The role of the media in the 2010 world cup Ashley Muncaster

Media and the world cup The media coverage has been very thorough and extensive during this 2010 world cup. I think that the media has taken more interest in this world cup than any other. Also, more sponsors have become included e.g. Pringles and lucozade. I also feel that in this world cup, everything is more public and ‘in your face.’ You cannot seem to get away from news about the world cup this year.

Media and the world cup The media play and important role within the world cup as they report on every move which Is made in seconds! It can portray the world cup in whatever way it likes as it has the power. When the ITV interrupted the first England goal of the world cup by putting on a Hyundai advert, the media were straight on it. They produced web page articles, newspaper and magazine articles and new stories about that one incident. The web page articles tell the audience of how ‘fuming’ the English ITV HD audience were when this event took place. They also included quotes from other viewers from the rising popular and famous ‘Twitter’. Two quotes included were ‘ITV HD missed England's goal because it was playing an advert. A joke and embarrassment quite frankly’ and ‘ITV HD is a joke. First England goal of the World Cup, and there was a Hyundai advert on.’ the media was also able to show ITV in another bad light as they told the reader that ITV HD did not address the problem to the viewers straight away by apologising but left it until the half time, and got the presenters to say sorry instead of taking on the responsibility themselves! ‘The commentators failed to mention the glitch, and it was not until half-time that presenter Adrian Chiles apologised to viewers. He said: ‘Apologies for those watching in HD, I believe there was some interruption in your coverage.’ they also say that the ITV chairman was ‘forced’ to later apologise. Another scandal that the media picked up on was the balls and sponsorship scandal. Some of the players have criticised the new 2010 Adidas world cup ball which one player saying that ‘it behaves like no other I have hit in my life.’ some players have not been practising with this ball as they are sponsored by other sport companies. One newspaper claimed that ‘England find themselves at a significant disadvantage because some of their main rivals have far more experience of using the hugely controversial Jubulani Adidas ball.’ Another scandal is the ITV ticket scandal. It is claimed that an ITV worker, Robbie Earle, has been axed from his position on the ITV team as a ‘substantial number of tickets, which were for Earle’s friends’ and family, had been passed to a third party.’ A ‘group of 36 women, all wearing orange mini-dresses’ where thrown out of the world cup game Holland V Denmark as they were thought to be promoting Bavaria beer.’ this is known as ‘ambush marketing.’

Media and the world cup The media have shown the ITV industry to be unreliable and full of scandals. They have not reported on anything good that the ITV has done and have just concentrated on reporting about the bad things they have done. They have shown that even big companies and industries like the ITV channel can make mistakes which have apparently ‘ruined people’s nights.’ this shows the public that they should not trust the ITV as they do not know what is really going on behind closed doors, but they will reveal it to us! It also shows us that the media do only focus on the bad things! It shows us that they are not interested on the good things that the industry or people in general do, but they only want to comment and report back on the bad things that everyone gets up to. It is highly biased and unfair to report these people like this as it does not show the world what they are like all the time as it only shows us a particular event in which they made some mistakes. I feel that they also dramatise such events to make their news stories become more interesting and better to read.

Media and the world cup New technologies have been introduced into the world cup this year. Examples of new technologies is MPEG-4 compression and 3-D television, the World Cup has been like a global proving ground — giving television technicians valuable experience and satisfying end users that the technologies are finally reliable. The introduction of MPEG-4 means that the world cup can be distributed around the world. With regards to 3D television, the world cup is the largest showcase so far. People are now gaining more and more experience with all the new technology as it is being used so much during this world cup. There are many problems with 3D tv though, such as, the need to frame the main stadium 3-D cameras a bit tighter on game action. However, the camera operators face a delicate balance because if they are too tight on the shot it requires more panning. That can lead to quick movement, which can introduce motion blur and compression artifacts into the picture. It is a delicate balancing act for the camera operators. But with each game, the technology and productions improve.