NLGJA has been in contact with NBC this week about the Olympic coverage of Matthew Mitcham of Australia, who in a big upset won the gold medal in 10-meter platform diving. NLGJA was concerned and disappointed that NBC failed to mention a key part of the Mitcham story: He is openly gay.
NBC was quick to respond, so we wanted to share this note that NLGJA received yesterday. The e-mail included the following statement from NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel: "We regret that we missed the opportunity to tell Matthew Mitcham's story. We apologize for this unintentional omission."
NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics was an impressive display of journalistic effort and showmanship, introducing record audiences to the personal and professional stories of athletes from countless backgrounds. Throughout the two weeks, viewers met the spouses and families of competitors and learned of their personal triumphs and tragedies. All this made watching them succeed or fail in their events all the more compelling and emotional.
When Mitcham — whose pre-Games coming out of the closet was an international news event — pulled off a diving upset that prevented a Chinese gold-medal sweep, NBC announcers failed to offer any compelling background on the personal life of a new, intriguing star even as they had it at their fingertips; Mitcham's sexual orientation and coming out were part of his bio on NBCOlympics.com.
This was as unfortunate as it was a notable exception to the otherwise exceptional coverage of athletes and their histories. It is still unusual for an openly gay athlete to compete in the Olympics or any sporting event for that matter, which makes it by definition newsworthy. But even if it were commonplace, virtually all the athletes who celebrated with their spouses and families were shown doing so. Mitcham's partner, Lachlan Fletcher, was not shown. The efforts to get Fletcher to the Games was also a part of Mitcham's intriguing pre-Olympic drama. And, of course, Mitcham was the only known out gay male athlete competing in Beijing.
We appreciate NBC clarifying its position on coverage of LGBT athletes. In the future, NBC sports journalists will know they are to be responsible and accurate in giving the background of competitors before them. We also urge the network in all its news operations to consider the inclusion of LGBT people and their families as part of the diversity reflected in our society and culture.
NLGJA is an organization of journalists, media professionals, educators and students working from within the news industry to foster fair and accurate coverage of LGBT issues. One way we do that is through the Rapid Response Task Force,
a panel of working journalists from mainstream and LGBT media that answers complaints about reporting seen as unfair and/or inaccurate by readers, viewers, listeners and our peer journalists around the country.
