Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death at the Olympics has prompted a discussion whether or not the crash video should have in fact been broadcast on television for the world to see. Many people were horrified, which may have caused a PR catastrophe. The heartbreaking collision occurred on Canada’s winding, high-speed Whistler Track Friday, February 12, 2010 during a training period. Many argue the track was exceedingly fast and also found difficulty in finishing the track. Thursday night following her completion, Australia’s Hannah Campell-Pegg disputes, “To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we’re crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives.”  The argument lies in whether or not it was acceptable to run the video of young Kumaritashvili’s death repeatedly on news stations worldwide. True, the crash is newsworthy, however, when is the last time they played someone’s death for all to see? Under the Code of Ethics, was it doing minimal harm to the spectators? The video was graphic and was unnecessary to show the public following the accident. It quickly spread through the online outlet and was just a click away on You Tube. The video is not essential and does not serve necessary to successfully report on the story. The track itself would have sufficed. I suspect the media ran the video for greater ratings for the shock value rather than the actual news worth. The job of a journalist and public relations person is to tell a story to their viewers while promoting minimal harm to their audience. Keeping that in mind, you have to know your audience and make a judgment call whether or not it was in their best interest to view the explicit tragedy and if it was in truth ethical. In my opinion, the media went a step too far over the line and as a result did not show adequate respect or compassion for the 21 year old’s family and friends. 

Throughout the years there have been a number of various incidents in Olympic history such as this that have also influenced the PR world. Visit http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-worst-pr-scandals-of-the-winter-olympics-2010-2#1994-tonya-hardings-figure-skating-sabotage-1 for additional controversial events.

 By: Courtney Bomkamp

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