The majority of the world knows about the death of Georgian luge athlete Nomar Kudaritashvili during a practice run shorly before the opening of the Olympics. How could they not know?
The death was a tragic accident, and from reports I've seen was a combination of inexperience and a track that was far too fast. Officials at the venue where it happened have already made changes, moving the start location down the track to cut down ont he finishing speed, and have built a wall to prevent anyone else from being ejected from the track at the location of the accident.
In this internet age, word of the accident getting out was almost instant. Foxnews.com blurted out a piece on it shortly after it happened, identifying the athelete by name and reporting his death. It said the source of the information didn't want to be identifed because the man's family hadn't been informed yet.
????
I thought news organizations weren't supposed to identify victims before the family has been notified. TV and internet coverage identified Nomar long before his family, located half a world away, could have been informed. How would you like to find out from an internet posting that your son, your brother, had been killed?
NBC, ABC, and CBS all reported the accident and showed footage during their evening newscasts. CBS played the video 3 times, the last time in slow motion. Gotta boost those ratings with some dinner time violence ...
Later, NBC opened its coverage of the opening ceremony with video of the accident, replayed several times.
Nomar's loss is tragic. The news organizations could have handled it much better. They could have waited ... the Olympic officials could have stopped the coverage until they were assured the family had been informed privately. In their thirst to boost ratings and shock their audiences, there is no consideration of the family left behind. Very sad.
Update - The arrogance of the IOC and the Luge Federation are incredible. They've come out and blamed Nomar for his own death, rather than stand up and take any responsibility. These international sports organizations are just like the UN - they walk around with their noses up in the air, with an attitude of their crap don't stink. International sports federations and such are political entities - not sports. They are all about power and stature - crooked, corrupt, dedicated to nothing but keeping themselves in power.
Why exactly did they come out and blame the young man? I think to try and eliminate any chance they would be held liable for the death.
It certainly wasn't because they really believed he was at fault ... the changes made to the facility and competition immediately after the death make it clear that they knew there were problems.
For those of you upset about the ongoing creepfest in the reshowing of the video, contact NBC. They are in charge of TV coverage for the Olympics. They still have the video posted on their web site.
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2 comments:
No kidding! My women's group last night expressed these same concerns and disgust, just let us know who we need to barrage with letters of complaint and we are on the bandwagon!
NBC.
They've played the video over and over, and it's posted on their web site.
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