Belgium’s Mathieu Doby competes in the heats of the K-1 men’s kayak slalom at Lee Valley Whitewater Center, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 29, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)DAVID BAUDER
NEW YORK (AP) – In the age of social media, NBC now has millions of television critics who make their opinions known about every aspect of Olympics coverage instantly.
They’ve even set up their own hashtag on Twitter: (hash)nbcfail. The online complaints focused Saturday on NBC’s decision to air the marquee swimming event won by American Ryan Lochte on tape delay in prime time, and Friday on the network not streaming the opening ceremony online. Sunday’s critics started early: people wondering why the U.S. men’s basketball team’s opening game aired on a cable network while women’s cycling was shown on NBC.
The conversation is so active that NBC’s executive producer of the games, Jim Bell, took to Twitter to answer critics and even change the way NBC is doing something in response.
“(hash)nbcfail is filled with a lot of crying and snark and humor, but NBC can actually learn something from it,” said Jeff Jarvis, a media critic who writes the Buzzmachine.com blog.