The IOC is a symbol of greed but so is NJN Network says CanadaEast

IOC - big brother is watch

By Charles Mandel, Here CanadaEast

Check out the end of this article for our response, muted as always

The tragedy of the Olympic Winter Games is now turning into a symbol of greed. Unbelievably, the long arm of the International Olympic Committee has reached all the way to Prince Edward Island, of all places. The IOC has ordered Stephen Pate, a PEI blogger, to remove a clip of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvilli crashing during his fatal practice run.

The email sent to Pate says the IOC owns the rights to all images from the Vancouver Olympics; only licenced broadcasters can use them, according to CBC News. CBC reports that Pate argues he is allowed to post the images because Canada’s copyright act allows such material to be used in news stories.

Pate’s blog site NJN posted that when it comes to the death of the luger: “[I]t’s not just US comedian Dave Letterman who thinks the IOC is callous…

Certainly, greed motivates the strict control of the broadcast images. CBC says an IOC spokesperson told them the two main reasons for ordering the video down were to protect the exclusive rights of the IOC and the broadcasters and because they feel it’s disrespectful to the luger’s family.

If the IOC really believed the latter, they wouldn’t allow any images of the death to be broadcast at all. Instead, the clip has become horrifyingly familiar, played over and over again, a spectacular piece of footage in the best tradition of lowest-common denominator news: If it bleeds, it leads.

Pate isn’t any better. While NJN frames its opinion that IOC is callous, the blog is every bit as coarse, running the video again and fighting to keep it up on the site. Such video footage equals traffic, which amounts to potential ad revenue.

Another issue is whether NJN, a blog, is a “news” organization. Does anyone who throws a blog online automatically become a “news organization?”

NJN should remove the video. Not because the IOC ordered, but because like the IOC they are profiting from the footage and making callous use of it.

NJN Network Reply

News is often about death, violence and disaster.

Viewers have a choice to watch or not watch. Freedom of the press and your choice as a viewer are vital parts of democracy.

At first we passed on this story. We posted this video a few days later to bring attention to the apparent cover-up of Nodar Kumaritashvilli’s death.  At that the IOC had closed the book on the luger’s death.

We also do not agree with the control of news. If the IOC or anyone can dictate what news stories we can publish freedom of the press and democracy is at risk. Perhaps Irving could ban stories about pollution at their St. John paper mill if their trademarked logo was shown.

NJN Network took on the David and Goliath battle with the IOC. Thanks to our friends on the Internet we have embarrassed the IOC into opening the investigation and quietly dropping their demands. No doubt the dragon sleeps to rise again but that is another day’s worry.

The claim “they are profiting from the footage and making callous use of it” is entirely false. NJN Network is not a for-profit organization. Any ad revenues from our site are so tiny as to be irrelevant. To equate us with the multi-million dollar IOC organization is humorous.

I was at a family funeral in Halifax on Tuesday. At the social afterward, my cousin kept asking me “So how do you make money at your blog?” The answer is simple: you don’t.

Thanks for covering the story. – Stephen Pate

Canada East is part of the Telegraph-Journal, Times and Transcript, Daily Gleaner family of local papers in New Brunswick, Canada.