This is going to be interesting... How can they NOT cover the whole story, what happens in and around and because of the games?

Tim Russert has promised to be extremely laid back.

You can't kiss someone on the same ass you are kicking.

"You can't kiss someone on the same ass you are kicking."

you are wrong on this point, keith.
it has become somewhat of an american way of doing things... just as censorship has.

all the best.

This is just a shame on many levels.

Coporations owe no loyalty to any nation and NBC will make that abundantly clear in a couple of weeks. Actually, it won't be clear, unless the story gets out in another way.

Thanks NBC.

And More....

STILL NOT GOING!!

They are there to cover the frigging Olympics, and nothing else. Fuck em!!! Cover the Olympics or stay home.

"They are there to cover the frigging Olympics, and nothing else"

I don't think that's quite right. They should be covering our athletes as they spread liberty and championing human rights, according to our President.

US President George W. Bush on Monday told US athletes bound for the Beijing Olympics that they will be "ambassadors of liberty" representing US commitments to "human rights and human dignity."

"In Beijing, you will convey our nation's most cherished values. As ambassadors of liberty, you will represent America's love for freedom and our regard for human rights and human dignity," he told them at the White House.

Of course NBC will self-censor. They censored the mass protests of the iraq war by running 30 seconds of coverage... including 1 self-proclaimed expert that said the real number of protestors was 50,000, not 500,000 and then included interviews with 5 communists in drag that happen to be at the event to make everybody else look like freaks...

NBC will have no problem self-censoring.. they do it here, why not in china.

WHo cares, this will be the least watched olympics EVER.

NBC SUCKS.....

Once when I suggested that SOME journalistic atrocities are due not to censorship but to mere stupidity, Noam Chomsky (my middle name is Name Dropper) kindly replied that they censor themselves hoping for brownie points from their bosses.

Chomsky made his point convincingly: Even in covering something as big as the Olympics, no matter how high on the cast list you rank, you cover what the guy above you will like and leave out what you think the guy above you will dislike. herm

Olympics? The Olympics went on life-support when beach volleyball became an event. Snowboarding finished it off.

Posted by SanAntonioRogue at 2008-07-21 04:10 PM

"In Beijing, you will convey our nation's most cherished values. As ambassadors of liberty, you will represent America's love for freedom and our regard for human rights and human dignity," he told them at the White House.

Where are my smelling salts?

The Chinese have their hand on the plug. Transmission failure?

This is a foreign country, a sovereign country, a great power. I doubt if an American media company would dare be so audacious as to operate beyond its granted franchise.

But will they be able to cover stories for release after the olympics? Are all their hard drives going to be scanned prior to departure? These are the questions that need to be answered.

I'm not watching the Olympics.

This is their own fault and this is what they get for dealing with a police state.

They also call for barring performers who promote ethnic hatred or "advocate obscenity or feudalism and superstition."

Well--that would pretty much leave out all American Rap music.

I doubt performers even know what "Feudalism" means.

Superstition includes references to God--so that leaves out the rest of American music.

And people will be really pissed for not serving "Dog on a Stick" for the games.

Frankly--I only care about Gymnastics and SoftBall.

The only self-censorship I'd like to see from NBC is for them to take their fucking logo off my screen.

"Frankly--I only care about Gymnastics and SoftBall."

Your call, Murph. I USED to care, anyway, about world records of track and swimming. Men and women conquering THEMSELVES. Before drugs and drug testing, anyway.

Before beach volleyball. Before the pros came into the basketball. Before the televised Olympics became a parade of commercials interrupted by the rare sports break. It started with the Olympics in L.A. (1984?).

Five minutes of ads, five minutes of sport. I hung in there; they were gonna do Ode To Joy, Beethoven's Ninth. They wouldn't DARE interrupt that. Surprise! They broke in four (4) times. That portion only takes about ten minutes.

In wonder if market research will dare tell advertisers that active viewers simply lack the stamina to endure all those prescription drugs, luxury autos and beer, and channel surf during the times out. herm

"I'm having the vapours with you citing GWB to establish a point.

Posted by Johnson"

While the actual origin of the term "the vapors" seems to be lost, the most common interpretations are:

1) Flatulence (from the days when you just couldn't say a lady had gas in polite company)

or

2) Lightheadedness (resulting when a lady's corset was laced too tightly, preventing her from drawing a deep breath)

Which one applies more accurately to your situation?

LOL and FF, and all that, Sanantonio.

"If an athlete holds a protest sign or waves a Tibetan flag, how will the Chinese hosts react?"

Kind of reminds me of Hitler and Jesse Owens. I mean, it reminds me of film clips I've seen of it, not that I was there!

US President George W. Bush on Monday told US athletes bound for the Beijing Olympics that they will be "ambassadors of liberty" representing US commitments to "human rights and human dignity."

...

Posted by SanAntonioRogue at 2008-07-21 04:10 PM

Ugh... I have a little puke in the back of my throat now. I'm on my first cup of of coffee and have already reached my limit of hypocracy tolerance for the day. Thanks, S.A.R. :P

"In wonder if market research will dare tell advertisers that active viewers simply lack the stamina to endure all those prescription drugs, luxury autos and beer, and channel surf during the times out. herm

Posted by herm at 2008-07-21 07:50 PM"

Substantial funding for public broadcasting would fix that overnight. No chance in hell in the USA, I know, but over here, it's fantastic! The first and second channels will show the whole thing, stressing German athletes, of course, commercial free, with INTELLIGENT commentary, from start to fininsh.

Not that I give a shit about the Olympics anymore :-P

Isn't team dam building a demonstrator sport this time around?

I thought it was hilarious that one of the linked stories upthread had a line in it about bars allegedly being told to close their doors to "blacks and Mongolians."

I'm of the exact opposite of most of the posters here...I think we should all gonzo the Olympics. If millions of westerners show up, the Chinese government would never recover from all the decadent shinannigans we'd pull. They can't arrest every foreigner for wearing a Free Tibet t-shirt without putting tanks in the streets and that scenario would play out real well on the screens around the world, now wouldn't it?

That's a great idea, dutch.... buy me a ticket?

two words: FUCK CHINA

"Substantial funding for public broadcasting would fix that overnight. No chance in hell in the USA..."

Daddy of Bella, can you not envision our rigid right t - YOU know them; I needn't name them - calling this notion the most unadulterated radical faggot marxist pinko traitor notion ever? herm