Lies, Damned Lies, and Olympic Journalism - Comments Page 1

I was annoyed when seeing the report as it aired. So, I messaged the SANS Internet Storm Center and their director wrote up a short piece.

https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/To+Merrillville+or+Sochi+How+Dangerous+is+it+to+travel/17579

Great job of reporting, Bob! Thanks for being on the alert and letting us know the truth behind the lies.
Journalism is just not what it used to be. I'm forwarding your newsletter intact to some close friends and Journalists.

How much lower can standards in Journalism get? - I'm watching this space!
How much lower must they get before people lose all confidence in what they read/see/ hear in the media?

"A lie will be halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on it's pants." -attributed to Mark Twain

That the lie is eventually found out (now much quicker) doesn't really matter. The Original Story is what is remembered by society as a whole as they do not and never have paid very good attention. The retraction is always back page news.

This leaves us with a media that wants to create the most sensational story even if it doesn't hold water. Infotainment.

Nice piece, Bob. I had about 35 years experience in radio before retiring about 15 years ago. In my experience, most journalists are honest. Many are frequently over their heads, however, when reporting on subject matter they're not intimately familiar with.

Yet, the details of your expose' imply that there was intentional misleading of the public by NBC. That's entirely possible, for the reason you speculated.

I've seen other network hatchet jobs over the years. Anecdotally, I've been told of individuals who were interviewed by Mike Wallace for "60 Minutes" on CBS, whose interviews were then edited to distort their comments.

All, I suppose, because someone had an axe to grind.

That kind of network duplicity is, indeed, troubling.

By the way, did NBC have an official response when Wilhoit blogged his information?

Trust is Important!

If a leader can not be trusted to tell the truth no one will follow him!

Never forget the President said, "If you like your health care plan or you doctor you can keep them, period!"

Millions of U.S. citizens liked their plans and their doctors but they can't keep them due to Obamacare.

The President knew they couldn't keep their plans and their doctors years ago. He certainly has a great ability to lie with a straight face and do it over and over. So much for trust!

The same can be said for other institutions such as NBC...

Another example of unethical journalistic behavior encourages me to seek news elsewhere.

Thank you for this report on typical journalism as practiced. I learned not to trust any news report at face value over 30 years ago. They have simply gotten worse especially since they no longer have the monopoly on news anymore.

Thank you for saying this. I noticed that there was a relentless attack by NBC on the Russians that started before the games.

Without trying to combine too much politics with the Olympics, NBC is not alone in lying or withholding the truth from the American people as they see fit to push their agenda, be it smart phone and Olympics or a national healthcare plan.

I have been watching the Olympics, but take the spoken word I hear from anyone representing NBC or NBC Sports with a HUGE grain of salt.

Bob,

>>>> You would think that elite professional journalists would be above such shenanigans, but you’d be wrong.”

Are you really surprised that “elite professional journalists” lie, fabricate and concoct horror stories?

Whenever I read elite U.S. publications (The NY Times, The Washington Post, the LA Times, Time, etc.) reporting on my beloved corner of the world, I find that lies, fabrications and manipulations are not the EXCEPTIONS but rather the COMMON PRACTICE.

One encounters those outrageous practices not only on Ed-Op pages (E.g., Thomas Friedman, NYT) but also in the news sections (E.g., Karl Vick, Time).

Being “elite professional journalists”, the “reporters” and the columnists of those elite U.S. publications do a very professional propaganda job at the service of their nefarious agenda.

I would like to emphasise: This post is about NEWS REPORTING, which is supposed to be based on FACTS, not about OPINIONS.

I too thought the BBC story was way over the top. Glad you called them on it.

When has journalism ever been influenced by factual, vetted, information gathered by people with deep backgrounds in the subject being reported? Dan Rather and the GW Bush memo ring a bell? Piers Morgan and guns? Just about any story reported by Rachael Madcow?

When I saw the story I just ignored it as rubbish like so much of the rubbish coming out of news media. Here and in Europe nevermind non-democratic countries.

Far worse than the "getting even" over slights to journalist comfort has been the constant barrage of happy face reporting by NBC news ignoring, covering up or even denying the thuggery of the Putin Regime.

Only NBC's constant cover-ups of the massive failures, scandals and incompetence (or worse, the intentional destruction of the US economy and US interests around the world) by the Obama Administration exceeds the scope of this misrepresentation of reality. And both of these actions by NBC come at enormous cost to the American People and the World as whole.

I wish I believed they were doing this only to assure their Olympic coverage is not interfered with. However, I will be shocked if candidness suddenly arises when Moscow can no longer impact NBC's ability to sell Olympic Advertising.

The only good thing about NBC is that it isn't quite as bad, when it comes to fabricating the "news," as CBS was when Dan Rather and Katie Couric were there. I just wish it were possible to once again have "reporters" doing the work, rather than "journalists," because many of the latter seem to have no integrity when it comes to news reporting.

This was a feeble attempt by NBC to try and stifle social media by anyone going to Sochi. NBC spent $775 million for exclusive broadcast rights and they don't want us getting our news and information from anywhere else. The International Olympic Committee is semi-complicit in this by limiting what the Olympic athletes are allowed to post. Athletes were given a long list of rules to abide by while in Sochi.

Typical news reporting and actions. Remember the Main? Randolph Hearst turned a tragic accident into a war by claiming the Spanish were responsible for the sinking just to sell more newspapers. Thousands died needlessly. Remember Richard Jewel and the Atlanta Olympic bombing? Our news media have reported lies to us for many years yet we continue to gullibly accept what they say. We must learn to carefully verify what they report and to complain vigorously when they lie or it will never change.

Bob, I have another angle.
In order to optimize connectivity in a foreign country & city of that country already known for shoddy last-minute putting things together, NBC was trying to make sure their usage of Wi-Fi, etc. in that part of the world would be used more by them, by trying to discourage people as much as possible with this story, from bringing to the games too much of their technology that connects online..

Your first mistake is believing that there is any ethics in American journalism. News programs used to fill 2 hours of air time on the networks. Now we have 24 hour news channels and they have to fill that air time with something. Additionally, we Americans can't be bothered with things like facts. They have to be flashy. The news panders to their viewers.

Thank you!
There are many ways to spell "propaganda".
Even before the start of the Sochi Olympics, many in the US wished that Sochi Olympics failed and failed miserably. So much so that few politicians (and other notable figures) were saying nasties to the microphones (which would listen) that they would not dare send their families to Sochi, as it was just too dangerous. But propaganda is not a US invented game and Putin is playing it as much as we are! $50+Billion USD is a big chunk of change that could be used more wisely elsewhere for the Soviet population but that is the game of politics.

I just wish that everyone just stop having an axe to grind when it comes to the Olympics but I don't live in a dream world to think that is going to happen anytime soon!