The LA Times was invited to a media day for the USA Olympic Skateboarding team. This is very clearly a simple news article. There are quotes from several skateboarders that are Olympic hopefuls and what they think of the sport being in the international event. This article isn’t attempting to sway the reader into believing that skateboarding belongs in the Olympics or that it shouldn’t. It is simply explaining what happened at the media day, who was there, and what they thought of it.
The New York Times sent a reporter and two photographers to the Dime 2019 Street Challenge. This news story covers the event, why and how it was conceived. The reporter spoke to the event organizers who explained that it was held outside the Montreal Olympic Stadium to be a sort of “Anti-Olympics”. With quotes from both event attendees and participants supporting this statement. The event displayed skateboarding in its truest and most creative form. However, this wasn’t an opinion presented by The New York Times. This was an opinion held by the organizers. The article doesn’t cite any reasons why this is the truth that everyone should believe. It simply explains that this was the intention of the people who put it all together. The photojournalists covering the event portrayed the event in a truthful manner with portraits of both professional skateboarders, event organizers and attendees and action shots from the competition.
Opinion articles:
Iain Borden wrote an opinion piece for The Conversation on why skateboarding’s evolution into an Olympic sport is good. The article headline is the first give away that it’s an opinion piece: “Ollies at the Olympics: why having skateboarding at Tokyo 2020 is a winning move”. It is making an argument that skateboarding as an Olympic sport is going to be beneficial.
Borden starts off the article by explaining that skateboarding was officially confirmed to be an event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He explains that, to many skateboarders, this may be unwelcome news and cites why. Some of the biggest concerns are that skateboarding is almost an antithesis of the Olympics, that many are concerned about skateboarders passing drug tests, along with several other valid points that some may make to dismiss it as an Olympic sport. However, Borden quickly refutes all of these arguments with explanations of the history of competitions in skateboarding, it’s relationship to corporate entities, and how the days of skateboarding acting as “misunderstood teenager” are long gone.
To Borden, skateboarding belongs in the Olympics, this opinion piece definitely strengthens his argument.
The other opinion piece I found was written by one of the best skateboarders of our time, Tony Hawk. The headline makes it clear that this isn’t a news story: “Thoughts on Olympic Skateboarding”. The article begins with an explanation of why his voice is relevant. Hawk is often considered an ambassador for skateboarding because he is the biggest and most recognizable star of the sport. He also explains that he doesn’t have many answers for questions on the process or if it will accurately represent the sport. He recognizes the naysayers who claim that skateboarding isn’t about competition and quickly refutes the argument that judgment isn’t welcome in skateboarding. Hawk explains that skateboarders have always judged others on things like style and trick selection and comparison to others is an innate human action, just as there have always been skateboarding contests. Hawk ends his argument against those who believe skateboarding isn’t an Olympic sport by explaining that its inclusion will bring in a new and diverse generation of skateboarders, show the world what skateboarding can teach and that many skateboarders will still always be seen by others as punks, and all of that is okay.
