Sky Sports commentry

[monotonetuba]

i remember the bbc with a feature on how the austrlian media reported the sydney olympics. well the americans are bad but the ozzies took the biscuit for being bias and very insular.steve redgrave won a fifth gold medal something that may never be done again and apparantly received half a page of spread in a twelve page sporting edition but (ok he is a pom) bias is amongst us all i mean how much coverage did cathy freeman need....

[Leafy Seadragon]

I agree on the biased nature of media coverage, although having lived and worked in several countries including Britain, my experience is that the bias doesn't differ much. IMO its understandable that the local media focus on the local interests, but do admit frustration to seeing replays of major events whilst the local is shown live firing a pistol at a target you can't see, in a stage that might bring him up as high as 34th.

In terms of the the Cathy Freeman show, IMO it did deserve much of the coverage granted in Oz. She carried pretty significant complex national emotional baggage with her and delivered in front of her own people. Her victory was viewed as cathartic to a degree and the media response was always going to reflect this. In comparison, Redgrave won a boat race - this isn't meant to belittle his truly great sporting achievement but to put it in perspective against the Australian reaction at the time

[Rachael]

Mass media reactions always seem to me to respond more to personality than achievement.. at least in this country. It's pretty much entrenched in soccer: Sheringham never got the credit he deserved in the Sheringham-Sheerer years; Gary Neville could out-do Ashley Cole in virtually every match for years (oh yes, he has done) and the attention would always be on the latter; Gary's brother Phil faces even greater institutionalised aversion to a fair press; by contrast, Joe Cole managed to get lauded with great praise (and a man of the match award) for a performance that lead to him being dropped by his manager on the ground that he went AWOL every time the opposition had the ball).

Similar thing in motor racing: Damon Hill wasn't a patch on David Coulthard.. but the former was well received in media circles and the latter is already being ignored by a press that has already decided that Jason Button is more their cup of tea.

The pattern is repeated at every turn... and reflects in parrt, I think, the fact that the professional media types just see too much of their chosen sports: Vic Marks has mentioned this a few times lately - that media types see so much cricket that they end up with a quite absurd appetite for something - anything - that's a bit different... even when different ain't necessarily better!

I think the cricketing and rugby worlds are less culpable than most in this regard.. but you still see it. Ask Paul Colingwood - I'm sure he feels it quite acutely (I'm pretty sure at least one media light even publically hoped for the guy's failure in Test matches).

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Sheringham never got the credit he deserved in the Sheringham-Shearer years...

Sheringham (who was absolute class) did pretty well, I never heard of any critisicm of him or his performances. I can see what you mean, he was overshadowed by the more prolific Shearer and was never sprayed with superlatives even though he put in good performances in an England shirt.

Originally Posted by Rachael

Gary Neville could out-do Ashley Cole in virtually every match for years.

I'm a huge Gary Neville fan. I always think that a good full-back should never be noticed, mainly that they are never out of position and never get "done" by wingers. Ashley Cole (Roberto Carlos wannabe) is an a decent player and a great prospect but unfortunately I notice him a little too much for my liking, he's going to be a good player for both England and Chelsea for years to come.

Originally Posted by Rachael

Similar thing in motor racing: Damon Hill wasn't a patch on David Coulthard

Not sure I agree with that to be honest. But I'm not a Coulthard fan.

[Beny]

steve redgrave

Who? Ofcourse he would have been shunted to the side in an Aussie newspaper. Only Aussies are reading that.