Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21-year-old luger from Georgia lost his life on the track in a trial run at the Vancouver Winter Olympics on the morning of February 12th, prior to the opening ceremony that evening. This was a tragic public relations event during the Olympics and the main question surrounding the publics was how to deal with the issue. TV stations like NBC decided not only to share the story as part of the news, but also chose to show the clip numerous times throughout their airtime. The US is fascinated by the sensationalism factor which makes viewing Nodar’s death desirable by viewers. However, despite our interest, should the clip of his death been refrained from the air? The media creates a question of whether the story should be aired to fully inform the viewers or to respect the privacy of Nodar and his family by not showing his untimely death on TV for the entertainment factor of the publics. In this instance the media might have actually gone too far.
Link Here | February 14, 2010,
I definitely think that the media went too far with it. My mom was just telling me about the pictures that The Washington Post featured of him in the paper yesterday, and it seems to me that the media has overstepped the boundaries on what is ethical when it comes to a person’s privacy, ESPECIALLY in the instance of death.
kimmymoss
Link Here | February 15, 2010,
Yeah, I thought this was an interesting choice by NBC. Before the opening ceremony — one of the most-watched parts of the Olympics — they aired this video multiple times. Then, of course, people complained, and NBC has pledged not to air it again — without ever exactly saying it was a mistake to air it the first time.
Be careful of errors in your blog posts, though: Kumaritashvili was from Georgia, not Jordan.
dkois