New Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010.

I highly doubt that it was just ten rooms. Since there have been major complaints from numerous boards.
 
Actually, most of the complaints have been centralized across 1-2 isolated incidents.

That's not to say that it's okay and that definitely doesn't excuse the organizers and politicians from being so tactless in addressing the media.
 
Yes I am not saying Politicians and Kalmadi should be forgiven for this mess

But just like let's move on and make this event a success
 
But just like let's move on and make this event a success

I don't see how it can be a success to be perfectly honest. Regardless of these foibles barely any of major athletes want to participate and are not, there's barely been any media coverage of the event outside of India and the idea of the Commonwealth is rather outdated nowadays anyway.
 
Where did you get 10 rooms from? Its close to 10 towers.

Just like that article KC posted, this is just all damage control. Fact of the matter is the conditions are disgusting and deplorable and this event has been shambles. You can try to spin off as much as you want but the truth is already out there.
 
I give up.

Just wanted people to praise the good's as they criticize the bads
 
Praising the goods is fine, but there is a difference between that and propaganda. That 10 rooms example was pure unadulterated bullshit. I had to point that out
 
Well, I reckon they'll get everything ready and build. Some head of organising or something siad "India have achieved in 48 hours in what we wouldn't in 7 years"

Now terrorism is the concern.
 
Okay, I`ll offer something in support of the organizers. The media has only and only been focusing on what the negatives have been. However, they`ve totally ignored the fact that there are a lot of positives to have come out of this as well. The stadia, for example all look World Class and dare I say, of Olympic standards. That will only help provide our athletes with world class facilities after the event is over, in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics.

The new airport at Delhi is one of the best in the World and there has been an initiative to build newer metro railway lines, all as a part of the CWG development. Coming to the Games village itself, the dining area and the International Zone have received accolades from most contingents and many claim to have not seen anything like this before.

The rooms could have been handled better but even in that aspect most people seem happy now. One must not forget that unlike Manchester 2002 or Malaysia 1998 where athletes stayed in university hostel rooms, these are all permanent facilities. The athletes are being provided with 4-room-kitchen lodging. The maintenance could have been better but they are fixing it in time. It should all have been done a couple of months in advance and that is where the organizers should take the blame. But for heaven`s sake, at least give them a chance.

Noone has been willing to give us a chance to prove that we can host a good Games and they have flooded newspaper pages with negative propaganda. The Indian media has been at its cynical best without realizing its their own country hosting the event and that they need all the support and not every small negative being blown out of proportion. Do you think there would have been so much fuss made of things like a tile coming out had it been in China? Its just that we have a free media that such hue and cry has been made of this.

And it has been learnt that the sting operation on the CWG security, done by Channel 7 is fake. The guy who claims to have breached the security actually goes nowhere near the actual security of the venue and just past the barricading done by the police to direct traffic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6xk-Tm_1y4
Kudos to ABC for breaking down all the false claims by the Channel 7 journalist. And thankfully from the Indian point of view, its an Aussie channel which proves the claims to be dodgy and not some Indian channel.

aditya123 added 17 Minutes and 44 Seconds later...

Praising the goods is fine, but there is a difference between that and propaganda. That 10 rooms example was pure unadulterated bullshit. I had to point that out

Mark, much of what we see is what the media shows us. The Indian media is news-hungry and TRP hungry. They don`t care about showing stuff even if it means demeaning their own country and their own event. You`ll never see that happen in China, for instance. So you`ll never know if there were any teething troubles during the Olympics there because their media would never show anything like that. Do you think you`d be talking about all this had the media not come out with these stories and the first thing you associated with the CWG 2010 was the opening ceremony or if you`d only been shown the positive images of the swanky new Airport, the state of the art stadia and things like that. I`m sure that the organizers would not have thrown the athlete`s village rooms open to the arriving contingents without cleaning it up even if the media did not bring it to our notice. Also, do not forget that although the delays are inexcusable, Delhi had the worst floods in more than 3 decades with the rains continuing till upto the middle of September. Something like that would have affected the preparations to a mega sporting event, be it any country in the world. Beijing 2008 was lucky in that sense.

In a certain way, that is the strength of India as well. Noone is curbed of their freedom, even if it means doing negative propaganda against their own government.

aditya123 added 2 Minutes and 57 Seconds later...

Actually, most of the complaints have been centralized across 1-2 isolated incidents.

That's not to say that it's okay and that definitely doesn't excuse the organizers and politicians from being so tactless in addressing the media.

