Olympic Propaganda
Much to the BBC’s amusement (and mine, too, I have to admit) it seems to be bothering the Ockers that Team GB is ahead of them on the Olympic Medals Table - as the Sydney Morning Herald reported this morning, “Poms are winning, call an inquiry. ”
I think that they need to learn from Our American Cousins.
Before today’s Gold Rush was quite over, this is how the BBC reported the Medals Table:
Le Figaro:
The Berliner Morgenpost:
However, the Washington Post has invented a new way of counting medals that doesn’t just put the USA on top - it puts Australia ahead of GB, too.
And finally, MSNBC:
They don’t need to actually lie about it - just find a way of telling the truth that suits your prejudices.
This is the real reason Russia invaded Georgia. Oil and ethnic tension is just a cover story - they had to distract their populace from their dismal Olympic performance…
Comment by Hank — August 19, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
I’ve always said the unofficial US motto was “We’re number one, just ask us.” That said, in the US, it has always gone by the total number of medals, because it is all about domination on all levels. It is only the smaller countries that look at the tally of just one column, the golds.
That’s because places like GB are much more used to losing, so winning is a novel experience to them.
Comment by Anne — August 28, 2008 @ 5:38 am
I really can’t comment on how the Americans used to report on medals - because I don’t know. But the fact remains that they appear to be globally unique in their method of counting.
The fact that their method had this effect may not actually signify an intent, but it certainly presents a compelling metaphor (not least because it has been done by the nation that took the old-fashioned art of propaganda and raised it first to the craft of spin doctoring and then to the science of neuro-linguistic programming.)
Whatever the history behind this differential in medal counting, it has great potential as a sociology thesis.
Comment by grumpyoldman — August 28, 2008 @ 1:51 pm