Stop Zooming in on Tragedy
CONTENT WARNING: Personal Injury and Physical Trauma
In the grand scheme of our modern world, complete as it is with suffering broadcast to the world by 24/7 news coverage and plastered across the social media platforms that have become as inseparable from daily life as rush-hour traffic, the injuries sustained by professional athletes seem inconsequential. These are, after all, extremely fit and healthy individuals who often have access to some of the finest medical treatment and physiotherapy available. It certainly does not hurt that many athletes are compensated for their efforts with massive salaries and endorsement deals. As Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari once said “We’re obnoxiously paid.” So it may come difficult to some observers, especially those outside of the sports bubble, to truly emphasize when an athlete is struck by injury. Where is this level of outcry when I get hurt? Why doesn’t a teacher with a bad back or a line cook with a serious burn receive the same outpouring of affection? Sure, we can empathize with how much it may hurt, everybody can relate to the experience of pain. Unlike average folks, though, athletes aren’t obligated to come back to work after they get hurt.
Except, they are.
Part of being a professional athlete is engaging with the media and being constantly scrutinized for every action, on and off the field. When an athlete is unable to do the most visible part of their job due to injury, they are given little reprieve from the speculation of the public eye. An athlete’s body is their livelihood, it was the key to their success and the ticket to keeping them in the game. So when the ability to do the physical part of their job is taken away by an opponent’s mistake or malice, the stress of constant use, or simply an act of God, some athletes are left drowning neck-deep in media speculation. Major injuries become headlines in newspapers and talking points for panelists to spin and theorize what one player’s injury may mean to a team, league, or the player’s own career. That may always be the case. However, the limits of what is proper to be discussed and analyzed in such a public forum are often tested. In the moment, an injury to a player is prime television, and results in angle after angle of a blown knee, torn achilles, or broken bone being beamed out across the world, to thousands if not millions of screens. The mental toll that this could have on an athlete is immeasurable, and it’s about time for broadcast sports coverage to take a look in the mirror and do some soul searching.
Stop zooming in on tragedy.
It is simply not appropriate, to take a recent example, for ESPN cameras to follow Borussia Dortmund’s Gio Reyna from the center of the pitch, to the sideline, all the way up the tunnel as he fights back tears following a muscular injury to his hamstring. Emotions make good television, as we’ve come to discover. Tears and frustration draw eyes to the screen and make people click on your website to read why a strong athlete was so overcome by their natural human emotions. But to follow Gio Reyna’s agonizingly long walk from the pitch to the changing room is not just inappropriate but cruel. The tears of a 19-year old making just his second start since an injury in February do not warrant 360° footage of a young man’s joy being cut short. ESPN, one of the largest sports broadcasters in the world, and the quintessential American sports media outlet ought to know better. Of course, the tears of a budding star of the US Men’s National Team as he is subbed off just two minutes after the whistle are good for business. But is there not just a little space for empathy? Does the physical and emotional pain of a young man with the world at his feet and the pressure of an expectant nation on his shoulders, playing for one of Europe’s most distinguished clubs, not warrant some restraint?
Reyna missed five months of matches, both for Dortmund and crucial US World Cup qualifiers, from September to February. His presence on both teams was sorely missed, and the joy he must have felt pulling the yellow jersey on once again could have only been intoxicating. One can only imagine the heartbreak he must have endured when he felt that twinge in his hamstring. Except, we don’t have to imagine it. It’s all right there for us to see, tears and frustration on display in front of a worldwide audience. Of course it was a key development in the scheme of that specific match against Stuttgart, and plays into the media narratives surrounding BVB’s injury woes and underperformance. But are ESPN’s TV ratings that much higher because they cut to high definition footage of an incredibly talented and resilient young man overcome with emotion? I’d wager against it.
Gio Reyna is one example. And his case does come with some caveats. Gio is a very young player, and young players deserve breathing room from fans, coaches and especially the media. That, at least partially, provides credit to the idea that his tears should not have been the central focus to the broadcast. On the other hand, the match was broadcast only on ESPN+, a streaming service with a limited audience. So, while ESPN’s coverage was certainly alarming, it didn’t reach as many eyes as it could have, which limits the damage. But what happens when a mature, veteran player suffers the worst injury of his life on a global stage? Surely, there must be some adjustment?
Enter, Christian Eriksen.
The Guardian called it “The Day Denmark Stood Still.” Beyond that, the moment Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen suddenly dropped to the ground during a Euro 2020 match against Finland brought the entire world of soccer to a screeching halt. Amid the delayed return of one of the most prestigious and beloved competitions in the sport, during a match between the tournament dark horses, Denmark, and their Nordic cousins, fans and media across the planet were confronted with a stunning example of how fragile humanity truly can be. Eriksen had suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the pitch. And, for a time, the stadium cameras focused their attention on Eriksen’s limp form as he was attended to by medical personnel. His shocked teammates, somehow cognizant of the images going out to the world of their talisman’s peril, gathered around him and attempted to provide a sliver of privacy to a man who could not protect himself. Cameras found Eriksen’s wife, tears and all, and made sure to show the whole world that she was, indeed, in distress.
You have got to be kidding me.
A man’s life is threatened by a sudden and tragic incident, surrounded by a team of his brothers and thousands of devotees in Copenhagen for whom he was not just the beating heart of Denmark’s midfield, but the pride of Danish soccer. The UEFA cameras (it was later confirmed that broadcasters had no control over the footage provided and controlled by European soccer’s organizing body) stayed on air for minutes on end to display to all watching the trauma of Eriksen, dozens of his teammates, and thousands of fans who can only speculate whether or not they just witnessed a man die playing a game.
We can’t account for every single injury or every broadcaster to play by the same set of rules. It would be impossible to regulate the images sent to screens across the world. But is there no room for an ounce of empathy? Can no studio producer make the call, whether it is a serious injury or not, to spare the athletes and spectators the scrutiny of their trauma? Solutions won’t come easily, but there are simple fixes. For one, cut away from serious injuries after they are confirmed. Broadcasters already do this whenever some lunatic decides to run on to the field, do the athletes who provide the product these networks peddle not deserve the same decency as a drunk pitch invader? It is one thing to acknowledge the strength of a player like Gio Reyna to carry himself off the pitch, but a focused tracking shot centered on his tears not just crosses the line, but simply obliterates any boundaries between athlete and media. And in cases such as Eriksen’s where the feed was centrally dictated by a third party, it is even more the responsibility of the networks to cut to their own studio crew or even a blank screen when the camera’s don’t avert their lenses from tragedy.
Athletes are human. They make mistakes, and they suffer setbacks just like all of us. And while media exposure is certainly a price paid for fame and success in the world of sports, it is in no way acceptable for status to take the place of decency. For the next Gio Reyna or Christian Eriksen, grant them the dignity they deserve. It is not too much to ask of broadcasters to let these constantly scrutinized people have what little privacy still remains in their life. When injury has already struck them down, then it is the job of those around them to lift them up.
It is not too much to ask.
