NBC’s editing of Sochi opening ceremonies speech a no-no of Olympic proportions

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to edit.

With apologies to Sir Walter Scott, NBC has gotten itself into another jackpot with its oft-criticized practice of editing Olympic events before they go to air. While the U.S. network has made great strides recently by actually airing competitions live instead of saving them for prime time, it still delays events like the opening ceremonies and then edits them to fit into an evening window that it can stuff with commercials.

It did just that with the Sochi Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday -- airing them 10 hours after the actual event -- and in doing so managed to leave IOC president Thomas Bach's much-welcomed comments about discrimination on the cutting-room floor.

While most of the world heard Bach, in reference to the controversy surrounding Russia's anti-gay laws, speak against "any form of discrimination" and in favor of tolerance, American viewers didn't.

Some saw this as NBC bowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, afraid to poke the Russian bear in a country where gays have been warned to stay away from children, while others saw an unknown hidden agendas behind the move.

NBC denies there was anything intentional in the cut, saying it was simply part of the editing process.

How clearly Bach's message regarding one of the most controversial aspects of the Sochi Games is debatable. So is any hidden agenda.

On one hand, it's hard to believe that there was any conspiracy at NBC headquarters to remove anything that might offend the Russians. There's no doubt that Russian television bows to Putin, its doctoring of the opening ceremonies reluctant snowflake conclusive evidence of that, NBC owes no allegiance to Russia. If it were worried about offending anyone, it would likely be the IOC -- though considering the billions that the network has pumped into Olympic coffers over the years, the reverse would be more likely.

So since it was the IOC president who made the remarks in question, NBC would have no reason to cut them out other than to squeeze in more advertising. And that, of course, is the real reason Bach's words disappeared. You have to find room for those commercials and it's a lot easier to truncate a windy speech than excise all that pageantry.

But it's not hard to see why anything NBC does regarding its History Channel approach to sports can stir up a hornet's nest of controversy. Some of their previous edits have been accompanied by a rather strong odour.

During coverage (taped, of course) of the opening ceremonies at the 2012 London Olympics, NBC eliminated a tribute to the victims of the 2007 terrorist attacks in that city. Instead, NBC aired an interview with American swimmer Michael Phelps in place of the most moving part of the event.

Its explanation? At the time, NBC said "our programming is tailored for the U.S. audience." Presumably, since none of the 52 victims carried an American passport the network didn't see the point in airing it especially when you can pump up interest in the Games by interviewing a U.S. superstar.

Well, when you do stuff like that for reasons like that, you make yourself an easy target.

Of course, there's an easy way around this dilemma. All NBC has to do is show the events live, the same way that almost all of the other broadcasters in the world do.

But apparently that's just not NBC's way.