Text-Only Version
Michael Socolow, Assistant Professor of
Journalism: "I would say it's difficult to compare simply because of
technological changes. Think of something like satellites and
satellite time, right? In 1968 and 1972 for Munich, you had one
satellite path between Munich, Germany and the United States for the
Olympics, and they would have to do a lot of switching, and Jim
McKaye played a really prominent role in telling Americans about the
tragedy and those kinds of things. But same with Mexico City in '64,
and it goes back to 1960, when they were flying the films over. I
think the technology has changed everything. In fact, I can't think
of anything memorable, like, you know, the famous Al Michaels call
about the Miracle on Ice--I don't think we're going to see that
anymore because these shows are so visually stimulating, they're so
fascinating, with all the camera angles, and really placing the
viewer into the event in ways never seen before. You know, the
camera inside the arrow or the camera inside the target that the
pistols are shooting at--I don't know how they do that. It's really
breathtaking and I don't know if it really matters what the
sportscasters are saying anymore."
