Barring two upsets — Norway in curling and the U.S. in hockey — it appears as though Canada will finish the 2010 Winter Olympics not only with the most gold medals, but with the most gold medals ever won by a country at a winter Olympics.
Good for us. That’s a helluva an accomplishment and there are any number of athletes that have done us proud on their way to the top of the podium.
But we’re all journalists here, and the record for gold medals (if, as seems likely, achieved) needs to be put in perspective. As with all sports records, we need to do the math and make sure we’re comparing real numbers.
Let’s say Canada wins its record 14 gold medals. Those are from a total of 86 that were available, or just over 16 per cent, which isn’t a bad haul. Compare that to 2006 in Turin, where Germany won 11 gold medals from 83 sports: just over 13 per cent.
But in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Norway’s 13 gold medals (80 sports) also represented just over 16 per cent of the total. And, in 1998 in Nagano, Germany’s 12 gold medals (69 sports), meant they won over 17 per cent of the total.
The increase in the number of medals, makes it inevitable that new records for “most” will be set. And that’s the thing with records: we need to look behind the raw numbers to make sure we’re comparing like to like.
None of this lessens the accomplishments of my country-folk, of course. As journalists, we need to see the real story here and it isn’t in the raw numbers. It’s that Canada has moved into the top ranks of countries who compete in winter Olympics, and whose athletes stand atop the podium.
A small update: I forgot to cite my sources for the numbers. They all come from Wikipedia.
Tags: journalism, numbers, Olympics, sports
Canadian flag decal in Yaletown.
On Granville Street, people watchers catch the sun on the edges of a pub patio.
Capturing a band performance on the steps of Vancouver Art Gallery.
A dash through the crowd, with a Canadian flag flying. Granville Street.
Exuberant fans outside a Vancouver fast food joint, Granville Street.
Trading pins, at the corner of Robson and Howe Street.
All photos shot with Canon G10; converted to grayscale in Aperture.
Waiting in the sunshine for a Canada Line train. iPhone photo, massaged with CameraBag.
This one’s for my students.
You get better by doing, which means always practicing. It’s not about the assignments and the grades; it’s about going out and pushing.
Challenge yourself.
Take your camera out today and shoot as though cropping had never been invented. Make every pixel in every image count.
Take a walk through the neighbourhood of our choice and find a story. Research it. Write it or photograph it or video it.
Head downtown into the Olympic madness, pick a storyline and flipbook it.
Whatever. Challenge yourself: “Today, I want to learn how to….”
And, regardless of how it turns out, publish it, promote it and ask for feedback. Examine, critically, what you’ve done.
Learn from it.
Then go do it again.
Tags: journalism, learning, photography
Reflections in window merge with those outside Bean Around the World, across from Victory Park in Vancouvr. Canon G10
Strong sunlight, strong shadows on a glorious — and warm — late winter day in Vancouver. Canon G10
Podium pictures on Granville Street. Canon G10
Mark Downey signs at Irish House, while snowboarding is projected against the rear wall of the tent. Canon G10
Mark Downey and Mary Brunner at Irish House. Canon G10
Sled dogs and muckluck-ed northerns promote Northern House on a street corner in Yaletown. Canon G10
We journalists love our aphorisms. One of them popped into my Tweet stream this morning:
“News is something everyone wants to repress. The rest is advertising.”
(The most-loved it would seem, based on how often we hear it, is: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”)
All such sayings are cute and pithy. They trip lightly off the tongue. But they are gift horses whose mouths clearly need to be examined.
“News is something everyone wants to repress. The rest is advertising.” Umm, no. If you think that’s true, what’s the advertising message of the Haitian earthquake?
It sounds good. It makes journalists burst with pride at the special job they do of digging where the bodies may be, but it ignores the reality that while getting to the stuff no-one wants us to know is vital, it is hardly the biggest part of what most journalism is.
Like most aphorisms, it captures a bit of the truth, but nowhere near all of it, and it carries a disparaging tone for any storytelling that isn’t someone else’s secret. At its base — and at the base of the “if your mother says…” bit — is a sneer. These are not the aphorisms of questing journalists; they are the shorthand of the cynical.
In the past, I used these in various newsrooms. Now, in the classroom, I find myself urging students to know them, but to reject them, to think deeper about what lies behind them and which small bits of truth they contain might be useful.
Am I making too much of this? Possibly. But journalists, more than anyone, should be tuned into the power of words. Some new journalism aphorisms that contain a touch of humility, in place of great slabs of cynicism, might not be amiss.
Tags: aphorisms, journalism, writing
My favourite shot from last night's performance by Group Truva, at the Vancouver Cafe on the edge of Yaletown in downtown Vancouver. Canon G10 photo
Tags: group truva, turkish music
The doorway to the Landmark Hot Pot House, Cambie Street, Vancouver, decked out for Chinese New Years. iPhone photo; Lolo filter in CameraBag app.
Tags: Cambie Street, Chinese New Year, hot pot, iPhone
The Grays Park basketball court, through the enclosing fence. iPhone photo, through CameraBag app.
Flame-like lights top Cambie Street streetlights as Vancouver dresses up for the Olympics. iPhone photo.
Tags: Cambie Street, Grays Park, iPhone, Olympics
Recent Comments