew in the face of one of the principles of sports, that of improving relationships between the world's peoples.
Fortunately, we must disappoint Mr McCook. For even as we do focus on our own athletes when they perform on the international stage, we cannot give incomplete reports of the events, as to do so would be a betrayal of the trust which the public places in the media to provide accurate information.
In fact, if Mr McCook had sought to be honest about the Jamaican media's coverage of sporting events, he would not have spoken such nonsense on Monday. For any examination of the local Press' reportage of major sporting events will show that a lot of ink and airtime are given to Jamaican athletes, even when they do not medal.
Maybe Mr McCook was overwhelmed by the occasion which, we acknowledge, was an excellent and moving gesture on the part of the organisers. Or maybe he simply didn't think carefully about what he wanted to say. Whatever it was, the comments were quite unbecoming of a man of his stature.
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