Media Meditation #2: Part Deux!

Snowboarding and mainstream culture have always had an interesting (and sometimes difficult) relationship. This can still be seen today with NBC's coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. NBC's exclusive coverage prevents fans from seeing their favorite riders compete for the gold on any medium other than during NBC's broadcast of the snowboarding events. How does this affect snowboarding? Well...

1. TRIUNE BRAIN-Events such as the halfpipe are covered in the same manner as other sporting events, cutting out a large part of snowboarding's personality. The snowboarding community is very heavily affiliated with an artistic community, giving it a unique style seen in everything from how videos are shot and edited to what the riders wear while snowboarding. By covering snowboarding the same way as any other "sport" such as football or baseball, the non-competitive aspects of the sport are lost. This loss of personality limits the emotional attachment between fans and their favorite riders or companies.

2. EIGHT TRENDS-One aspect of Olympic snowboarding that has been viewed as both a blessing and a curse is the commercial media frenzy that surrounds the sport every four years. Companies that are unrelated to snowboarding see this time as an opportunity to profit and try to find ways to gain publicity by associating with the sport. The best example of this economic shift is one of Shaun White's sponsors: Target.

Another trend in NBC's Olympic snowboarding coverage has been the increased media attention towards professional riders. An example of this is the criticism New Hampshire local Scotty Lago has received following his post-medal celebration. While snowboarders partying after events is not unusual (and is in fact quite common), Lago's "unsportsmanlike" behavior would be relatively unknown if he were not in the Olympic spotlight of NBC.

3. SEVEN PRINCIPLES-For Olympic favorites like Shaun White, there is often a very heartwarming story to accompany their success. While these stories are most likely true, one must question how "filtered" they are and what the riders are like outside the spotlight. This construction of "reality" only gives viewers the information they might find entertaining or inspiring; whatever it takes to make a story.


Compared to the videos put out by snowboarding companies and production crews (such as Absinthe Films' Optimistic? above), NBC put very little effort into utilizing available production techniques. Snowboarding videos are known for their high levels of creativity and attention to detail. NBC instead covered snowboarding similar to professional sports: camera angles that showed the entire area (this time a halfpipe instead of a football field), slow motion segments used to analyze tricks rather than emphasize them and bland lighting used to make the action as visible as possible. Simply put, NBC's "production techniques" do not express snowboarding's unique style and merely deliver the action taking place in a conveniently distributed package.

Another issue that has arisen in the midst of the 2010 Olympics is the availability of media pertaining to the events. For example: any clips uploaded of Shaun White's gold-medal runs posted to YouTube.com have been removed because NBC holds exclusive coverage of the event. Because NBC holds ownership rights, if you wanted to watch the men's snowboarding halfpipe medal ceremony, you would have to go to the NBC site and download the Microsoft Silverlight video player.

4. 29 TECHNIQUES-
Symbols: Throughout NBC's coverage of the snowboarding events there were plenty of transition sequences with animation of the Olympic rings, the American flag and the Vancouver 2010 logo.

Repetition: NBC created media hype for Shaun White's Olympic runs by showing clips of him snowboarding in the days and hours leading up to the men's halfpipe finals.

Plain folks/Warm fuzzies: Shaun White's trademark red hair and perpetual grin make him easily likable and marketable. His skill, youth and cheerful demeanor made him an Olympic favorite and one to pay attention to, something NBC convinced viewers to do through repetitively showing images of him and clips of previous runs.

Beautiful People/Testimonial: Many commercials that aired on NBC during the Olympics featured well-known athletes. One example of this is a commercial depicting Apollo Ono sleeping peacefully (and snoring loudly) to show how he gets a good night's sleep during a cold when he takes NyQuil.

5. IYOW- "NBC covers the snowboarding event of the year: follow Shaun White on the road to Olympic gold in Vancouver 2010."

6. THREE FACTS-
1. Vancouver 2010 was the 4th time halfpipe snowboarding has been featured in the Olympics.
2. Shaun White has won the gold medal in halfpipe both years (Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010) he has competed.
3. The total cost of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics is estimated to be $1.76 Billion