What Journalists Write About When They Write About Sochi

The opening ceremony starts today, but the Olympics have already gotten a lot of press. Here is a round-up of just some of the pre-coverage.

Putrid water, shoddy hotels, cold showers and other hazards of reporting from an Olympic zone have made complaining on Twitter a popular past time. #SochiProblems is trending and @SochiProblems has lots of followers. (Mashable)

Julia Ioffe thinks journalists are a little too excited to complain about the conditions at Sochi. But then again, she’s still on her way to Russia to cover the Olympics. (The New Republic)

But Heidi Moore  isn’t watching the games as a form of protest, she explains in The Guardian. (The Guardian) 

Tablet is protesting Russia’s persecution of Gay people by not covering the Olympics. (Tablet)

But while some journalists might not be watching the Olympics, Russia is watching the ones who are…even in the showers. “We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day,” deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak said, in maybe the worst rebuttal to the charge that the hotel showers don’t work. Oops! (Daily News)

In an editorial, The New York Times wrote that the Olympics can’t help but spotlight Russia’s dark side. (The New York Times)

And The New York Times can’t help but run an Interactive feature a la “Snowfall.” (The New York Times)