When Ismaël Koné was stretchered off the field during Canada’s World Cup match against Qatar on Thursday, broadcasters around the world deliberately chose not to show it again. The company behind that decision explained why.
Koné, Canada’s 24-year-old midfielder, went down in the 51st minute of what became a 6-0 Canadian victory after Qatar’s Assim Madibo caught him with a hard tackle from behind. Koné was in visible distress on the pitch before being stretchered off, and would later undergo surgery to repair fractures to the tibia and fibula bones in his lower left leg.
The decision not to replay the moment was made by Host Broadcast Services, the company that provides international coverage to every local broadcaster worldwide and controls which shots are shown on television. HBS told The Athletic its editorial call was made in coordination with the TV match director in Vancouver and a quality-control room in Dallas.
“The injury was extremely serious and was seen live by everyone in the stadium and watching at home,” an HBS spokesperson said. “Out of respect for the player, for his family, and for our audience, we made the editorial decision, following our standard practices, not to replay the moment. Our role in a situation like that is to inform without sensationalizing, and we felt the live footage had already told the story.”
Similarly, NFL networks have moved in the same direction over the past two seasons, largely on instinct rather than any formal policy. The standard has shifted considerably from the era when replays of gruesome injuries were shown repeatedly and from multiple angles without much consideration for the player on the ground. The argument was always that it happened in public, in front of millions of people, and that showing it was simply accurate journalism. What that argument never accounted for was the difference between informing an audience and putting a man’s worst moment on a loop for the benefit of no one.
The Koné decision suggests the industry has finally figured out the difference between the two.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.