Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Viewers frustrated about Korea-heavy Olympic coverage
Novak Djokovic of Serbia serves during the men's singles second-round match against Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany at the Tokyo Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Monday. Xinhua-Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
Korea's 'TV jingoism' continues at Tokyo Games
By Kang Seung-woo
The deep-rooted practice of Korean broadcasters focusing their coverage only on domestic athletes during the Olympic Games has returned with the Tokyo Olympics, as they have neglected many Olympic matches featuring big-name athletes from around the world in favor of less popular sports featuring Korean competitors.
Even during times when Korean athletes are not involved in any particular events, while other interesting games are going on, local broadcasters often opt to show replays of Korean highlights over and over again, which some claim robs many local sports fans of their right to choose what to watch.
Plus, given the fact that the Tokyo Olympics are the “made-for-TV” Games, with barely any fans in the stands due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sports enthusiasts here are complaining that such Korea-only coverage is all the more frustrating.
In order to avoid any recurrence of this practice at this year's Summer Games, earlier this month, the Korea Communications Commission advised domestic broadcasters to coordinate airing Olympic events that will guarantee viewers the right of choice to watch diverse sports events, but this advice has been to no avail thus far.
On Wednesday evening, when the men's football team was playing Honduras in the quarterfinal, all three major broadcasters ― KBS, MBC and SBS ― aired the exact same match simultaneously, which means that the same scene was shown on the three channels, with merely different commentators.
Although more than 10 Olympic events were going on while this particular football match was being held, most of which involved non-Korean athletes, no Korean broadcaster televised any of them, with many sports fans having no choice but to watch the “Taegeuk warriors” rout the Central American country 6-0 to punch its ticket to join the Olympic eight ― on all three local channels.
This instance of football coverage is not the only sport showing the local broadcasters' policy of Korea-only Olympics coverage. When the Korean archers won a gold medal on each of the first three days of the Tokyo Olympics, along with other fellow Koreans who earned other medals, their medal-winning performances were replayed time after time.
As a result, many Korean sports fans did not have the chance to watch Novak Djokovic of Serbia, the world No. 1 tennis player, advance to the quarterfinals of the men's singles competition nor Japanese Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka get defeated in the third round. Djokovic and Osaka are regarded as two of the Games' megastars, as many high-profile athletes decided to skip the Olympics due to COVID-19 concerns and personal reasons.
Basketball makes another case for more diverse, international coverage.
Leading up to the Olympics, basketball had been one of the most anticipated sports in Tokyo among sports buffs in Korea mainly thanks to the participation of top-tier players, most of whom are playing in the National Basketball Association, such as Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets, Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, but they local fans have yet to get the chance to watch them.
Some fans, due to dearth of local coverage of Olympic events featuring non-Korean athletes, may not even be aware that the U.S. men's basketball squad lost to France in the Olympic opener.
Kevin Durant of the United States team dunks during a preliminary-round match of the men's basketball match against Iran at the Tokyo Olympics in Saitama, Japan, Wednesday. AP-Yonhap
Under these circumstances, some people here are resorting to watching overseas television channels or online streaming sites in order to enjoy any performances by non-Korean athletes at all.
“I have been looking forward to watching star players compete in the Olympics, but I now find it near impossible to do so,” one viewer said, adding that it is ridiculous to watch the same scene over and over again on multiple channels.
Many other viewers are also complaining that rather than showing the same events repeatedly, the broadcasters should simply run their regular programs, which have been suspended due to the Olympic coverage.