Media Watch - Countdown to Controversial Sochi Games

Putin's 2014 Winter Olympics

Advertising Age reporter Michael McCarthy writes that the recent suicide bomb attacks in the Russian city of Volgograd have sent "chills through Olympic sponsors" ahead of the 2014 Winter Games.

An editorial in the Times Colonist says abandoning the Sochi Games in the wake of the attacks in Volgograd "is to yield the field to the terrorists."

3 Wire Sports contributing writer Alan Abrahamson claims the attacks in Volgograd have added "another layer of complexity to what may be the most complicated project in the history of the modern Olympic movement."

The Tulsa World editors say "terrorists must not be allowed to disrupt" an event built on the "premise that the world can find peace through athletic competition," such as the Olympics.

Businessweek’s Joshua Yaffa dissects the "waste and corruption" behind Russian president Vladimir Putin’s 2014 Winter Olympics.

A Chicago Tribune editorial says you would have to ignore "a lot to believe the Olympics will work to moderate Putin's taste for repression at home and abroad."

Townhall.com writer Rachel Marsden states the United States and Russia "can go for Olympics gold in the war on terror."

The Journal Times editorial board says Putin should display "genuine toughness in the next few weeks by ensuring that our athletes are kept safe during their time in Sochi."

An op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News suggests Russia’s "homophobic laws" and security concerns should not overshadow the Sochi Games.

The Baltimore Sun’s"Dark Room" features photographs of the "shrinking gay scene" in Sochi.

All Things Considered's Audie Cornish sits down with figure skater Brian Boitano to discuss his coming out and the road to Sochi 2014.

Global Scan’s Jonathan Kealing predicts the Sochi Olympics will have "security on full display."

A "brilliant" photobook on Mother Jones chronicles the "real Sochi, not Putin’s Olympics fantasy."

ChosunMedia features Korea’s "medal hopefuls" for the upcoming Sochi Olympics.

In Other News

Believer Mag’s Sarah Marshall discusses "Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and the spectacles of female power and pain."

SB Nation’s David Roth publishes his five-part series, the "Qatar Chronicles."

Los Angeles Times reporter Vincent Bevins says problems in the lead up to Brazil 2014, such as the crane collapse at the Sao Paulo stadium, "threaten the legacy of the country as well as the soccer tournament."

Deseret News says it is time to "rekindle the Olympic spirit" in Utah.

Compiled byNicole Bennett.

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