Wow, Did You See That! How the Media Covered the Super Bowl

By Lyndsay Borko

Super Bowl XLIX. The New England Patriots versus the Seattle Seahawks. It was bound to be a thriller: Not only was it a game between the east coast and the west coast, but the Seahawks had won the Superbowl in 2014, 43-8 against the Denver Broncos. Everyone who had even the slightest interest in football sat themselves in front of their TVs on the night of February 1, 2015, anxious to see if the Seahawks would pull out another victory. However, Seahawks fans would be disappointed. The Patriots took the lead in the last quarter and won the game 28-24.
   
The media covered this annual event of festivities and beer drinking in a variety of ways. The first way in which the Super Bowl was covered was the one most closely related to the sport itself: The Seahawk's massive fumble that cost them the game. According to New Public Radio, the final play by the Seahawks is being called “The worst call in Super Bowl history.” Sports Illustrated stated, "That was simply the most astounding play call in NFL history."
   
I will not pretend to understand football. But to sum it up, the Seahawks chose to pass the ball instead of handing it to their top running back, Marshawn Lynch, at the 1 yard line. This cost them the entire game. Despite such a close win by the Patriots, almost no one—except reporters in New England, who are celebrating—is talking about them. Everyone is too busy re-watching that one mistake by the Seahawks and trying to figure out why it all went wrong.
   
Another big angle the media chose to pursue surrounding the events of the Super Bowl was Katy Perry's astounding halftime show. For those who saw it, it was truly a sight to behold. She entered on a giant metallic robotic lion, had a gaggle of dancers and singing sharks, and flew through the sky like a real firework. Her performance also included surprise guests like Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliot.

Despite some insane things that went on during her performance--countless costume changes, pyrotechnics, flying machines, possible shade-throwing at Taylor Swift--the only thing reporters seemed to focus on were the dancing sharks. Viewers seemed to be dazzled by the sharks and nothing else. Specific praise has been given to “Left Shark,” who forgot his choreography and just rolled with it on national TV. 

According to Perry's choreographer, RJ Durell, the sharks actually stuck to the choreography 100%. They were told to keep it fun, and bring these characters to life in a cartoon like way. This was achieved by the juxtaposition of right shark and left shark. The former, who performed perfectly choreographed moves, and the latter, who just improvised The population's obsession with the sharks sparked a quest to uncover the identity of the sharks, specifically left shark. The two underwater performers enjoyed a few days of mystery before identifying themselves. Both left shark and right shark, who are identified as Bryan Gaw and Scott Myrick, respectively, became overnight sensations in the United States.
   
Another way in which the media covered the great event that is the Super Bowl is by focusing on the advertisements that played during the commercial breaks. A 30-second time slot reportedly cost about $4 million in 2014, according to the research firm Comunicas, so having an advertisement air during the Super Bowl is a huge deal.

Some advertisements were praised, such as the “Like a Girl” campaign started by Always, while others fell short. One advertisement that is getting a lot of negative coverage is Nationwide Insurance's commercial. The commercial has been criticized by USA Today and NBC, among others. In it, a little boy lists things he can not do, like learn to ride a bike, get cooties from a girl on the bus, or get married... because he died in a car crash. People are outraged that the company is using the death of a child, albeit metaphorically, to sell insurance. The uproar became so strong that Nationwide had to issue a statement standing by their campaign, insisting that it was not meant to sell insurance, but to start a national conversation about safety.

Other ads included McDonald's rewarding customers' acts of kindness with Big Macs, Coca-Cola frying the Internet and ending cyber-bullying, and Kim Kardashian starring in a not-so-heartwarming public service announcement about preserving your data with T-Mobile, which was hard to even realize was a commercial for T-Mobile.
   
The Super Bowl is one of the most widely covered events in the United States. However, it seems that not much of the media coverage rooted in the Super Bowl actually has much to do with the game. People aren't necessarily drawn to the game itself, but all the events that come along with it, and it seems that those events tend to make headlines more than the game does.

My mom could not even tell you who played in the Super Bowl this year, but she sure can give you a detailed description of the halftime show.

Media Brings Super Bowl to the World

By Erin McCarthy

The Super Bowl this year had over 5,500 media members credentialed to cover the game and any related events. Much of what was covered was through television for viewers unable to attend the game to see it. Numerous sound systems and screens inside the stadium also play a huge role in the media view of the Super Bowl. As for a person who was unable to be at the game and or not have a television, they were able to listen to the game over the radio, another aspect of the media's role in the production of the Super Bowl.

Many different cameras are used to produce the viewing of the game through the TV. Having multiple cameras is a way to create different angles and shots of certain plays during the game. For example, when one camera has a shot of the player punting the ball another camera has an angle of the player receiving the ball, in order to smoothly switch from the punter to the receiver without technical issues.

