Mexico's contradictory Rio Olympics coverage

The discourse of social Darwinism espoused by mainstream media in many countries is no surprise: winners and losers from every society are portrayed so because of their merits or lack of them. What has made the Rio Olympics' coverage by Mexican outlets quite contradictory, however, is the rhetorical attack on average people (losers) in a moment when Mexico's finest sportspeople (winners) were failing to meet the audience's expectations.

"What's your message to haters?", Mexican archer Alejandra Valencia was asked soon after finishing fourth, completing the best individual performance in a discipline which did deliver medals for the Mexican team four years ago. "Those criticizing should then come and do it themselves", she replied. "All those who talk surely have nothing else to do ", said diver Dolores Hernández following her early exit; fencer Tanya Arrayales remarked likewise: "some people should mind their words because all of them are ignorant. While we're here competing, they're with their laptops, eating popcorn and judging others".

Although those remarks of course reflect real spite inside of a national representation which received widespread social media abuse back home for much of the games (their only medals were obtained at the last weekend of competitions), in fact those were answers to straight questions by reporters waiting for them at the mixed zones. Not only did some media representatives take every chance to induce heated replies, some others afterwards began to rebuke national authorities for their alleged corruption, frivolity and fecklessness. By quoting, for instance, the many problems swimmers, boxers and weightlifters experienced with kit providers, or the case of the unshipped clubs of some golfer, or the short funds received by the archery team, pundits also targeted petty politics.

But blaming common Mexicans and unaccountable officials for Mexico's poor showing certainly is a contradiction of the social Darwinist discourse which posits that winners get victories and losers find excuses. "Win is good, defeat is bad" goes the preaching at television sets and news desks in which forms are seldom discussed and in-depth, extensive coverage of sports other than soccer is simply nonexistent. Is it therefore reasonable to demand respect and sympathy from Mexican audiences towards gymnast Alexa Moreno, whose body deviates from the bodies of most female presenters appearing in Mexican sports shows?

Beauty is good, ugly is bad.

Unlike claims from social movements (like public education teachers protesting against government-backed reforms), the broadcasted claims coming from disappointed athletes against decision-makers were not downplayed by pundits as alibis of lazy, progress-hating, troublemakers. Indeed, the sub-ministry in charge of sports promotion in Mexico (CONADE) is dependent upon the ministry of public education (SEP), the organism in charge of implementing the evaluations and layoffs that have generated controversy and violent clashes in the south of the country.

"These ideas [those of Social Darwinism] caught on, in part, because of the eviction of working-class people from the world of media and politics", writes British author Owen Jones in Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class. No doubt that massive swaths of the population in Mexico have been marginalized, always at the receiving end of media and political campaigns. Besides being unable to influence what they see and hear from screens, common Mexicans can't afford bows and arrows, fencing equipment or golf clubs; public swimming pools are as far away as minimum elementary schooling facilities.

In spite of viral versions pointing to a culture of political corruption and social mediocrity among the losers as crucial to understanding the disappointment of national winners in Río 2016, the media coverage itself should not be permitted to get away with its many contradictions. By now, audiences should be critical enough so as to contest the Social Darwinism which only seems consistent and truthful when Mexican elites do not have to compete internationally.