NBC Walks Tightrope In Coverage Of Beijing Olympics Amid Diplomatic Boycott And Human Rights Furor

deadline.com:

NBC Sports this week made the not-too-surprising announcement that much of its Beijing Olympics team would be covering next month’s Winter Games from afar, in Stamford, CT, as the Covid pandemic once again disrupts the event.But the international outcry over human rights abuses in China, leading to a U.S.

diplomatic boycott, has put extra scrutiny on how the network covers the Games, starting with the telecast of the opening ceremonies on February 4, with Mike Tirico hosting from Beijing and Today‘s Savannah Guthrie in the states.Human rights groups already have called on NBC and other broadcasters to drop plans to carry the Games, and while that was never a likely prospect, network executives said this week they will add two China experts: Andy Browne, former China editor at the Wall Street Journal and now editorial director of Bloomberg New Economy, as well as Jing Tsu, a cultural historian who is Yale professor of China studies.“Our coverage will provide perspective on China’s place in the world and the geopolitical in which these Games are being held,” said Molly Solomon, president, NBC Olympics Production, in a presentation last week in which she was interviewed by Tirico. “But the athletes do remain the centerpiece of our coverage.”Solomon told Tirico that NBC News, with a bureau in China, will be on site to “cover the news in China,” and that they have covered issues at the Games in the past. “And most recently, we covered Covid and the athlete protests in Tokyo,” she said.

The news division has yet to announce its plans but its correspondents have been reporting on the human rights situation for years.The U.S.