Everything during the Super Bowl is live, except the commercials. These pre-recorded commercials also have a lot to do with the media side of the Super Bowl. Alongside the TV broadcast and commercial breaks, there is constantly someone speaking as the game is going on in order to better explain or clear up anything unseen or missed by the viewer.

The process of having the game be aired live is tremendous itself, but when all the other smaller roles come into effect it makes everything that much more complicated. The media has one of the largest roles in the production of the Super Bowl. Without the media nobody outside of the stadium would be able to watch or listen to the game. Media gives practically everyone an opportunity to see the Super Bowl each year. 

Learning from Lillian Ross

By Michael Ryder
                
Lillian Ross, a journalist who worked for The New Yorker for decades, has developed her own set of guidelines for writing after being in the industry for many years. She has strong opinions regarding some of the tactics that other journalists use and continues to follow her own set of rules or “principles.”

One of Ross’ guidelines that I disagree with is never writing about something that doesn’t appeal to you. It is the responsibility of the journalist to report on a story so that the public can be aware. There may be an issue that the public should know about and the journalist is in charge of delivering that information. Even if the story is not appealing to the writer, they should give it their all to give the public an interesting, informative piece. I also disagree with Ross when she says she would never write about anyone she doesn’t like. There is no place for bias in journalism and personal opinions on someone shouldn’t interfere with one’s writing.

Ross, however, had many guidelines I did agree with. In journalism, I agree that there shouldn’t be any ambiguity and the story you are writing should be to the point and straightforward. Ross also stated that she wouldn’t take on an assignment just for pay. I think this is an interesting guideline, as it shows that Ross truly cares about her work and her writing and thinks of the money second. Nowadays, it seems many people simply do things just for the compensation.

I also agree with Lillian Ross when she talks about taking notes in small notebooks for her writings. I find taking notes to be extremely helpful in remembering the little details about things, as we have so much going on all the time that it’s easy to forget some things.

Lillian Ross’ long career is proof that her guidelines to writing are effective and really make a difference. Although some of her guidelines are debatable, she has stuck to what works for her and it has proven to be successful.

Super Bowl Commercial Stirs Outrage--And National Discussion

By Alex Henning

The Super Bowl has ended and the New England Patriots won thanks to an interception by their team at the end.  Many parts of this event have now been covered by social media sources, such as The Halftime event with Katy Perry, commercials during the game, and the small scuffle between the two teams at the end of the game.

In covering the commercials, such as the Jurassic World trailer spot, one commercial spot got more media attention than others.  The insurance company Nationwide produced a commercial entitled "Make Safe Happen".  In this commercial, a young boy is seen doing various things, commenting that he won’t ever get to do them.  The commercial then pans on a close up of the kid’s face, and he ends the commercial by saying he won’t be able to do the things he mentioned because in reality, he is dead due to an accident.  The commercial ends as a Nationwide person  says to get insurance to protect people you love and to protect your children from accidents.

One media outlet that covered this commercial and its controversy was New Jersey’s The Record newspaper.  Staff writer Bill Ervolino wrote an article under the title “ Shocking Super Bowl ad starts a nationwide conversation” where he takes a more in-depth look at reactions to the commercial.  He quotes several statements from people who saw the commercial spot, ranging from horrified reactions, to low scores by people, to people saying it was bad taste to have done the commercial when and how they did.  In particular, many thought the idea of Nationwide using a child's death to get people talking was wrong, and that since many people watch the Super Bowl with their families, they became horrified that their children saw the commercial.

Along with many other websites on the Internet, NBC News’ website  rated this commercial to be the worst Super Bowl commercial ever.  NBC does, however go a bit lighter than others by posting Nationwide’s response to all the backlash.  Nationwide said that they had never meant to sell insurance through their spot, but to spark a conversation, which as newspapers and news sites alike will attest, they succeeded in.

Nationwide wanted to alert people to the issue and help people get more educated so they could protect those closest to them--with many people having visited their site MakeSafeHappen.com already.  Whether it was ethical to air the ad the way they did, they got people talking about it, which seems to be exactly what Nationwide wanted.  

Whos Going to Believe Brian Williams Anymore?

By Michael Ryder

Brian Williams is a journalist and news anchor who has worked at the NBC Nightly News for the past ten years. He’s won twelve awards for his work on the NBC Nightly News and his broadcasts have helped NBC’s news program beat out their top two competitors in terms of ratings for almost six years. According to the LA Times, Business Insider and other sources, Williams is making $10 million per year. Despite his good reputation, Williams landed himself in the middle of a controversy in early 2015.

