NFL banned camera crews from filming angry, booing fans—as players knelt during the National Anthem last weekend.
Michael McCarthy from Sporting News broke the eyebrow-raising story about why viewers heard boos at NFL games on Sunday and Monday but saw curiously few crowd shots.
“One behind-the-scenes TV staffer at another stadium told Sporting News that camera operators were ordered to avoid crowd shots in case they showed fans counter-protesting the protests,” wrote McCarthy.
McCarthy explains that the TV staffer’s account was confirmed by what millions of people saw on TV: “The audio mics picked up the boos. Yet the TV networks mostly avoided crowd shots Sunday, so there was never a chance for viewers to see fans jeering players.”
By covering one of the most significant days in NFL history with rose-colored glasses, the networks cheated viewers,” McCarthy continued. “We got an incomplete picture of what really happened in stadiums on Sunday and Monday.”
However, at least one cable channel has denied the NFL gave the directive to not show the crowd’s anger during the national anthem protests.
“The anthem was covered by each crew in their own way, with many choosing to stay with what was happening on the field,” CBS spokeswoman Jennifer Sabatelle told McCarthy. “There was no directive given to not show the fans.”
AAN Staff
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