NBC Fail? Network’s coverage of London Olympics garners widespread social media scorn
Journalist Robert Hernandez shared his succinct opinion on NBC’s coverage with this meme.Original image here.
NBC has something of a public image problem these Olympic Games. From the huge time delay between the Opening Ceremony actually happening and Americans actually getting to see it, to not-exactly-informed-commentary from NBC's presenters, to the draconian Twitter suspension of a vocal critic of NBC's coverage — well, it's been a tough week.
At least Americans can entertain themselves by slamming NBC. Probably for good reason.
But, remember 2008? Turns out, we hated NBC then, too.
Readers may recall the controversy over the un-announced CGI addition to the firework "footprints" during the 2008 Opening Ceremony in Beijing. Or the circa-2008 embargo on live coverage of many of the most popular events, a widely disliked move that's being repeated again this year.
The NBC backlash may sound pretty bad — and it is. But it's worth remembering that times have changed in four short years. The proof? More tweets about the Games were released in a day regarding the 2012 London Games than came out during the entire 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Has the Internet's remarkable dominance in 2012 just made the haters more vocal, instead of more numerous?