Media top headlines July 27
In media news today, PolitiFact declares that claim Biden, Harris distrusted COVID vaccine under Trump is 'false,' an ESPN writer says he was troubled by the American flag at the Tokyo Olympics, and Biden calls a reporter a 'pain in the neck' following her question about the vaccine mandate for VA front line workers.
NBC’s primetime coverage of the Tokyo Olympics continues to lose viewers compared to recent summer games.
The opening ceremony, delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, drew 16.7 million viewers for NBC on Friday, the smallest audience for the network broadcast since the 1988 Seoul Games. NBC presumably hoped its multi-billion dollar investment would pick up as the games proceeded, but primetime coverage on Saturday and Sunday also was disappointing.
NBC averaged 12.6 million viewers on Saturday night, a 39 percent drop compared to the first Saturday of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and a 56 percent drop compared to the 2012 London games.
CLAY TRAVIS: USUAL OLYMPICS EXCITEMENT UNDERCUT BY MEDIA ATTACKS ON AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
NBC’s coverage of the Tokyo Olympics continues to lose viewers compared to recent summer games. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
On Sunday, NBC averaged 16.8 million viewers to shed 44 percent compared to the first Sunday from Rio and 53 percent compared to the first Sunday of the London Olympics.
"I think there are many reasons why this Olympics is tanking compared to past Olympics. I think certainly the fact that it's occurring in Japan with no fans and with absurdly ridiculous COVID protocols that allow athletes to compete without masks, but then have to put on masks on the medal stand. I think all of those things work against the overall American audience for the Olympics," Outkick founder Clay Travis told Fox News.
Travis feels America’s corporate media is also to blame after spending years fawning over athletes who undercut the idea of American exceptionalism.
"I think that an attack of America, an attack on American exceptionalism by the media, which is real, has certainly undercut a lot of Americans' joy and excitement in celebrating America," Travis said.
NBC HAS 33-YEAR LOW VIEWERSHIP FOR TOKYO OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY: ‘NOT A HAPPY’ BENCHMARK
"When I was a kid and it wasn't that long ago, the medal count was a big deal because you wanted to win more medals than the Russians or the Germans or the Chinese or whoever our geopolitical foes were because competition on fields of athletic glory helped to, I would say, endorse the idea of American exceptionalism," Travis said. "Now, I just don't think that there's that same level of excitement."
"Fox News Primetime" host Tammy Bruce on Monday tore into the "woke" U.S. athletes who appear far more concerned about scoring political points with leftist idealogues than they do with their performance during this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo.
ESPN WRITER TROUBLED BY AMERICAN FLAG AT OLYMPICS: ‘I KEEP THINKING BACK ON THE CAPITOL RIOTS'
"Failure, misery, resentment, victimhood, hatred for the country… that’s what fuels the left … and it’s penetrating nearly every corner of society," Bruce said in her opening monologue.
"Ask yourself… could this shift in attitude and a shift away from national pride be present in team USA's stumbling start at the Olympic games?"
Bruce pointed to the poor performance of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, who were shut out in their opener with Sweden. Team USA's men’s basketball team, headed up by "rabid America-bashing leftist Gregg Popovich," got beaten by France, marking the first time in 16 years that they've lost their opener, Bruce said.
"I contend, for some, this is the conscious and subconscious result of choosing resentment and grievance over pride and optimism … translating into an embarrassment to even be an American and to represent our nation," she told viewers.
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Fox News’ Yael Halon contributed to this report.
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