The avalanche of problems doesn't seem to show any mercy on the organizers of Russia's first ever winter Olympics. The plethora of details regarding the shortcomings of these games has even rocked the social media world. Sochi Olympics' official Twitter handle is less popular than the Twitter handle 'SochiProblems' which carves out issues like unusual stray dog gatherings and incomplete hotel rooms alongside several other problems that the games have became notoriously famous for.
It all started with that one missing ring at the opening ceremony and since then the ride has been rather bumpy for the organizers here at Sochi Olympics 2014. Tweets keep pouring in as per a report leaving this edition of the Winter Olympics with a far greater outreach than other editions. The only problem being that these tweets are actually dedicated to criticizing the manner in which the games have been organized and executed.
One finds a very strong connection with the Commonwealth Games in India a while back where a similar pre-games narrative rocked the Delhi government's boat in 2010. The government was initially criticized for having spent billions to organize the event when millions struggled to make ends meet. It is sad but true that the image of India as a land of snake charmers has been replaced by that of a land of poor and hungry. Several sections of this huge populace were identified as being deprived of even basic amenities. The India media grabbed the bull by its horns and made a mockery of the event under the umbrella of factual reporting.
From financial costs to adverse social and environmental impacts, the CWG in Delhi were outlined as a poorly planned affair. We had debris flowing into the swimming pools and the sudden boom in the paid sex industry along with rising incidents of child labor demarcated the CWG in 2010. The attendance was clumsy and even those who were present were rather uninterested. People came with tickets and cameras and left with a dozen photographs within half an hour. Players were the performers as well as the audience. Some of these players were even brought under the scanner for trashing apartments they stayed in.
However, despite of all the target shooting, the CWG in Delhi were deemed as a successful event as per parameters beyond the understanding of a common man. Even the President of the CWG committee was heard praising the authorities... For what? we still don't know.
What baffles me the most is the attitude of the Indian media towards sporting as a culture. It is very sad indeed that the Indian media sat on top of the CWG in 2010 only because they had an opportunity to target the government. Their concern was not regarding the games and their successful execution. The media was busy selling sensation rather than trying to come up with a solid investigation. The CWG scam added more spring to the misdirected media movement.
International media made it a point to secure and safeguard journalism while the Indian media was busy contributing towards the fall of a government. International media gave emphasis on what was really wrong with the games rather than just blaming individuals and parties involved.
Now when the Sochi Olympics have turned out to be an actual failure, there is little or no interest shown by the Indian media. Simply because this particular news item will not sell to the majority. Only a few will be interested in digging deeper and hence an almost negligible amount of coverage has been assigned to the Sochi Games.
This is again stabbing journalism in the back by ignoring global issues and denying the masses an opportunity to learn from them and about them. The Indian media could've done much more by investigating into the shortcomings of the Sochi Olympics and preparing the Indian sports administration and population for such challenges.
We wish to host the Olympics without having a care or concern about global sporting events. We crave for a title we are not worthy of. How can we organize major sporting events when our media does not even cover them at the international level? How will the people ever get to know what really goes around? Why is a 'concerned' and 'vigilant' Indian media busy covering celebrity abortions and breakups when the world is busy discussing the failure of a major sporting event? It is indeed a can full of worms when it comes to the Indian media and their priorities. They've abducted journalism and replaced it with an imposter we've started to appreciate as an entertainer.
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| A missing Olympic ring at Sochi cost Russia international embarrassment... |
It all started with that one missing ring at the opening ceremony and since then the ride has been rather bumpy for the organizers here at Sochi Olympics 2014. Tweets keep pouring in as per a report leaving this edition of the Winter Olympics with a far greater outreach than other editions. The only problem being that these tweets are actually dedicated to criticizing the manner in which the games have been organized and executed.
One finds a very strong connection with the Commonwealth Games in India a while back where a similar pre-games narrative rocked the Delhi government's boat in 2010. The government was initially criticized for having spent billions to organize the event when millions struggled to make ends meet. It is sad but true that the image of India as a land of snake charmers has been replaced by that of a land of poor and hungry. Several sections of this huge populace were identified as being deprived of even basic amenities. The India media grabbed the bull by its horns and made a mockery of the event under the umbrella of factual reporting.
From financial costs to adverse social and environmental impacts, the CWG in Delhi were outlined as a poorly planned affair. We had debris flowing into the swimming pools and the sudden boom in the paid sex industry along with rising incidents of child labor demarcated the CWG in 2010. The attendance was clumsy and even those who were present were rather uninterested. People came with tickets and cameras and left with a dozen photographs within half an hour. Players were the performers as well as the audience. Some of these players were even brought under the scanner for trashing apartments they stayed in.
However, despite of all the target shooting, the CWG in Delhi were deemed as a successful event as per parameters beyond the understanding of a common man. Even the President of the CWG committee was heard praising the authorities... For what? we still don't know.
What baffles me the most is the attitude of the Indian media towards sporting as a culture. It is very sad indeed that the Indian media sat on top of the CWG in 2010 only because they had an opportunity to target the government. Their concern was not regarding the games and their successful execution. The media was busy selling sensation rather than trying to come up with a solid investigation. The CWG scam added more spring to the misdirected media movement.
International media made it a point to secure and safeguard journalism while the Indian media was busy contributing towards the fall of a government. International media gave emphasis on what was really wrong with the games rather than just blaming individuals and parties involved.
Now when the Sochi Olympics have turned out to be an actual failure, there is little or no interest shown by the Indian media. Simply because this particular news item will not sell to the majority. Only a few will be interested in digging deeper and hence an almost negligible amount of coverage has been assigned to the Sochi Games.
This is again stabbing journalism in the back by ignoring global issues and denying the masses an opportunity to learn from them and about them. The Indian media could've done much more by investigating into the shortcomings of the Sochi Olympics and preparing the Indian sports administration and population for such challenges.
We wish to host the Olympics without having a care or concern about global sporting events. We crave for a title we are not worthy of. How can we organize major sporting events when our media does not even cover them at the international level? How will the people ever get to know what really goes around? Why is a 'concerned' and 'vigilant' Indian media busy covering celebrity abortions and breakups when the world is busy discussing the failure of a major sporting event? It is indeed a can full of worms when it comes to the Indian media and their priorities. They've abducted journalism and replaced it with an imposter we've started to appreciate as an entertainer.
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