Journalists Banned From Using Smartphones At 2014 Sochi Olympics? 114
First time accepted submitter SlongNY writes in with a story that journalists may be banned from taking photos or videos with smartphones at the 2014 Olympics. "'Journalists using mobile phones to film athletes or spectators will be considered a serious violation and will result in cancellation of accreditation,' said Vasily Konov, head of the state-run R-Sport news agency, which controls accreditation at the games. According to Buzzfeed, Mr. Konov later denied that he had said the ban was in place. Radio Free Europe, however, also reported him as saying the same thing."
Follow the money (Score:4, Insightful)
If independent footage comes out, R-sport doesn't get paid for it. Gotta have that cash.
Re:Follow the money (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly: the olympics is, to a large extent, about money in one way or another. I sometimes think that the IOC would quickly ditch the athletes if they could find a way of having the games without them.
Re:How is this a surprise? (Score:5, Insightful)
The Olympic Committee has been pushing for YEARS that they be the sole source of any information, media or other materials originating from the events. It's only a matter of time before they ban external reporters altogether and simply provide their own press releases throughout the days from their own staffers.
Good. Let it collapse under that bullshit rule then.
Go ahead and start banning something that we struggle every four years to continue to justify from every perspective. The cities left behind in the aftermath of hosting an Olympics would certainly agree. It's far from the financial whirlwind everyone wants to believe it is.
And the only thing I'm going to be surprised over with these games is if Sochi somehow doesn't turn it into a complete clusterfuck. Between their logistical planning to the anti-gay sentiment being broadcast over these games as if it were Nazi Germany again, I don't hold much hope for success.
NBC wants it taped delayed covage to have good rat (Score:4, Insightful)
NBC wants it taped delayed covage to have good ratings
The Olympics Trump All World Governments. (Score:5, Insightful)
Local customs and laws, charters, and regulations are ignored or flouted without so much as a "Sorry," and the great armies of renta-cops rule the roost.
Oh yeah baby! (Score:3, Insightful)
It's the host country's responsibility to ensure the billions of dollars in exclusivity rights' value is not diluted via unauhorized production.
Witness UK's 00 agents neck-snapping unauthorized shop owners within 200 miles of London who put "Enjoy the Olympics!" signs in their windows.
This is, after all, a private, commercial enterprise.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Money (Score:5, Insightful)
At most the host city will benefit from some upgraded infrastructure, probably long overdue, but very rarely will the host come close to recouping the cost they have put in, and a lot of the money goes to waste, meaning that if they had spend the money purely on improving their citizens live, it would have gone much further. Supporters counter this by saying that the host will get more back in the long term from business promotion and tourism, but this claim is dubious at best, but being a very hard thing to quantify it's also impossible to refute, but considering it's mostly held in cities that are already some of the most popular tourist destination and business hubs, it's hard to see what real difference is being made.
At the end of the day, the Olympics have very successfully branded themselves as a must have event, however the only ones who really benefits are the sponsors who gets a venue where a country's normal safeguards and laws are completely nullifies, the politicians who get to stand on the grandest stage of all and proclaim how awesome they are and the of course the members of IOC who gets to take home fat bribes.
Again, fuck the Olympics. The great white elephant of the modern age.
Re:The Olympics Trump All World Governments. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah it sucks that only McDonalds can sell fast food on the Olympics venue, but can you really blame them for kicking out Joe the hot dog stand vendor? They paid the IOC huge bucks to become the official exclusive food sponsor. The IOC makes every right it sells exclusive if they can, because it makes a bidding war where they can extract the most money possible from the corporate sponsors. If you want to stop it, you need to put a leash on the IOC. Don't give them rights that infringe on the rights of pre-existing businesses. But cities are so desperate to host the Olympics they'll service the IOC like a $2 whore and and give the IOC anything it asks for.
When Pierre de Coubertin came up with the idea of the modern Olympics, he prohibited professional athletes because he didn't want money to get in the way of a competition where each individual was simply trying to do his/her best. Unfortunately he didn't foresee that the athletes weren't the only ones who could be corrupted by money.
Re:How is this a surprise? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The Olympics Trump All World Governments. (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah it sucks that only McDonalds can sell fast food on the Olympics venue, but can you really blame them for kicking out Joe the hot dog stand vendor? They paid the IOC huge bucks to become the official exclusive food sponsor.
That seems like asking whether we can really blame the RIAA for pursuing massive infringement penalties; after all, they paid Congress huge bucks to write the ridiculous laws.
Yes, you can blame McDonald's, and the RIAA, and Congress, and the IOC. They are all despots abusing power to misappropriate money.