The Pyeongchang Olympics Coverage Bingo Card!

The Pyeongchang Olympics are coming!

I am in the process of writing my longer, less fun take on why the Pyeongchang Olympics will be a letdown, but one thing I'm looking forward to is... the foreign media frenzy!

Yes, foreign media will be helicoptering into South Korea in droves to cover the Pyeongchang games, and we get the pleasure of scads and scads of people writing about Korea who don't actually know much about Korea!

The esteemed Matt from Popular Gusts wrote this interesting piece for The Korea Times about some of the takes foreign journalists had of South Korea during the '88 Olympics, when NBC's coverage of a few incidents led to a full-blown backlash among Koreans, severe enough that NBC reporters were advised to hide the NBC logo on their cameras!

Well, in anticipation of hot takes that break all five of my "signs the author of the article you're reading about Korea doesn't actually know much about Korea," and running with this tweet from @thewaegukin...

I will give a prize to whoever finds the worst Korea hot take written during the Olympics by a foreign journalist unfamiliar with Korea.

— waegukin (@thewaegukin) February 5, 2018

There is simply nothing for it but to put together the "Pyeongchang Olympics Coverage Bingo Card!"

Buy your own bingo cards if you want! (Source)

Here is a list of items for you to fill in on your own card.





Comments are open: please add your own suggestions!

So... check the box when you spot articles or coverage that...

• Yuna Kim (Free Square)
• Claims South and North Korea are now on the road to unification because of the thing that happened/marching together during the Olympics
• Claims unification is doomed because of the thing that happened during these Olympics
• Blames/Attributes implausible things to Confucianism
• Mistranslates a Korean word/uses it torturously out of context
• Describes something as mysterious
• Blames/Attributes something to Korea's colonial history
• Attributes something to Korea being a conservative society
• Attributes something to Korean mothers' love that was probably the result of training
• Chaos caused by website that runs on Internet Explorer 6, or only recognizes Korean ID numbers
• A Samsung LG or Hyundai logo or product tackily shoehorned into an event or ceremony
• Claims a Korean word is untranslatable
• Claims that untranslatable word is the key to understanding the true Korean spirit
• Insults K-pop
• DDOS attacks and massive backlash from a K-pop fanclub after somebody insults K-pop
• Accidentally says "Pyeongyang" instead of "Pyeongchang"
• Athlete with Korean ancestors asked questions about "homecoming" even though they have never been here
• Mistakenly mentions the Nagano, Sapporo, or Beijing Olympics as happening in Korea
• Cites an English teacher living in Korea as an expert
• Garlic or kimchi joke
• Chloe Kim
• Massively overstates anti-American sentiment in South Korea
• Recycles an expat's view about Korea that hasn't been updated since Dave's ESL Cafe was the main place people discussed Korea online
• Recording of an athlete making "ching chang chong" jokes surfaces
• Joke about Asian penis size
• ____(athlete/dignitary) is a K-pop fan!
• Long-term expat with no other qualifications gets printed/interviewed at a world-class outlet
• Connects plastic surgery to athletes' training
• Athlete accidentally goes to Pyeongyang instead of Pyeongchang.
• Non-Asian athletes wearing hanbok
• Non-asian athletes photographed doing "Asian eyes"
• Dog meat
• Korean food is spicy!
• Massively understates South Korean suspicion/distrust of North Korea's leadership
• Mentions Gangnam Style
• Athlete with Korean ancestors suddenly becomes Korean after they medal
• Making a little TOO big a deal of the North Korean female cheerleaders. Like creepily big.
• Learns one Korean word and uses it to explain everything
• Characterizes all Koreans as sharing the same opinions
• "from the ashes of the Korean War"... "technological powerhouse" "economic tiger"
• Hey wait, is that Sam Hammington?
• Non-Korean famous in Korea, completely overlooked by foreign media
• Frames a story in terms of possible war on the peninsula
• Dokdo belongs to Korea sign (plus mini-media blowup)
• Massively overstates conformity in South Korea
• Accidentally dirty translation
• Jokes about Asian drivers
• K-pop group's fan club launches massive backlash against reporter who flippantly insults K-pop
• Massively understates Korean antipathy toward Japan over historical disputes
• Massively overstates Korean antipathy toward Japan over historical disputes
• Athlete asked if they were nervous about coming here because of North Korea
• Confuses Korean language or writing with language or writing from other parts of Asia
• Wrongly identifies a Korean or Asian TV/music star
• Mentions the 2002 Japan World Cup
• NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR BUTTON!
• Suggests eating Kimchi to deal with something (cold weather, injury, disappointment, etc.)
• TV reporter getting praise for using one of three Korean phrases they know
• Media outlet sends a reporter who knows nothing about Asia/Korea, only because they are ethnically East-Asian
• Media outlet sends a reporter who is obviously a Weeaboo wishing he were in Japan
• The North and South Korea At Night photo.

Jeez. We could make this card seven by seven squares!

Comments are open! Add your suggestions!