Media overview of the Olympics-past, present, future

The New Colors of Olympic Media

Definitions
Short history of media @ the Games
“ New!” media
Beijing 2008
The Social Media Olympics

media 1 | ˈ m ē d ēə |
noun
1 plural form of medium .
2 (usu. the media) [treated as sing. or pl. ] the main means of mass communication (esp. television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet) regarded collectively : [as adj.] the campaign won media attention.
web 2.0
the era of user generated content and the boundaries between media genres boundaries blurred

Olympic Movement
encompasses any organizations, athletes or persons who agree to be guided by the Olympic Charter and to recognize the authority of the IOC in respect of that commitment
Convergence media culture
the collision of old and new media, along with the intersection of grassroots and corporate media and the unpredictable interaction between media producers and media consumers

Looking back
1867 - modern typewriter
1877 - high speed photography
1884 - the linotype printing press
1887 - invention of radio
1888 - roll film camera
1895 - invention of cinematography
1896 - first modern Olympic Games
1902 - radio signals
1906 - first communication of human voice
1910 - first talking motion picture
1936 - first uses of photojournalism as a new independent genre (during the Spanish Civil War) + black & white TV

Innovation Olympics
Live broadcast (Cortina,1956)
Live multi-national simultaneous broadcast, instant replays (Rome, 1960)
Satellite broadcast, freeze-frame (Tokyo, 1964)
Color live broadcast and slow-motion footage (Mexico, 1968)
Video-on-demand, 3-D high-definition, “ webcasting ” (Nagano, 1998)
Online television (Athens, 2004).
Video coverage for mobile phones; Olympic news and images shared online (Turin, 2006)

Media competition
London, 1929 - first radio presence (with restrictions imposed by the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association)
“ The BBC still had to take news bulletins exclusively from the press agencies (the Newspaper Society, Reuters Limited, the Press Association, the Exchange Telegraph Company and the Central News); could not edit its own news (this remained in force until 1930); and could not broadcast a news bulletin until 6 p.m ” )
McCoy, 1997
Berlin, 1936 - the first media regulations ("General Rules and Regulations for the Printed Press and Radio ” )
"announcers and reporters to restrict their comments to the Olympic events and travel appreciation, with no mention of the political, and especially religious, issues in Germany ”
McCoy, 1997
London, 1948 - BBC offers IOC money for the exclusivity of broadcast
Helsinki, 1952 - the first official TV rights negotiations

The Olympics favorite medium: TV
1958 - Article 49 (Media Coverage of the Olympic Games) being incorporated in the Olympic Charter
“ 1. IOC takes all necessary steps in order to ensure the fullest coverage by the different media and the widest possible audience in the world for the Olympic Games
2. All decisions concerning the coverage of the Olympic Games by the media rest within the competence of the IOC. “
Olympic Charter, 2007
From commissioning the TV services in the 60s to having a single Olympic broadcaster in the 70s and later

Berlin, 1936 London, 1948 Athens, 2004 Beijing, 2008

The underdog
ARPANET
4 (1962) => 40 (1970) => 376.000 (1991) => 13M (1996)
Uses:
Commercial exchange, daily management of personal information, business information management, institutional promotion, journalistic information and entertainment
Fears:
Internet will lead to the collapse of broadcast
Computers will destroy the mass culture

Internet users in the world
Asia - 704 mil
Europe - 402 mil
North America - 251 mil
Latin America/ Caribbean - 175 mil
Africa - 65 mil
Middle East - 47 mil
Oceania/ Australia - 20 mil

The Olympic Movement Online
A not-to-be missed opportunity for the Olympic Movement ’ s information policies
1996, Atlanta - the first OCOG website
online Olympic multimedia
TV ’ s main competitor
May, 1998
70% of the International Olympic Federations and 18% of the National Olympic Committees were present online having their own website

“ The plurality of contents and the large dimension of the audience reached in Nagano, increased still further in Sydney 2000, present new problems for Olympic communication policy and, more specifically, for its policies regulating rights and cessation of exclusives. The first and main battle will be fought within the Olympic system itself. Especially significant was the competitiveness established between the site of the Sydney 2000 Organising Committee ( www.olympics.com ) and the web site of NBC ( www.NBColympics.com ) ” Miguel de Moragas, 1999

Beijing 2008
Beijing 2008 - The Hi-Tech Olympics
221 million Internet users in China
15% increase compared to 2007
Surpassed the US before the 2009 projection date
Most active blogospheres (20 million active bloggers)
2 media centers
IOC accredited media centre
Beijing International Media Centre (also known as “non-accredited media” centre)

What was expected?
Speed
Dynamism
Novelty
Multiplicity of close-by unique angles
Variety
video on mobile phones, news alerts on email, RSS on the blogs, 3D and HDTV television and maybe even parallel Olympics in Second Life inspired by the competitions happening in the stadia
More attempts of information control

What did we get?
IOC blogging guidelines for athletes and Olympic family
IOC YouTube deal
multi-media, multi-platform Olympic coverage
Simultaneous online live streams
On-demand online streams
HD full-screen/multiple windows viewing experience
Citizen journalists

What does this mean for:
Media
Traditional media
Social media
Mobile media
Public
Athletes
Advertisers/Sponsors
IOC

What next?
Old media are not being replaced or displaced.
Rather, their functions and status are shifted by the introduction of new technologies.
More convergence
A further blurring of media genres boundaries
Separation of new media rights from broadcasting rights
Tighter media rules and brand protection measures

Media overview of the Olympics-past, present, future

by Terri MacDonnell

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