Full Description
As the Olympic spectacle grows, broadcast coverage becomes bigger, more complex, and more sophisticated. Part sporting event, part reality show, and part global festival, the Olympics can be seen as both intensely nationalistic and a celebration of a shared sense of international community. This book sheds new light on how the Olympic experience has been shaped by television and expanded across multiple platforms and formats.
Combining a multitude of approaches ranging from interviews to content analyses to audience surveys, the book explores the production, influence, and significance of Olympic media in contemporary society. Built on a central case study of NBC's coverage of the Rio Games in 2016, which is then placed within 20 years of content analyses, the book focuses on the entire Olympic television process from production to content to effects.
Touching on key themes such as race, gender, history, consumerism, identity, nationalism, and storytelling, Olympic Television: Broadcasting the Biggest Show on Earth is fascinating reading for any student or scholar with an interest in sport, media, and the global impact of mega-events.
Contents
Preface Introduction: Olympic Television: Broadcasting the Biggest Show on Earth 1. Stories We Tell: The Development of Olympic Television 2. Stories Shaped: Interviews with NBC Producers and Sportscasters 3. Nationalized Stories: Portraying US vs. Portraying 'The World' 4. Stories Segmented by Biological Sex: Men and Women in the Thirty-First Olympiad 5. Racialized Stories: Stacking and Difference at the Rio Games 6. Stories Reverberated: The Impact of Olympic Media Consumption 7. Deciphering Stories: The Legacy and Future of Olympic Media
