Media Watch -- Sochi Games Face Mounting Pressure; Mary Decker Slaney Documentary

Russian Anti-Gay Issue Expands

From Olympic diver Greg Louganis to actor Harvey Fierstein, to United States President Barack Obama; public figures everywhere are speaking out against LGBT discrimination in Russia.CNN dubs the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi a "battleground for gay rights."The article explores facets of Russian culture and history that has led to "widespread homophobia," and the suppression of the country’s gay community.

As the story concerning Russia’s anti-gay legislation gets bigger, Time Magazine's "Keeping Score" bloginvestigates how NBC will handle its coverage of the Winter Olympics.In 2011, the network reportedly paid the IOC "$775 million for television rights to the Sochi Olympics, and another $3.6 billion for the 2016, 2018, and 2020 Olympics." NBC now faces pressure from the public, its competitors, but also its business partners as it prepares to broadcast a controversial Winter Games.

Luxemburg holding company SPI Group, owners of Stolichnaya Vodka, came forward to emphasize the company’s connection to the LGBT community.The company felt compelled to do so after LGBT activists in the United States began dumping out heaps of Stolichnaya to protest Russia’s anti-gay legislation.Ingredients for Stolichnaya are grown on Russian SPI-owned farms. That fact aside, the company recently made sure to clarify to consumers that their vodka is "Latvian made and Luxembourgian owned." The Guardian investigates SPI Group’s claims and whether "consumer boycotts can change the world."

Conflicts continue over ways to effectively change Russia’s treatment of its LGBT community.Some, such as the RUSA LGBT organization, arecalling for a boycott of Olympic sponsors. However, public figures like President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have stated their countries will not boycott the Olympics.The Advocate says that the question remains – "who can force Russia to change its ways?"

In a New York Times op-ed, Minky Worden insists that the IOC cannot enforce change on an Olympic host city with "pressure from the outside."The IOC’s Executive Board is preparing to elect a new president on September 10. Worden claims current IOC President Jacques Rogge’s legacy will be marred by "two Olympics with extensive human rights violations." Worden suggests the new IOC President adhere more closely to values in the Olympic charter.

According to Salon, a Sochi boycott will most likely not happen. And a shift in venues for the Winter Olympics is even less likely to happen than a boycott. Salon explores Russian President Vladimir Putin’s current challenge to get through the Sochi Olympics with as little scandal, and gay propaganda, as possible.

Russian Jews fire back at British actor Stephen Fry on Russia'sRT. Fryrecently made news when he compared Russia’s gay propaganda ban to "Hitler’s persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany." The country’s officials and famous Russian singer Joseph Kobzon also feel Fry’s comparison is outrageous and hope to keep the focus of the Olympics on sports, not gays.

Political commentator Adrian Hilton sits down with the RTto discuss Russia’s gay propaganda ban, calls to boycott the Sochi Olympics, and Stephen Fry.

The Sochi International Airport will benefit from "fierce improvements" made to the city’s infrastructure.IOC Press Commission Chief Kevan Gosper reports toAirport Worldon several changes made to Sochi’s airport as Russia gears up for the most expensive Winter Olympics in history. United States track and field athlete star Mary Decker Slaney never won an Olympic medal.Now 55, Slaney tells ESPN that the image of her "crying in anguish" at the 1984 Summer Olympics after she tripped close to her competitor Zola Budd – "is seared into their brains."ESPN reports on Slaney’s rise in the track field world and fall from Olympic medal hopes in the Nine for IX documentary film "Runner." The International Center for Sport Security dedicates an issue of its publication Journal tomatch fixing.Compiled byNicole Bennett.

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