The 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan are over, but criticisms of CBS’ television coverage of the games are far from ending. Everyone seemed to find something wrong with the coverage, either by its content, by comparing it to coverage of previous Olympics by other networks, or by ratings. Critics from all over the spectrum have been jumping out from their hotseats.

Before I go any further, let me admit that I am a little biased. I interned at CBS News in London this past summer, and I have always liked the network, whether or not they are lagging behind in ratings. When I worked in the London bureau, I met people who were preparing for the winter games. I really wanted CBS to have a strong showing because I knew NBC broadcasted the games in Atlanta and has rights to the games for what seems like the next 100 years. I just wanted to see my favorite come out on top, just like Olympic viewers wanted to see the USA women’s hockey team win.

But from what people are saying, CBS’ coverage was poor and controversial.

CBS last broadcast the Olympics in 1994 for winter competition in Lillehammer. That year, the network posted a rating of 27.8. That means that 27.8 percent of all televisions in America were tuned into the games. But 1994 was also the year of the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan episode. That kept more viewers hooked to the tube.

According to the New York Daily News, Nielsen Media Research calculated that CBS rang in only a 16.2 rating at Nagano. In fact, Nagano showed the second lowest ratings of any televised Olympics. (The worst was in 1968.)

CBS wasn’t getting the expected landslide. Because they promised advertisers at least a 19.6 rating, the network has had to offer free time to upset customers.

The network has also been the target of criticism for not showing enough of the games and showing too many packaged stories about the athletes and Japanese culture. I guess people wanted to see more straight airing of competitions without cut-ins from host Jim Nantz and other CBS reporters. Some Americans living near the Canadian border said the CBC had much better coverage than CBS.

Critics have accused CBS of being too feature-ish. Although I think they may have done a few too many of the cut-ins of events, the stories about the athletes and Japanese culture are a very important part of covering the games. This is a worldwide event by which we should learn something beyond whether the Americans won. We saw some of these feature stories in the summer of 1996 when NBC had rights to the Atlanta games. But American viewers aren’t really going to be handed any outstandingly new and interesting information about the culture of Atlanta as they would from the culture of Japan. It makes a difference when the games are held on American soil.

I personally think that stories about culture are interesting. During the 1992 Summer games in Barcelona, I remember a story about La Sagrada Familia, an unfinished cathedral in Barcelona. I had just studied it in my high school Spanish class and was fascinated with the magnificent structure. I remembered that awe when I actually visited the cathedral this summer and saw the Olympic stadium in Barcelona. That story about La Sagrada Familia is something I’ll always remember. I learned something about a different part of the world.

Stories about the athletes have their place, too. Without those stories, many viewers could not have identified with the athletes they are rooting for. Why do people read the sports page, Sports Illustrated or watch ESPN Sportscenter? Because not only do they want to know the score, they also want to know how Wayne Gretzsky developed into such a great athlete. They want to follow stories about their favorites.

As for broadcasting the actual competitions, CBS did so less than during other Olympic games. And I think they should have aired more of a variety of different events. I know that skating seemed like the network’s primary focus, but other competitions were aired, too. Time delaying certainly didn’t work to the network’s advantage. I think that a lot of Americans would have liked to see more than a couple events.

CBS is accused of chopping up its coverage with stories and commercials. It is also criticized for having Nike swooshes on their matching Olympic winter jackets. Mike Boaz of the Morning Star in Wilmington, N.C., asked if the network rented CBS announcers “out like billboards.” I think these remarks are certainly justified. I think that it is fine for Nike to make jackets for CBS, but not as an advertisement on a sports/news announcers coat.

Other than advertising issues, time delaying and broadcasting a wider variety of athletic events, I don’t think that CBS’ coverage was as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Critics don’t like the commercialized coverage and blame the network for its lower ratings.

But some things seem a little hypocritical. On the news side, CBS has remained the network to broadcast more hard news despite lower ratings. Both ABC and NBC have leaned to softer stories and less international coverage to keep higher ratings. CBS is being knocked for traditional news that is getting lower ratings, but when they try the not-so traditional approach for the Olympics, they also get hammered.

It is well known that CBS has a much older audience than its competitors. With the Olympics, they seemed to be trying to target a younger demographic, but obviously not to everyone’s satisfaction.

Erin Payne is a senior in journalism and mass communication and political science from Rock Rapids.