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Are television viewers getting the best coverage from Daegu?
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
When Television Jamaica (TVJ) led off its evening newscast with part of a statement by Sports Minister Olivia Grange expressing sympathy for Usain Bolt, who was disqualified from the final of the 100 metres at the World Championships in Daegu, I confess my disappointment that the station had simply gone along with the rest of the media world in downgrading the massive achievement of Yohan Blake's victory by the way they treated this story.
Here we had the youngest male ever accomplishing a historic feat, but that achievement was being given minimum respect in our major television newscast. Sure the minister's congratulations were reported later in the story, but the positioning of both pieces of information said something about how we treat information and why.
CAMPBELL BROWN… has kept the identity of her new coach a secret for months
Interestingly, the UK television commentator did say after Blake crossed the finish line in triumph that it was unfortunate that news of his victory would not dominate the international headlines, rather the disqualification would. Not only was the commentator right, although this was to an extent understandable — at least in the first reports from Daegu, but certainly the spin-off stories in the winner's home country ought not to have misplaced the emphasis.
Bolt's disqualification is certainly the type of story that the media seek as 'breaking news', and that is understandable. But nine or so hours later, our major newscasts would have had sufficient time to recompose their headlines, and to be fair, most did, especially newspapers. That's why we certainly cannot excuse TVJ for leading with the minister's sympathy for Bolt, however deserving those might have been at the time, rather than her message of congratulations to young Blake.
Having secured the necessary broadcast rights, TVJ has assured itself of the widest national audience reach during the nine days (27 August to 4 September) of the competition, certainly in comparison to all other electronic media channels; but how well has the station been doing and what of the other media houses?
I do believe that our major media houses are well represented in Daegu, whether by their own in-house team or by freelancers, and there have been a lot of very good stories provided daily by just about all the radio and television stations as well as by our newspapers. Additionally, TVJ must be commended for again putting together a strong in-house discussion panel in Bruce James, Earl Bailey and young female athlete Janice Levy, with Neville 'Bertis' Bell as host. They have done a reasonable if not exceptional job. And despite Bell's acknowledgement that he is not a track and field authority, I do believe he has asked the right questions most of the time on behalf of his viewers which showed his professionalism as a broadcaster and his knowledge base in sports generally.
Not so in the case of TVJ's on-the-spot reporter Kayon Raynor who conducted all of the interviews in Daegu on behalf of that station. Raynor is otherwise a knowledgeable sports journalist who has a creditable track record in newspaper journalism. His previous work in Beijing and Berlin provides strong evidence of this, but behind the microphone in Daegu he seemed sometimes to have been a bit out of his depth and at times, perhaps awe-struck by his interviewees.
How else does one explain some of the questions he posed to the athletes, not to mention some of the responses he gave to questions he was asked by members of the in-studio panel? For instance, when Bell wanted to find out (on behalf of viewers) whether Bolt's disqualification might be having a negative effect on the team, and especially on other sprinters, he missed that question entirely and went on to give information that everyone already had about wanting the false-start rule changed.
Then in his interview with America's Allyson Felix -- that was a glorious opportunity to bring her closer to Jamaican audiences -- I would have thought that any disciple of track and field would have wanted to hear Felix's assessment of her physical stamina in undertaking a highly competitive 200 metres now that she had endured the rigours of the 400 metres. This was an even more relevant question as Felix had only just been stretched over three rounds of the 400 metres and engaged in an epic duel with Botswana's Amantle Montsho when the American seemed to have left it all on the track.
The reporter instead asked her the same old question that both herself and Veronica Campbell Brown (also called VCB) had been asked and answered repeatedly before and since the start of the Championships, something about how she felt about her chances in the 200 metres contest with Campbell Brown.
I certainly wanted to know if the American champion was feeling any less confident now than before that 400 metres battle with Montsho. It's not as if many journalists and other fans had not been expressing the view that Felix's chances of gaining an individual gold had been diminished by her decision to go after a double gold in the 200 and 400 metres.
