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NBC leads charge in skating scandal
By Scott D. Pierce
Deseret News television editor
If anything comes of the investigation into allegations of impropriety in the figure skating judging at the 2002 Olympics — if much-needed changes are made to the process or if the Canadian pairs team somehow ends up with the gold medal they apparently deserve — the folks at NBC Sports will be largely responsible for it.
And that's something that should make them extremely proud.
Were it not for the fact that NBC skating analysts Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic made such a big deal out of what they saw as improprieties in the judging when the gold medal went to Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sukharulidze and not Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, this story would not have become the biggest issue at these Olympics; there would not be the public outcry; there would not be pressure on the International Skating Union and the International Olympic Committee.
That's not to say that NBC is the only news organization — let alone the only broadcaster — to report the story. But it has certainly led the charge. And, by raising the furor in the host country, they've fostered the public pressure that has the ISU addressing (if not yet doing anything to solve, apparently) the problems.
Yes, there have been some who have come forth to defend — if not agree with — the judging that gave the Russians the gold. But no one has defended the ISU's judging process.
If the brouhaha that NBC did so much to bring about changes that, then Hamilton, Bezic and the network will have really accomplished something.
GOOD BAD NEWS: NBC certainly didn't plan it this way, but the figure skating controversy is the greatest thing that's happened for a network telecasting the Olympics since Tonya Harding and the Nancy Kerrigan knee-whacking incident.
The buzz around this story is enormous. Even people who normally couldn't give a hoot about figure skating seem interested (if not obsessed) with the story.
This is the sort of advertising that money can't buy. And it promises that the ratings — which are already good — could get even better. Particularly when NBC is telecasting figure skating.
POLLING AND PRUNE JUICE: NBC studio host Bob Costas, commenting on the fact that 95 percent of those voting in the network's Internet poll believe that the Canadians should have won the gold medal —"Wow. The last vote I recall being this lopsided came when kindergartners were asked which they preferred, milk or prune juice."
SEVERAL THUMBS UP: NBC Sports is not only getting good ratings from the Salt Lake Games, but it's getting something it's not accustomed to — good reviews.
And not just from yours truly. I am not, as one e-mailer suggested, being told to give the network good marks by some higher-up here at the paper. (As if I ever do what I'm told.) Here are what a few others are saying about the network's coverage:
- "I can't believe I'm saying this. NBC sure won't believe I'm saying this. Its winter Olympics coverage so far has been pretty darn good." — Diane Werts, Newsday
- "At the Salt Lake City Games, the Peacock Network is a lot like the beleaguered student who stages a welcome recovery. NBC flunked out last time with its tape-delayed, sap-filled, overproduced rendering of the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. This time out, the network has improved markedly — grade so far: B minus — by cutting down on the mushy features and concentrating on the sports." — Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel
- "Be on the lookout for flying pigs. Until last weekend, the idea that a TV network would cover the Winter Olympics and not show enough sappy 'up-close-and-personal' features was as far-fetched as the notion of porkers taking wing. But NBC did it, with a surprising prime-time concentration on the sports themselves, leaving viewers longing for a few personality profiles." — Jonathan Storm, Philadelphia Inquirer
THE RATING GAME: More big numbers for NBC for Wednesday's coverage of the Olympics — a 17.5 rating and a 28 share. That's 14 percent higher than what CBS got for Day 6 at the Nagano Games, and NBC's six-day average (19.5) is up 19 percent versus 1998.
NBC, which had its best Wednesday night in almost six years (since the 1996 Summer Games) is up a whopping 31 percent among 18-to-34-year-olds (who apparently like all that snowboarding and stuff).
Salt Lake City (of course) led the way with a 34.4/57.
WHOOPS: OK, so KSL-Channel 5 isn't pre-empting Conan O'Brien for that dreadful "SLC Live" — O'Brien is on vacation until after the Games. But the station should pre-empt "SLC Live" for anything else. Even a test pattern.
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February 15, 2002
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