Williams has claimed that while he was covering the war in Iraq in 2003, he was riding in a military helicopter that was hit with a grenade and forced to the ground. Since then, Williams has appeared on a number of programs retelling the story of his experience, however, using slightly different wording. The actual story was that, according to a CNN article, a helicopter was forced down but Williams was not on board and instead arrived an hour later via another helicopter that “took no fire and landed beside the damaged helicopter.”

Williams confirmed, in 2015, that he was not in the helicopter that was hit and that he “made a mistake” in his retellings. He has also blamed having a foggy memory. He issued a public apology and was subsequently suspended from his position.

Brian Williams is sure to lose a lot of credibility, as well as respect, in the aftermath of this event. As Americans, how can we put back our trust in someone who is supposed to be reporting the truth to the masses after they confirmed lying to us? I don’t really buy the whole “foggy memory” excuse that he is using. If you were riding in a helicopter that was hit with a grenade and forced to the ground, I think you would remember that pretty vividly. Although I do believe in second chances, I don’t think there is an excuse for a reporter lying about something of that magnitude. And for a successful news anchor, I don’t see why he would feel the need to do that – he is well-established, trusted and definitely doesn’t need the publicity.

After his suspension is up and he’s back on air, is anyone really going to believe what he says or go to him to get their news anymore? If NBC Nightly News wants to reestablish their credibility and bring back their viewers, I think they should make Williams’ suspension a permanent one.

Live on TV! Super Bowl National Holiday

By Michael Ryder

The Super Bowl is, without a doubt, one of the most talked about and covered events in the sports and entertainment world. This year, we watched the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots in the 49th Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is a highly publicized event and some even consider that Sunday to be a holiday. Because of its popularity, the Super Bowl gains a lot of media attention.

Usually, the actual game begins at 6 pm, but television channels such as ESPN, FOX and the NFL Network begin airing pre-coverage of the game as early as 9 am. Sports broadcasters and journalists, and sometimes retired players or coaches, appear on these Super Bowl pregame shows. The teams, players, statistics, and location are all discussed by the panel of football experts, as well as their opinions on which team they think will be victorious. Games from the past season are also discussed by the NFL aficionados and their analysis is what fans tune in for.

As it gets closer to game time, cameras follow the athletes as they get off their bus and make their way into the stadium, while reporters flock to the sidelines to cover what’s happening on the field. The journalists conduct interviews with the players and coaches to get insight on what they’re feeling and how they think the game is going to go.

While the game is being played, two to three announcers are in the studio giving a play-by-play and commentary of the game the entire time – this is who the sideline correspondents are reporting back to. The halftime show, which lately features a popular music act performed in the center of the stadium on live television, has become a pop culture fixture. This year’s Katy Perry and 2013’s Beyoncé performances have been hailed as two of the best halftime shows of all time.

After the game, players from the winning team are interviewed in the midst of their excitement and celebration to share how they feel about their victory. A press conference is held after the game in which the coach of the winning team is interviewed. Pre- and post-game shows are shown usually on multiple channels; however, the game itself is shown on only one major station.

The Super Bowl has gone from being just the championship football game to a popular culture phenomenon. From pre- and post-game shows, interviews, and press conferences, the media covers every aspect of the big game. And because of all the media attention the Super Bowl garners, spectators can get a front row seat to the game without leaving their couch.

Brian Williams Spun Lies While Other War Reporters Died

By Lyndsay Borko

Brian Williams was a news anchor for NBC's Nightly News. Operative word being “was.” Just recently, he was suspended for six months without pay for telling a lie that spanned over a decade. For twelve years, he exaggerated his role in an episode involving a helicopter in Iraq. Based on accounts of others who were actually fired at that day in 2003, he was absolutely nowhere near the incident that took place.

Hyperbole of that kind from someone who the public looks to as a trustworthy figure for news is unacceptable to NBC, which is why they suspended him. In my opinion, his credibility has been permanently diminished. If he is allowed to return to work after his suspension, viewers may no longer be able to take him seriously or trust him as a reporter. I think NBC's decision to suspend him is wise. It shows other reporters at NBC, and even other news stations, that behavior like this will not be tolerated. It was beyond inappropriate for him to exaggerate something like what he experienced while reporting in Iraq.

Many men and women are wounded or killed while they're doing their jobs and trying to report for the public safe at home. The most recent example is James Foley, a freelance journalist from Illinois who was beheaded by the infamous terrorist group ISIS. It is unfair to tarnish the memory of journalists who gave up their lives for their craft with rubbish like Williams' misstatements.

Not only is his credibility lost, but in part, so is NBC's. Therefore, I think their decision to suspend him is commendable. Too many people get away with things that are inappropriate just because they have prestige or fame. I believe this was the right choice for NBC and I applaud them for it.