She is not a silly athlete by any stretch of the imagination. She would have been aware that that is the perception of many fans -- both in the USA and elsewhere. Outstanding competitor that she is, she had decided to challenge herself by stepping out of her one-event comfort zone and taking on the challenge of doubling in the 200 and 400 metres. That is the mark of a true champion, and it is little wonder that she and VCB have had such ding-dong battles for gold in the 200 metres at both recent Olympic Games, where VCB enjoys superiority, and at the World Championships where Felix is the boss.
The American superstar virtually gave the TVJ reporter the opportunity to fire that question when she volunteered that she needed to do what she could to ensure that her legs were back in shape for the challenge. Regrettably, he did not take the hint, and track and field fans like myself were left to still ponder what was now going through the mind of VCB's main rival.
Then came his interview with Jamaica's unfortunate 110 metres hurdler Dwight Thomas. Thomas had just crashed out of the finals, having suffered an injury in the semi-finals. That information was the sole redeeming aspect of this interview as viewers were learning about his injury for the first time, which undoubtedly explained his failure to complete the race. The Jamaican hurdler was clearly in pain, both physically and psychologically, and said as much.
Every viewer could sense his reluctance to be interviewed at the time and his obvious desire to be left alone. Instead came the same old questions, how do you feel...? Also, what next? Worse, the interviewer had to endure the indignity of Thomas telling him directly (albeit in respectful tones) that he did not wish to answer any more questions "right now" -- something Raynor should have seen coming. The culmination of this amazingly disastrous interview was that in closing it off, the reporter congratulated the athlete, although it was not at all clear for what.
Perhaps his most inauspicious effort was the interview with VCB after she had accounted for her 100m silver medal. Maybe I am unique in thinking that her lane eight assignment might have had some impact on the eventual outcome. It has been a longtime contention of track and field fans that lanes one and eight are the least favoured. I recall VCB not having the best result from lane one when she got a bronze in the Athens Olympic 100 metres finals, although she was in gold-medal winning form.
Like many other fans I would also want to know whether the Bolt disqualification was a factor in her below par start. We all know that VCB, like Asafa Powell, needs a strong start to lead home her formidable rivals. That all three Jamaican finalists had the slowest reaction time demanded this question. The interviewer seemed blissfully unaware that his TV audience would want to get such information. But the killer question that he posed was inquiring what if any credit she gives to someone whom he named as her coach.
Now, Jamaican fans would know that this has been VCB's best kept secret for months ever since she changed her previous coach. For the first time in her track and field career, there has been no confirmed disclosure of the name of her coach. The fans could only take this to mean that she has her reasons for retaining this information. While I cannot fault the reporter for wanting to confirm some piece of information he most likely had about the identity of her new coach, surely there must have been a more subtle way of ferreting out the information, rather than affirming it in the question.
VCB may have come across a bit curt in her response, although her manner was not especially unpleasant: "I don't know from where you got that piece of information," she shot back. However, she may have been placed on the spot by the question, hence her somewhat curt response.
Generally, I think that it remains important for on-the-scene as well as in-studio broadcasters to recognise that their task essentially is to dig for information that their listeners and viewers would want to know (within reason); but also to determine the best and most tasteful way to seek answers.
The Daegu World Championships provide another global forum that highly favours the electronic media, especially television, and to a slightly lesser extent, the Internet. Anyone who wishes access to that event will almost certainly make television his or her medium of first choice. While our daily newspapers have done an excellent job overall, the use of newspapers is primarily for seeking background information as distinct from news, unless one accesses the online version.
This leads me to comment on the 'breaking news' report in Monday's online Observer. According to that report the "USA was expected to win the women's 400 metres" (instead of Montsho). I'm not sure expected by whom, as the eventual winner was predicted by many knowledgeable fans. That story also claimed that Felix was "even with Montsho as they entered the straight but couldn't overtake her."
This account seemed somewhat contradictory to me, especially as many would have seen, courtesy of television, Felix's valiant effort to catch up with Montsho. It's perhaps more important that our newspaper reporters get it right as most people would have viewed the events reported before the story appears.
