Only Sky News active showed Live coverage of the Buenos Aires relay
While the torch relays in London, Paris and San Francisco received widespread coverage, the same cannot be said of Argentina. When the Olympic flame made its way to Kazakhstan, Turkey and Russia, coverage was almost non existent. CCTV-9 broadcast a few seconds but until the disruption in London there had been little or no coverage on most Western news stations.
Tonight there were few pictures being shown Live as the opening ceremonies began in Buenos Aires. CNN opened with a few seconds at the top of the hour but soon cut away to other stories. Sky News also showed a few moments of the Live pictures prior to a report by their Beijing correspondent Peter Sharp. New pictures were shown in the report showing the scale of Tibetan protests in Gansu province on 15th March. Some of the pictures showed rioters overturning vehicles while others showed monks smashing shop windows with bricks. At a press conference organised by Chinese authorities, journalists asked Olympic athletes how they felt about the anti-Chinese protests. Liu Yun, a handball coach, told the assembled media, “We only want to enjoy the games”. Meanwhile, Jacques Rogge, the IOC President today backtracked on his earlier statement that the Olympics were in “crisis”. In an interview with CNN’s John Vause he said that there had been improvements in China over the past few years but that “We are not naive and we are not blind” to the issues surrounding the problems in China. “We still believe opening up the games will change China, maybe not today, but tomorrow and the day after” Rogge said.
While the torch prepared to make its way around the Argentine capital there were no pictures. Sky showed little more after its brief shot shortly after 17:00 GMT. CNN continued with regular programming showing an edition of World’s Untold Stories discussing problems in Darfur. BBC which provided intensive coverage of the events in San Francisco, continued with Sportsday. Al Jazeera, CCTV-9, Russia Today, France 24 and Euro News also gave no Live coverage to the much talked about torch relay. Much talked about only when it descends into violence or fiasco. Sky News were at least showing Live coverage via its interactive service, though of course the commentary was in Spanish.
After a short run through the streets the torch was handed to the fourth torchbearer who took to the river in a longboat and even made an exchange mid-stream. Pictures being beamed from Argentina showed little sign of the expected protests but instead hundreds of enthusiastic well wishers some waving Chinese flags.
1 comment:
I've just watched the torch passing by the building I work in. There's been protest, but none in front of the torch, perhaps before the convoy or in another corner of the main square. It was a very nice scene here, as it turned dark on the afternoon because of un upcoming rain, the torch then seemed brighter, as the police lights. People greated the passage of the torch throughing confetti and clapping. I work in the downtown, that's why it was so crowded. Now the torch is in it's way to less crowded avenues and not much is going on.
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