Korean TV station protests Olympic broadcaster's improper coverage

By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul-based television station said Wednesday that
it filed a complaint with the International Olympics Committee's broadcasting
body for repeatedly showing Japanese speed skaters when a South Korean skater won
the gold medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
SBS, which has exclusive broadcasting rights of the Vancouver Winter Olympics in
South Korea, said it lodged a formal complaint with the Olympic Broadcasting
Service (OBS) for its coverage of the men's 500-meter speed skating event on
Monday in which Mo Tae-bum of South Korea nudged out two Japanese rivals to take
the gold.
SBS just relays the Olympic broadcasting of the OBS, which is sent out to world
broadcasters.
The broadcasting of the match was criticized by most South Koreans for showing
repeated footage of the Japanese athletes -- Keiichiro Nagashima and Joji Kato --
just after Mo finished first in the race.
"SBS Olympic broadcasting center in Vancouver made a strong protest to the OBS.
OBS offered a sincere apology and said it would review the situation to check
whether or not it made any biased image transmissions," SBS said.
It added OBS's supposedly biased footages appear to have been corrected, citing
the OBS broadcasting of the women's 500m speed skating finals on Tuesday in which
South Korea's Lee Sang-hwa took the gold.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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