While we laud the work being done in keeping viewers updated about events in Daegu and especially the performance of our own track and field stars, reporters in both the print and electronic media need to bear in mind not only the importance of ensuring the accuracy of their information, but that the information needs of their audiences are addressed as comprehensively and as promptly as possible.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1WbhWyOAV
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
When Television Jamaica (TVJ) led off its evening newscast with part of a statement by Sports Minister Olivia Grange expressing sympathy for Usain Bolt, who was disqualified from the final of the 100 metres at the World Championships in Daegu, I confess my disappointment that the station had simply gone along with the rest of the media world in downgrading the massive achievement of Yohan Blake's victory by the way they treated this story.
Here we had the youngest male ever accomplishing a historic feat, but that achievement was being given minimum respect in our major television newscast. Sure the minister's congratulations were reported later in the story, but the positioning of both pieces of information said something about how we treat information and why.
CAMPBELL BROWN… has kept the identity of her new coach a secret for months
Interestingly, the UK television commentator did say after Blake crossed the finish line in triumph that it was unfortunate that news of his victory would not dominate the international headlines, rather the disqualification would. Not only was the commentator right, although this was to an extent understandable — at least in the first reports from Daegu, but certainly the spin-off stories in the winner's home country ought not to have misplaced the emphasis.
Bolt's disqualification is certainly the type of story that the media seek as 'breaking news', and that is understandable. But nine or so hours later, our major newscasts would have had sufficient time to recompose their headlines, and to be fair, most did, especially newspapers. That's why we certainly cannot excuse TVJ for leading with the minister's sympathy for Bolt, however deserving those might have been at the time, rather than her message of congratulations to young Blake.
Having secured the necessary broadcast rights, TVJ has assured itself of the widest national audience reach during the nine days (27 August to 4 September) of the competition, certainly in comparison to all other electronic media channels; but how well has the station been doing and what of the other media houses?
I do believe that our major media houses are well represented in Daegu, whether by their own in-house team or by freelancers, and there have been a lot of very good stories provided daily by just about all the radio and television stations as well as by our newspapers. Additionally, TVJ must be commended for again putting together a strong in-house discussion panel in Bruce James, Earl Bailey and young female athlete Janice Levy, with Neville 'Bertis' Bell as host. They have done a reasonable if not exceptional job. And despite Bell's acknowledgement that he is not a track and field authority, I do believe he has asked the right questions most of the time on behalf of his viewers which showed his professionalism as a broadcaster and his knowledge base in sports generally.
Not so in the case of TVJ's on-the-spot reporter Kayon Raynor who conducted all of the interviews in Daegu on behalf of that station. Raynor is otherwise a knowledgeable sports journalist who has a creditable track record in newspaper journalism. His previous work in Beijing and Berlin provides strong evidence of this, but behind the microphone in Daegu he seemed sometimes to have been a bit out of his depth and at times, perhaps awe-struck by his interviewees.
How else does one explain some of the questions he posed to the athletes, not to mention some of the responses he gave to questions he was asked by members of the in-studio panel? For instance, when Bell wanted to find out (on behalf of viewers) whether Bolt's disqualification might be having a negative effect on the team, and especially on other sprinters, he missed that question entirely and went on to give information that everyone already had about wanting the false-start rule changed.
Then in his interview with America's Allyson Felix -- that was a glorious opportunity to bring her closer to Jamaican audiences -- I would have thought that any disciple of track and field would have wanted to hear Felix's assessment of her physical stamina in undertaking a highly competitive 200 metres now that she had endured the rigours of the 400 metres. This was an even more relevant question as Felix had only just been stretched over three rounds of the 400 metres and engaged in an epic duel with Botswana's Amantle Montsho when the American seemed to have left it all on the track.
The reporter instead asked her the same old question that both herself and Veronica Campbell Brown (also called VCB) had been asked and answered repeatedly before and since the start of the Championships, something about how she felt about her chances in the 200 metres contest with Campbell Brown.
I certainly wanted to know if the American champion was feeling any less confident now than before that 400 metres battle with Montsho. It's not as if many journalists and other fans had not been expressing the view that Felix's chances of gaining an individual gold had been diminished by her decision to go after a double gold in the 200 and 400 metres.
