NBC has hired New Yorker editor David Remnick to provide coverage of Russian politics including fallout from the country's anti-gay laws during its upcoming Olympics broadcast from Sochi, Deadline reports:
The network announced this morning it has hired New Yorker editor (and former Washington Post Moscow bureau chief) David Remnick to provide guest commentary on the network's air during its coverage of the Games. Remnick, will contribute to NBC's coverage of the Opening Ceremony and will offer commentary for NBC News in Sochi, the network said.
“We are facing an Olympics that have a number of issues around them — substantial, meaty, news issues,” NBC's Olympics exec producer Jim Bell told Sports Illustrated over the weekend. “For us to be able to have an opportunity to address them with someone like David made perfect sense. We would be remiss not to rely on some of the best and brightest minds to help present this to our viewers the right way.”
NBC is already taking heat from activists groups like Queer Nation (below) which recently protested a talk by gay figure skater Johnny Weir, whom NBC has hired to provide commentary for the Sochi Games.
NBC also recently promised, in a statement of support for Weir, that it "will cover all newsworthy issues as they are relevant to the Games, including the LGBT law."
