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Bringing the Games to the World (February 10)
There are over 3,000 reporters and photographers now gathered in Nagano to help share the excitement of the Winter Games with the entire world. The journalists go all over Nagano Prefecture to see who wins the events, to interview athletes, and to learn about the Games and the host country; then they send their news stories out to their own countries from the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) and Main Press Center (MPC). As you can imagine, the MPC is one of the busiest places in Japan these days!When you enter the MPC, the first thing you see is a huge working room, where 600 reporters can work on their stories at once. There are 300 public telephones installed on top of the rows of desks; the phones have extra jacks so people can send stories directly from their computers and word processors. Around the edges of the room, there are 50 computer terminals connected to the "Info '98" system, which gives constant updates on the results and schedules of events, the weather, and other important information. The events themselves can be watched on the jumbo screens and television sets scattered around the working room. The second floor is occupied by 66 booths for specific newspapers, magazines, and press companies.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a newspaper from Georgia in the United States, has its own booth. The paper's sports editor says the MPC is "very convenient" for his five veteran reporters. They are concentrating on the sports that are most popular in America--figure skating and ice hockey. But they are also filing stories about Japanese culture: how families live, women's place in Japanese society, and what people eat. The editor goes on to say, "We even wrote a story about pachinko, the Japanese game like pinball. People in the United States have a fixed image of Japan, so we're trying to show them a different side of things that we have seen here. Hopefully they'll get more interested that way."
A group of Chinese journalists is hard at work in one corner of the huge first-floor working room. One of them says, "We're all here from different companies." There are about 40 Chinese reporters in all here in Nagano, but only one or two from each newspaper. Some haven't even sent a photographer--the reporter has to get everything across with just words. The Chinese reporter laughs: "Some of us don't speak Japanese, so we help each other out a little. But we're all in competition too!" On a different note, he says: "The Olympics might be in Nagano, but they are something for all of Asia to be proud of. I would love to see the Winter Olympics held in other places around Asia, especially in China."
Over by the lockers at one end of the working room, a German cameraman is getting his heavy gear ready to go. He has hired reporters and started a company, which has contracts to send news and pictures to weekly magazines. He explains, "Since we're dealing with photos instead of video for TV, they have to have real impact. Through our pictures, we are trying to show the world how fun it is to be here in Japan at the Olympics. I'd also like to look into how Japan became so successful economically."
One reporter who looks very busy is an older man from Romania. As it turns out, he was an alpine slalom competitor in the Saint Moritz Winter Olympic Games held 50 years ago! Beginning with the 1972 Games held in Sapporo, he has been a correspondent at every Winter Games. He seems very happy with the equipment at the Nagano Games: "The high-tech facilities here are great. I'm going to go to the events themselves, too, but watching on the big screens here gives me a really good look at the expressions and movement of the athletes. But I think there's a big gap between this advanced technology and the old traditions here in Japan. I'd like to write an article about that, if I find the time." (Shinano Mainichi Shimbun)
Reporters hard at work in the Main Press Center's working room. (Shinano Mainichi Shimbun)