Boston 2024 Bid Process Lacks Transparency, Critics Say -- Media Watch

(ATR) The Boston Herald's editorial board discusses amajor milestone in Boston’s bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. turned in bid proposals for the 2024 Olympics to the United States Olympic Committee on Dec. 1.

"Boston's local effort is an impressive one," the Boston Herald editors say. "The plan is for the overwhelming number of Olympic venues to be within city limits and within walking distance of public transit.

"Details have been outlined and discussed in board rooms throughout the city for several months as the plans come together--and if there is a flaw in the process it is that it lacks the transparency that is essential to enlisting the support of the broader community."

Charles Chieppo, a research fellow at the Ash Center of the Harvard Kennedy School in Massachusetts, says,"For Boston and the other U.S. cities with an eye to hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics, the public’s money--and a lot of it--is at stake."Chieppo's commentary, featured in the Providence Journal, scrutinizes Boston's process so far in establishing a potential bid for the 2024 Games.

One concern Chieppo says is the lack of "fairness and transparency" in Boston's efforts to organize a bid for the Olympics. "An exploratory committee was assembled, but far from being neutral, it was stacked with Olympics boosters.

"No local economists were named to the committee, and its report included no independent cost estimate."

Boston Globe reporter Shira Springer says Barcelona's 1992 Olympic makeover may hold lessons for Boston. "With the Summer Games as catalyst, Barcelona in the 1980s and early 1990s reimagined its cityscape, reclaimed its Mediterranean seafront from industrial usage, and rebranded itself.

"Local leaders wanted the world to see a transformed city when the Olympics arrived--and it did."

Following the publication of Springer's article, several residents wrote to the Boston Globe's editorial board to express concerns over Springer's comparison between Barcelona and Boston. One letters begins, "The article 'Barcelona's Olympic makeover may hold lessons for Boston' misreads the reason for that city's success."

Olympic Agenda 2020

The Denver Post's editorial board spotlights the IOC's upcoming discussion on Olympic Agenda 2020."The IOC is finally proposing reform, saying it would make it cheaper and easier to bid for an Olympic Games."

The IOC Executive Board meets Dec. 5-6 in Monaco to organize procedures for the adoption of recommendations for Olympic Agenda 2020. This meeting precedes the official opening of the IOC Extraordinary Session on Dec. 7.

"Maybe it was the fact that four of six cities in the running for the 2022 Winter Games derailed their bids," the Denver Post's editors say. "Whatever the reason, the IOC would be moving in the right direction if it were to inject some fiscal sanity into the process."

Reviews are in on Olympic Wrestling Drama

Foxcatcher, a film previewed at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, features a screenplay based on Olympic wrestling gold medalist Mark Schultz's autobiography.

During their career, Mark Schultz and his brother David Schultz became the first wrestlers in United States history to win Olympic and world titles. David Schultz was murdered in 1996 by USA Wrestling sponsor John du Pont. The film, directed by Bennett Miller, stars Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.

Movie critics such as theToronto Star'sPeter Howellare giving the film rave reviews."What Miller and his team have wrought with Foxcatcher is a spellbinding portrait of desire and loneliness, which so often manifests itself in hollow victories and violent acts," Howell writes.

Liam Lacey, film critic for the Canadian newspaperGlobe and Mail says, "The clear-eyed compassion and moral intelligence of Foxcatcher brings sense to the senseless, and finds the human pulse behind the tabloid shock.

"It's not a movie to make you feel good, but, at moments, it reminds you what goodness is."

In Other News

The Associated Press says, "Los Angeles is making a quiet bid for the 2024 Olympics."According to the AP, things to look for in the city's 2024 bid include: its glitz and diversity, venues, and how it's funded."Glamour, celebrities, perfect weather; a revitalized and growing downtown; iconic venues and political support.

"Los Angeles looks like an ideal fit to host the 2024 Olympics."

Susan Brownell, a visiting professor of anthropology at Yale University and professor of anthropology, University of Missouri--St. Louis, discusses arising trend in the Olympic Movement."As if to underscore a shift in the world order, all seven Olympic Games and FIFA Soccer World Cups after the London 2012 Olympics will be hosted outside the traditional Western powers--three of them by Asian nations."

In an op-ed for the Japanese newspaperYomiuri Shimbun, author Toshiro Mutoh explains howthe 2020 Olympics can showcase Japan at its best."We should take advantage of the Olympics and Paralympics as a catalyst to accelerate the country’s widespread promotion of culture, art and education," Mutoh writes."We should encourage every part of the country to make use of the Games in various ways for jump-starting local development efforts.

"We should organize the 2020 Olympiad as an event that would leave lasting positive legacies in both physical and psychological terms for the future of Japan."

Alex Nicholson, associate producer at the Australian news site NineMSN, spotlightsOlympic swimmer Eric Moussambani who hopes to compete in the 2016 Summer Games."It's been almost 12 years since Moussambani appeared on the world stage having last competed at the World Championships in Japan in 2002.

"And the Olympic dream has not faded."

Compiled byNicole Bennett

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