Workers wear protective suits to protect from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as they stand outside the Main Press Centre of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics ahead of the event in Beijing, China January 19, 2022. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
January 19, 2022
By Sheila Dang and Helen Coster
(Reuters) -Comcast’s Corp’s NBCUniversal, under pressure from human rights groups, on Wednesday said that its broadcast coverage of the 2022 Beijing Olympics will include the “geopolitical context” of China as the host nation.
The coverage plans, detailed in a video presentation to reporters, followed the urgings of human rights groups and a U.S. congressional committee to cover China’s rights violations during the Olympics, which begin on Feb. 4.
In 2014 NBCUniversal paid $7.65 billion to extend its U.S. broadcasting rights for the Olympics through 2032.
The Beijing Games have been marred in controversy over the past year, and the United States and other governments have announced a diplomatic boycott of the event for what it says are rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang region.
Human rights and press freedom groups have also voiced concerns about the ability for journalists and NBC to freely report during the Olympics, citing China’s crackdown on press freedom.
The NBC News division, which has a Beijing bureau, will cover the news in China, while the NBC Olympics division “will cover the issues that impact the Games as needed,” said Molly Solomon, a producer at NBC Olympics, during the video presentation.
“We have a record of not shying away from these topics,” she said, adding NBCU will have reporters at all Olympic venues. “If something happens, we’ll have our own cameras on site.”
Corporations worldwide have struggled with the difficult task of balancing corporate and social responsibility, while not angering the government of one of the largest markets in the world.
Last month, China accused Walmart of “stupidity and short-sightedness” after the retailer appeared to stop stocking products from Xinjiang.
(Reporting by Sheila Dang and Helen CosterEditing by Grant McCool)
