Journalists Complain About Sochi Conditions

The winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia have gotten off to a rather rocky start. Before the games even began, there was controversy surrounding the country’s backwards homosexuality “propaganda” laws, terror attack risks, and general human-rights violations (specifically free speech, or lack-of).

As athletes, spectators, and journalists began pouring into the newly constructed olympic villages in Sochi, one thing became very obvious to them, and the rest of the world: Russia is completely unprepared to host the Olympic games. Almost immediately, reports began to surface on news sites and Twitter regarding packs of stray dogs, toxic tap water, unfinished streets and buildings, brown grass being spray painted green, unfurnished hotel rooms, and  just a general sense of chaos all around Sochi.  

Now of course not everyone has been affected from these issues, in fact I would bet most people are probably having a pleasant time. But there is a common trait about these reports on Twitter I have noticed: They are mostly all from journalists. That’s right, it seems that journalists as a group have been thrown under the bus, and yes I am talking about Russia’s “spaceship” bus. The Olympic games are watched by millions of people, and of course nearly all of them are not in attendance, but watching on TV, reading articles, and reading Tweets. And Sochi organizers have screwed over the very people who get their games out to the rest of the world, and of course there is not a better way to guarantee bad press than by screwing over the very people that control the flow of information. So naturally, there has been a steady flow of bad press coming out of Sochi, which has cast a shadow over the entire games. But journalists aren’t the only ones complaining; local residents say the Olympic games have greatly and negatively affected their lives.

Russia says that they have spent a whopping 54 million dollars on 2014 Winter Olympic Games, which is more than five times as expensive as the last Winter Olympic Games in 2010 in Vancouver.

Johnson, Benny. "Sochi 2014 Opens as Stray Dogs, Empty Malls Greet Spectators." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 6 Feb. 2014. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-07/sochi-2014-opens-as-stray-dogs-empty-malls-greet-spectators.html

 Phillips, Mark. "Russian Villagers Say the Olympics Have Ruined Their Town." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 4 Feb. 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.  www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-villagers-say-olympics-have-ruined-their-town/