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Media at the Olympic Games

The modern Olympic Games has become a huge media event, with the media contingent being larger than the number of athletes themselves. This is not necessarily such a bad thing. For the sports fan, the media attention on this major sporting event means there is always plenty of news - instant results and discussion, 24 hour coverage, athlete stories, upsets and surprises - you can find out about all of them.

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Trivia

• The first Olympics to be televised were the Berlin Olympics in 1936. The telecast of events were shown on large screens around Berlin.
• The first Olympic Games to be telecast into homes were the 1948 London Game which transmitted within the British Isles.
• The first Olympic Games to be covered by television worldwide was the Rome Olympics in 1960.
• Broadcast rights nowadays attract a very high fee. In the US, NBC retained the rights in 2012 paying USD$1.181 billion compared to US$894 million in 2008.
• The 2012 Games was called by some the first social media Olympics.
• In London in 2012, there were 21,000 fully accredited journalists at the Games, and possibly as many as 40,000 uncredited ones.

Related Pages

• Blog post about TV versus Radio Olympic Coverage in 2008.
• The role of social media in promoting sports events — social networking provides limitless opportunities to promote sporting events and work with new and exciting projects.
• Sports Journalism — getting a job as a sports journalist
• Sports Photography — how to become a sport photographer

Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.

Old Comments

• Sir/Madam, On NBC, only those games or athletics are shown in which USA is supposed to win. The camera should shift from one event to other of various countries rather only a few events of USA only. The NBC must cover widely on games/athletics/events etc and that too covering all countries. I am very much disappointed to see the present type of coverage of NBC. Shall be grateful to you if you pass on this message to NBC of USA. (from Amrik, Aug 2012)