My goal in
these blog posts is to provide a little behind the scenes, the things that you
probably don’t see on television, a look at the Olympics through my eyes as
opposed to the eyes of the NBC camera people. Sometimes I’m at the most popular
events and are covering those, but usually the blog posts I write have nothing
to do with that.
As I write this
now, I’m making my first trip on TM25, which goes directly from the media
village in Gangneung to the Jeongseon Alpine Center, which is located pretty
much in the middle of nowhere. Jeongseon is beautiful, but it is very remote
and this bus ride will be the longest one I take during this Olympics.
But, I’ve
written enough about the buses, so maybe it’s time to take a look at the media
facilities.
The media is
technically divided into two different groups, the print media (the press) and
the broadcast media, which would be the television stations from around the
world. And those two groups have separate headquarters in the mountain cluster
of PyeongChang. The International Broadcast Center is the place where the
television folks do their work. It is not a far walk from the Main Press
Center, where the print media do their work. In between is a transport mall,
where buses leaving for the three nearby facilities (Alpensia Sports Park –
biathlon, cross-country and ski jumping, Alpensia Sliding Center - luge,
skeleton and bobsled, and Yongpyong Alpine Center – slalom and giant slalom)
are based. Media from both sides walk to the transport mall to catch the buses
to those locations. The buses for the other locations are located at the IBC,
with a shuttle available to take us from the MPC to the IBC if needed.
The Main Press
Center building number one is located in the Alpensia Resort. The room where
press do the majority of their work is the resort’s grand ballroom and it is
lined with rows and rows of desks, all with wired Internet and power outlets as
well as desk lamps. On the stage area of the ballroom is a couple of rows of
lockers, which the press can use to store equipment.
The main
workroom is located on the second floor, while the first floor includes a
number of different rooms for press conferences. There is also a media café on
the first floor and a full-service buffet restaurant in the basement. Unlike
Sochi, there is no McDonald’s in the press center, which is probably a good
thing.
There are
actually two other MPC buildings, one is a permanent building and the other is
a temporary building. The temporary building contains mostly offices, while the
second building contains more work room along with press conference rooms.
Right
outside the workroom is a stand that sells drinks and desserts mostly, though
bottled water and coffee is available for free in the workroom.
Additionally,
there is a media workroom (or three) in the Gangneung Media Village. This is a
smaller version of the MPC, where press can work. It is actually located right
outside my building but I’ve only worked there twice since I’ve spent much of
my time in the mountain cluster.
Also, each
venue has its own media center, where press can work. For the most part, these
are temporary structures but they provide a good spot to get away from the cold
weather. I’ve spent some time in a few of the venue media centers, mainly when
events have been delayed and I want to get work done.
At each
venue, there is also a mixed zone, where press gather to get interviews with
the athletes. The athletes pass through a corral where they stop at television
first and then make their way to the print press. Press attaches guide the
athletes through the mixed zone to the locations, so if you want to speak with
an athlete, you tell the attache and they will bring him or her to you.
That’s a
look at what life is like for the press in PyeongChang. Really glamourous.
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