The Winter Olympics are coming to Vancouver, BC in February 2010. Canadian journalists are constantly bombarded with emails pitching Olympic festivities in all sectors. As a part-time fashion journalist, I received media kits from
HBC (Hudson's Bay Company - official uniform sponsor) regarding the athletes uniforms with samples of the apparel for myself. I was very excited!
However I am appalled
that CTV chose 27 members of their broadcast journalism team to carry the Olympic Flames across Canada. I think it is unethical for CTV's journalists, to shine in the spotlight as Canadian Olympic torch bearer's and cover the events.
It's providing the media with the opportunity to be exclusively recognized representing the Olympic brand and convey the meaning of the Olympic spirit -- it's conflict of interest.
Instead I believe Canadian athletes and volunteers deserve to be honored- as our torch bearers for their dedication and hard work. The Winter Olympics are a huge deal, since winter sports are an integral component of Canadian culture.
Realistically, do you think it is ethical for journalists to gain exclusive access to convey the meaning as torch bearers and identify themselves with the Olympic brand? Or not? Further, if you were a renowned sports journalist, leveraging the Olympics and your boss asked you to represent your country as a torch bearer, would you accept or decline the opportunity?For more information on the
CTV torch bearer broadcast team please view the announcement in the
Toronto Star and for further info on the
Vancouver 2010 Olympics click here.
5 comments:
If I were the journalist being presented with this opportunty, it would be extremely tempting but...It would not be ethical to take this role in the games. It seems like they are buying the journalistic coverage and support of uniform branding. Not appropriate at all.
As a reporter I could not do the run. I couldn't accept the Hudson Bay clothes either. If the media tent at the Olympics events I covered had free food and coffee, I couldn't accept those.
But, I am not casting aspersions. As a US-based journalist, I can only apply my local prevailing and generally accepted ethical standards to me.
Although I am Canadian, and live in Toronto. I spend a lot of time in the US. My family has condos and friends in South Beach, NYC and Beverly Hills.
I attend Fashion Weeks and major red carpet events in the states very frequently. In both Toronto and the US, I receive free product samples of the latest trends hitting the runways worldwide. Despite the samples that come with the media kit, I never ask for extras and I am not necessarily obligated to write about the fashion. I only write about trends that I think are innovative, which my audience will find chic.
It seems like they are masquerading the invitation to carry the torch as an honor ,and in fact it is a perk, to have them associated with the Olympic brand.
The journalists should not accept based on their need to be objective, even thought the temptation is I'm sure, very great.
I think it is a conflict of interest for the journalists to participate in the torch run, particularly because of the huge commercialization of the Olympics. Cities spend huge amounts of money to acquire and stage the games and recouping some of that money as well as national pride in putting on the best event, are not platforms that journalists should be a part of.
In the Toronto Star article, one of the reasons given for participating was to be able to provide better coverage. "What better way to represent, present and speak to an event than to actually participate in it? Our broadcast team can do a better job of bringing the Olympic flame and conveying its meaning to the people of Canada by running with the torch as opposed to observing it from a distance."
If this were really necessary, reporters who were not soldiers would not be able to write about the military and reporters who were not professional athletes would not be a ble to write effectively about particular sports.
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