UEFA’s TV scandal: some tournament images cooked up

If accusations against the European Championship broadcast elements turn out to be true, someone surely must answer for it.

The tournament was full of emotion on all sides, good and bad – it didn’t need images manipulated in ways that would make propaganda ministers proud.

Turns out that at least some of the swell TV pictures we watched from Poland and Ukraine over three-plus weeks were cooked up a bit, displayed well out of context in ways that distorted their true meaning.

For instance, the main feed showed images of a German fan crying after Mario Balotelli’s second goal during last week’s loss to Italy.  What seemed so poignant turned out to be less so.

In fact, that woman wasn’t actually defeated by the moment; those pictures had been taken before kickoff when she was overcome by emotion during the German national anthem.

Also related to Germany, manager Joachim Low was shown at one point playfully poking a ball out of a ball boy’s hand. I even commented about it on the blog; along with everyone else, I saw that shot as a steely demonstration of Low’s grace under pressure, his ability to brilliantly deflect the rising heat of the moment.

Turns out, that one also was a pre-game shot – but one inserted disingenuously to look like a “live” shot.

Viewers here watched the matches on ESPN platforms. So it should be noted that ESPN was taking the UEFA feed, just like everyone else.