|
Here is one explanation to that question by a media writer with a disabiliy. We know that the Canadian Broadcast Corporation is covering the Paralympics. Only those in the Northwest (Oregon and Washington may have access to CBC). Word is that Telemundo may have coverage. I am checking that out. Meanwhile, here is an article from one perspective...
_____________________________
Cheated Once Again
By Bob Molinatti
As people with disabilities we've grown accustomed to life's little
inequities. I know I have. I wasn't
born disabled. As a matter of fact, I lead an able-bodied life until
the age of 19. I ran high school
track, dated cheerleaders, and went to my high school prom. It
wasn't until a car accident in 1978 that
I became a part of our country's largest minority.
After my accident, it took me a while to rediscover sport. Physical
therapists tried to get me into
basketball, and I swung a tennis racket around, but ultimately it was
wheelchair racing that hooked me.
To be quite frank, one of the things I really liked about racing was
that it was an extension of the
able-bodied world, where we were actually gaining acceptance and
respect.
I went to the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul and then again qualified for
the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
While Seoul provided us with mildly difficult conditions for living,
I was appalled at what we
experienced in Atlanta. The dorms we lived in were filthy. The
trash was overflowing with a variety
of medical wastes, we slept under scratchy wool blankets, and I
finally moved out of the dorm when
human waste rolled by my feet during a shower.
I had encouraged my parents to meet me in Atlanta for my last hoorah
and one night I met them in
town for dinner. I caught a cab from their downtown hotel and asked
to be taken to the athlete
village. The cab driver took me to these beautiful buildings, all of
which were vacant. When I asked
him what we were doing, he said we had arrived at the athlete
village. What I later discovered was that
there was one set of accommodations for the Olympians and another for
the Paralympians. Overall, I
once again felt the sting of being a second-class citizen in my own
country.
This all leads me to the injustice that I read about in the paper
this morning. Since WeMedia's attempt
at covering the Sydney Paralympics in 2000, we have struggled to get
any coverage of the Paralympic
Games. Last summer, at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, I spoke
personally with CEO of the
U.S. Paralympics, Charlie Huebner. I asked him to please keep me
informed of any opportunity to
provide television coverage for the Paralympians. He said there were
some plans in negotiation and
that I would be kept in the loop. Needless to say, nothing came to
fruition. Now don't get me wrong
—I'm not blaming Charlie Huebner because he is just a cog in this
gigantic wheel. I'm sure his heart is
in the right place and that if he had his way, we would get some
coverage. But, ladies and gentleman,
that is not going to be happening stateside. The Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation will be airing
Paralympic coverage, the BBC will be airing three hours of live
Paralympic coverage daily, but here in
the United States, the whole event will go unnoticed. I would have
probably let this go until I woke up
this morning, picked up my local newspaper and read an article from
the Gannett News Service that
had the following information:
"For the first time, all 28 Olympic sports will be on the TV menu."
"Olympic TV traditionally focused on getting up-close-and- personal
with the marquee athletes, but
NBC's buffet will cater to all appetites. It's 1,210 total TV hours
will be greater than the U.S. TV
hours from the past five summer games combined and will create,
literally, round the clock coverage
spread across the network, MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Bravo and
Spanish- language Telemundo.
"
As a former high-level wheelchair jock and broadcast journalist, I
understand why we don't warrant
that extensive level of coverage. But what I can't understand is,
with the limitless amount of
television stations available on the cable and satellite networks,
why we haven't been able to get
anybody to agree to provide even limited coverage of our great
sporting world. Why is it that America'
s powerful corporations could not influence even a small network to
give Paralympians a one hour
wrap-up show each night? Would that seriously have been too much to
ask?
At the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, WeMedia came to the table
with an idea to do a webcast,
as well as nightly coverage on PAX and periodic coverage on FOX
Sports. Unfortunately for
WeMedia, they may have gotten a little ahead of themselves with the
webcast as we were still dealing
with new technology.
I co-hosted the track events with former Olympian Dwight Stone, who
covers field events for NBC at
the Olympic Games, and Larry Rawson, who has covered track and field
for various networks
throughout many years. The racing was great, the coverage was
awesome, and I believed we may be
on the brink of a new trend in disabled sports. But here we are four
years later and the disappointment
of living with inequity is obvious once again.
According to the National Organization on Disability, nearly one-
fifth of the U.S. population lives with
a disability. Collectively, the disabled population has over $220
billion dollars of spending power. Why
are we still being overlooked in our capitalist society?
Somehow, some way we have been cheated. Some of America's largest
corporations have decided
that it's acceptable for us to buy their products and support their
industries, yet they neglect our athletic
community. Who decided that we, the disabled community, do not
deserve to have our athletes and
their accomplishments recognized? While I appreciate and respect the
sponsorship dollars we have
received, I fail to understand why corporate influence wasn't
utilized to televise the Paralympic Games.
Maybe it's just me, but this seems to be yet another way our minority
is being slighted and repressed
by corporate America.
__________________________
| 
