Beijing Paralympics draw unprecedented media attention, but some say it's still not enough
5/9/2008 17:52
The impending Beijing Paralympic Games, scheduled to open in Beijing
tomorrow night, have attracted more than 6,000 journalists, 2,960 of whom are
foreign, but some believe the Paralympians deserve still more media
attention.
The Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG)
recently announced that many of the world's leading media organizations, such as
AP, Reuters, Xinhua, AFP and Getty Images, had dispatched journalists to cover
the Beijing Paralympics.
Wang Wei, a BOCOG spokesman, said today at a press
conference that "the total number of media organizations which come to cover the
Beijing Paralympics is more than those of previous Games."
The International
Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced on its website that the Beijing 2008
Paralympic Games will get an extensive live coverage online.
Viewers can go
to ParalympicSport.TV, the IPC's Internet TV channel, for live coverage of the
events, which runs a minimum of eight hours per day.
China's state
television, China Central Television (CCTV), has also announced plans to
broadcast live at least three events a day during the Paralympics, which run
from Sept. 6-17.
Damir Sencar, a photographer with the HINA, Croatia's
national agency, said only four journalists from Croatia covered the Athens
Paralympic Games four years ago, while this year there are eight, four from TV,
two from radio and two from the national agency.
"I think it is maybe because
the IPC becomes more involved with media and the Games are becoming more
interesting for media and people," Sencar said.
Although media attention to
the Paralympics is growing, it needs more improvement compared with the Olympic
Games, he noted.
According to some journalists from Britain, the UK media has
given quite a lot attention to the Beijing Paralympics.
"As the country is
the host of 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, British people seemed
interested in everything," said Stephen Leonard Bond, a journalist from UK's
Sportsbeat.
Bond spoke highly of the Beijing Paralympics' organizing work,
saying that the travel from one venue to another is convenient, the staff are
helpful and their English is fluent.
"My impression of the Beijing
Paralympics is overwhelming! It seems that the Chinese people really care about
this event and that can only send a good message all over the world," said
Steven C. Barber, a US filmmaker who is shooting a documentary about some
disabled athletes.
The event will help enhance the life of the disabled
people across the world, as it is their turn to come out to the front of the
line, said the American.
He called on media organizations to pay more
attention to the Paralympic Games, pointing to the fact that the number of
journalists covering the Paralympic Games was always far less than that for the
Olympic Games.
Barber said he turned to pay attention to the life of the
disabled two years ago, when he lived with a person with disabilities in the
same apartment building.
"Sometimes the disabled are discriminated against or
ignored. But no one wants to be disabled. It is not a choice. We as civilized
human beings must help the disabled. It is the right and decent thing to
do."
|