She is not a silly athlete by any stretch of the imagination. She would have been aware that that is the perception of many fans -- both in the USA and elsewhere. Outstanding competitor that she is, she had decided to challenge herself by stepping out of her one-event comfort zone and taking on the challenge of doubling in the 200 and 400 metres. That is the mark of a true champion, and it is little wonder that she and VCB have had such ding-dong battles for gold in the 200 metres at both recent Olympic Games, where VCB enjoys superiority, and at the World Championships where Felix is the boss.
The American superstar virtually gave the TVJ reporter the opportunity to fire that question when she volunteered that she needed to do what she could to ensure that her legs were back in shape for the challenge. Regrettably, he did not take the hint, and track and field fans like myself were left to still ponder what was now going through the mind of VCB's main rival.
Then came his interview with Jamaica's unfortunate 110 metres hurdler Dwight Thomas. Thomas had just crashed out of the finals, having suffered an injury in the semi-finals. That information was the sole redeeming aspect of this interview as viewers were learning about his injury for the first time, which undoubtedly explained his failure to complete the race. The Jamaican hurdler was clearly in pain, both physically and psychologically, and said as much.
Every viewer could sense his reluctance to be interviewed at the time and his obvious desire to be left alone. Instead came the same old questions, how do you feel...? Also, what next? Worse, the interviewer had to endure the indignity of Thomas telling him directly (albeit in respectful tones) that he did not wish to answer any more questions "right now" -- something Raynor should have seen coming. The culmination of this amazingly disastrous interview was that in closing it off, the reporter congratulated the athlete, although it was not at all clear for what.
Perhaps his most inauspicious effort was the interview with VCB after she had accounted for her 100m silver medal. Maybe I am unique in thinking that her lane eight assignment might have had some impact on the eventual outcome. It has been a longtime contention of track and field fans that lanes one and eight are the least favoured. I recall VCB not having the best result from lane one when she got a bronze in the Athens Olympic 100 metres finals, although she was in gold-medal winning form.
Like many other fans I would also want to know whether the Bolt disqualification was a factor in her below par start. We all know that VCB, like Asafa Powell, needs a strong start to lead home her formidable rivals. That all three Jamaican finalists had the slowest reaction time demanded this question. The interviewer seemed blissfully unaware that his TV audience would want to get such information. But the killer question that he posed was inquiring what if any credit she gives to someone whom he named as her coach.
Now, Jamaican fans would know that this has been VCB's best kept secret for months ever since she changed her previous coach. For the first time in her track and field career, there has been no confirmed disclosure of the name of her coach. The fans could only take this to mean that she has her reasons for retaining this information. While I cannot fault the reporter for wanting to confirm some piece of information he most likely had about the identity of her new coach, surely there must have been a more subtle way of ferreting out the information, rather than affirming it in the question.
VCB may have come across a bit curt in her response, although her manner was not especially unpleasant: "I don't know from where you got that piece of information," she shot back. However, she may have been placed on the spot by the question, hence her somewhat curt response.
Generally, I think that it remains important for on-the-scene as well as in-studio broadcasters to recognise that their task essentially is to dig for information that their listeners and viewers would want to know (within reason); but also to determine the best and most tasteful way to seek answers.
The Daegu World Championships provide another global forum that highly favours the electronic media, especially television, and to a slightly lesser extent, the Internet. Anyone who wishes access to that event will almost certainly make television his or her medium of first choice. While our daily newspapers have done an excellent job overall, the use of newspapers is primarily for seeking background information as distinct from news, unless one accesses the online version.
This leads me to comment on the 'breaking news' report in Monday's online Observer. According to that report the "USA was expected to win the women's 400 metres" (instead of Montsho). I'm not sure expected by whom, as the eventual winner was predicted by many knowledgeable fans. That story also claimed that Felix was "even with Montsho as they entered the straight but couldn't overtake her."
This account seemed somewhat contradictory to me, especially as many would have seen, courtesy of television, Felix's valiant effort to catch up with Montsho. It's perhaps more important that our newspaper reporters get it right as most people would have viewed the events reported before the story appears.
While we laud the work being done in keeping viewers updated about events in Daegu and especially the performance of our own track and field stars, reporters in both the print and electronic media need to bear in mind not only the importance of ensuring the accuracy of their information, but that the information needs of their audiences are addressed as comprehensively and as promptly as possible.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1WbhWyOAV