But Sohum, it does not help when the Indian media are just TRP-hungry and have no national pride themselves. They`d show the pictures of a dirty toilet a million times and establish that image in people`s minds to make them believe everything about the Games is bad.

aditya123 added 5 Minutes and 8 Seconds later...

I`m not doing blind propaganda for my country but just pointing out that we only see what the media wants us to see. We only saw the good things about Beijing 2008 because the media showed us only those images and the Chinese govt would never allow their media to say anything remotely negative about their event. Who is to say that there nothing went wrong in the lead up to the Beijing games?
 
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Mark, much of what we see is what the media shows us. The Indian media is news-hungry and TRP hungry. They don`t care about showing stuff even if it means demeaning their own country and their own event. You`ll never see that happen in China, for instance. So you`ll never know if there were any teething troubles during the Olympics there because their media would never show anything like that. Do you think you`d be talking about all this had the media not come out with these stories and the first thing you associated with the CWG 2010 was the opening ceremony or if you`d only been shown the positive images of the swanky new Airport, the state of the art stadia and things like that. I`m sure that the organizers would not have thrown the athlete`s village rooms open to the arriving contingents without cleaning it up even if the media did not bring it to our notice. Also, do not forget that although the delays are inexcusable, Delhi had the worst floods in more than 3 decades with the rains continuing till upto the middle of September. Something like that would have affected the preparations to a mega sporting event, be it any country in the world. Beijing 2008 was lucky in that sense.

In a certain way, that is the strength of India as well. Noone is curbed of their freedom, even if it means doing negative propaganda against their own government.


Your last point is exactly why Chinese media is way worse. Indian media may be majority crap but at least its free press. Its not state regulated dribble.

The media should have been digging up the corruption and incompetence over the last few years, that is investigative journalism. They could have helped nip it in the bud, instead they are just feasting on the corpse after the fact.
 
Your last point is exactly why Chinese media is way worse. Indian media may be majority crap but at least its free press. Its not state regulated dribble.

The media should have been digging up the corruption and incompetence over the last few years, that is investigative journalism. They could have helped nip it in the bud, instead they are just feasting on the corpse after the fact.

I can understand but they`ve put so much negative thoughts into people`s minds about the event that it was unwarranted and damaging to their own country. It is no better than state regulated dribble. I`m sure that once the Games actually begin, more positive news will emerge. The stadia genuinely look world class (hopefully I have not jinxed them:p). My only genuine request is that lets give the games a fair chance to be successful and not believe in fake stories like the one done by the Aussie channel, Channel 7 just to cash in on the negative press.

We are a young nation and the Games could have left a great legacy had it all been handled properly. Even if it is conducted fabulously from now on and even if the athletes are all praises for the whole event, our media has done enough damage to ensure that the lasting memory will be of stained toilets and not a dazzling extravaganza of the opening and closing ceremonies.

Its a mega sporting event and approximately $10bn have been spent on it to showcase India`s spending power (much of it would have gone up due to corrupion which is surely a negative) but it is inevitable to have some teething troubles with such mega events in countries like India or China which are emerging global powers and do not have ready infrastructure to host the games. If the city got better roads, an impetus to getting additional metro lines done and also got a great new airport because of it, it should`nt be that bad at the end of the day.
 
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It's not the media's job to make the country look good or bad but I agree there is way more negative press than otherwise.
 
I agree with aditya for the most part, although there is no excusing the fact that the preparation should have been completed months in advance with a final clean-up before the athletes arrived.

Again, I haven't seen any reports that a large majority of the rooms were inhabitable--only one or two isolated incidents.

The snake issue was the biggest problem, in my mind, although that may have been more nature induced (floods, proximity to river) than poor planning by the organizers.

The organizers are definitely to blame, because 5 days before the opening ceremony is not the time that final clean-up should be happening and structures being built. Full responsibility goes on the organizers and the associated politicans for passing the buck around over the last however many years and waiting for the last few days.

sohum added 2 Minutes and 22 Seconds later...

Going back to the Chinese handling of the Olympics, I wouldn't be surprised if everything was done and dusted well in prior to the games starting. Communist governments are, if nothing else, extremely efficient, since they don't have such things as rights (and wrongs) to worry about. And of course, you can control the media access.
 
Mr.Manmy Singh won't have much effect on repairing the damages. The true people who work with hardness to repair the damages should get most of the credit. And Aditya and Rahul, both have brought many positive points about things. Hitler Olympics was really poor, and don't forget Melbourne 1998 and Sydney 2000.
 

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