NBC can't seem to keep its left-leaning slant out of its coverage of the Winter Olympics. One day after playing up Stalin's "palace for the people [1]" in Moscow's metro system, the Big Three network's spotlighted how an American freestyle skier is living an "alternative lifestyle" – for being married at 23 and having a young daughter.
Correspondent Skyler Wilder underlined how David Wise, who won the gold medal in the half pipe on Tuesday, is "mature far beyond his years....At such a young age, Wise has the lifestyle of an adult. He wears a Baby Bjorn baby carrier around the house." Twenty-three is "such a young age?" Perhaps the network is following ObamaCare's definition [2] of "children", which includes those aged 18 to 26.
Wilder used his "mature" label of Wise three times in first four sentences of his article on the skier, "David Wise's alternative lifestyle leads to Olympic gold [3]:"
"Hey, Nayeli," he said peering into the camera. "Daddy loves you!"
Those were the words of David Wise, the freestyle skiing halfpipe gold medalist Tuesday night after he won his event's first-ever Olympic medal.
David Wise is at the top of his sport. He's always smiling among his friends and competitors, however, he's not like the rest of the field. He is mature.
Not to say the rest of the freestyle skiers of halfpipe are not mature, but Wise is mature far beyond his years. At only twenty-three years old, he has a wife, Alexander (sic), who was waiting patiently in the crowd, and together they have a two-year-old daughter waiting for them to return to their home in Reno, Nevada.
The NBC sports writer continued with his "lifestyle of an adult" description of Wise, and added that "he [Wise] also attends church regularly and says he could see himself becoming a pastor a little later down the road. Not exactly the picture you had in mind while watching him nail two double corks wearing baggy pants."
Despite his post-modern language in the beginning, Wilder painted a very positive picture of Wise during the remainder of his piece:
...Wise is, well, wise. He knows where his head should be at all time, focused on being the best father and husband he can be. Then comes skiing.
"I think my lifestyle — the fact that I have a little girl to take care of and a wife — really takes the pressure off of my skiing, because first and foremost I have to be a good husband and father."
...While the rest of his competitors are hanging with their friends, traveling the world searching for endless winter, hitting the party scenes accustom to their action sports lifestyles, Wise is hurrying home for quality time with the family. That is what sets his mental game apart from his competition. He likely has the most stable life of them all....
Well, now that the gold is in the bag and Team USA can add another one to their overall medal count...Wise can get back to his other life, and back to the Baby Bjorn.
On Wednesday, Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist website [4] called out NBC for its characterization of the Olympic skiier: "[I]sn't it fascinating that NBC views a man taking care of his wife and daughter as an alternative lifestyle? I'm glad David Wise won gold, but if this is any indication of media views on normalcy, our society is pretty much doomed."
By contrast, the Bleacher Report website [5] on Tuesday heralded how Wise "busts freestyle skiing stereotypes," and noted that "Wise is a husband and father of a young daughter, Nayeli. He is a devout Christian who met his wife Lexi at a youth church camp and has said in many interviews that it is his faith and family that motivate him."
Columnist Joe Menzer also pointed out that "he [Wise] enjoys many of the same things his fellow competitors do—like driving fast, performing outlandish tricks in the halfpipe or just joking around...but being a husband and a father has also kept him grounded and brought about a maturity that forces him to take seriously the things which are meant to be taken seriously."
[H/t: Mollie Hemingway on Twitter [6]] [4]
— Matthew Balan is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Matthew Balan on Twitter. [7]