Cynthia P Cooke, chairman of the Camperdown Classic, has expressed disappointment with the recently CARIFTA Games TV coverage.
Cooke, former principal of Camperdown and secretary of Usain Bolt's Racers Track Club, wrote to the broadcaster to voice her disappointment with the coverage. Below is her letter:
Dear Sirs,
Let me first congratulate you for bringing the CARIFTA Games live to me in my home.
I was really happy until I started listening. I became extremely frustrated at the announcer's knowledge of Track and Field athletics. I think the worst comment was, "I think they must have combined the under 18 and under 20 girls." He was talking about the 200m for girls. That is the quote that defined the quality of the broadcast. I will not comment on the moments when I felt like reaching into the television and shaking the announcer in order to get some sense into him.
Here are some suggestions for next time:
1. Get several announcers. If possible get from several countries.
2. Have someone with knowledge of the athletes who can give the information to the viewers. At least they should know the athletes' names, events, country, PB and their season's best.
3. Interviews should not be done during an event on the track. People who watch are not watching to hear the business of Bahamas athletics.
4. As soon as an event has ended, we want to know the times and distances. At least the time of the first place.
5. SHOWTIME should be used to interview athletes after the races and give updates on field events. This is foremost a track and field event. Interviewing of spectators should be done when nothing is happening on the track. They could be pre recorded and shown during lull times. He also needs to know the athletes' names and ask relevant questions. The questions should be to satisfy the viewers.
6. The field events coverage just left me with questions such as, what position is he in now? who is leading? etc.
7. The ranting by the announcer about his suggestion of disqualification of the Jamaican under 18 boys 4 X 400m team was most unfortunate, especially on reviewing the tape it was seen that it was the Bahamian athlete who pushed the Barbadian athlete who was venturing into his lane.
This by no means exhausts the areas which need improvement. If your organization has been given the contract to do the broadcast in the future, I think you need a producer who can guide the camera men. I was not impressed with the camera work. Too often the athletes were left out of the frame and the overhead shots from the drone was useless.
Hoping for the best next year.
CP Cooke