How Jingoistic Was NBC's, CBC's, BBC's Olympics Coverage On Thursday?

On Wednesday, our Jingometer started tracking how often NBC was mentioning the U.S./USA/America/Americans/United States, and found that, at peak coverage, over 40 percent of the network's participant mentions were for the Land of the Free. But this number doesn't mean much in a vacuum. How does NBC's coverage compare with other nations' focus on their own athletes?

We've pulled the numbers for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and, sure enough, the U.S. doesn't look so exceptional. The U.K. sucks at the Winter Olympics (and only has 56 competing athletes), so it's not too surprising to see that their focus is largely on other nations. For Canada, the Winter Olympics are a rare moment in the international spotlight. As a result, CBC's coverage has put an enormous emphasis on Canadian athletes. In terms of nationalistic focus, CBC beat out NBC in four of the first six days of Olympic coverage.

Yesterday was a big day for the U.S.—we swept the slopestyle ski—and 38 percent of NBC's participant mentions were for the United States. Canadians won zero medals—the first day in Sochi they've been blanked. Only 32 percent of CBC's mentions were for the home country, setting a new low for the Olympics so far.

Data collected with help from Billy Haisley.