Thursday, June 16, 2011

Last night’s “fan” riot was notable not only for the havoc caused but for the reportage on it. Like the 1972 Olympic hostage taking, where sports reporters and their hard news colleagues reported together, CKNW’s “Sportstalk” was in a similar position. However, rather than come up with something extraordinary, we were treated to their mutual disgust, with phrases like “I don’t get this” ringing out every fifteen seconds. Seems any attempt to explain what was going on was withheld for fear of appearing sympathetic. As for critique, all were hostile towards a local government who had created “live site” watching stations, like those of the 2010 Olympics. Are these not the same sports and hard news journalists who had complained endlessly about Vancouver being a “no fun” city? The difference between this fan riot and the one in 1994, something the police did not anticipate: texting.

No comments:

Post a Comment