NBC has drawn plenty of criticism for its coverage of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Count veteran sports journalist Joanne Gerstner among the critics.
“It honestly drives me crazy,” Gerstner said about NBC’s Rio Olympics coverage.
“I literally have not run into anyone who said, ‘Wow, I love NBC’s coverage primetime,’” Gerstner said. “Everyone is like, ‘what is this?’”
Gerstner criticized the coverage for delaying so much of the coverage. Viewers value live coverage, Gerstner said, and NBC hasn’t been able to provide enough of it.
Gerstner said she can see both the difficulty of organizing coverage for the Olympics and the disappointment from viewers because of the coverage they’ve seen.
“But the Olympics are cool,” she said. “And there’s a reason we love it and there’s a reason the media pays a lot of money to show it, but some of the coverage this year has been curious.”
Listen to the full interview with Gerstner to hear more about her views on the Olympic coverage and how the USA has fared so far.
GUEST Joanne Gerstner is the sports journalist in residence at Michigan State University.
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