Beijing Journal

"Beijing Journal: A Live, Day-by-Day Account from Backstage at the 2008

Olympics"

by Mark Butler


This is a veteran network television broadcaster's inside view of Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, the real story behind the story. It's an absolute must-read for anyone who follows sports, and those who want to learn about the miracles that occur behind the scenes to bring world-class sporting events to your home. This unassuming little book is also an amazing feat of sports journalism powered by new publishing technologies. The author supplied the publisher with live daily reports by e-mail, plus original photos, day by day. By design, these raw, in-the-moment insights have been largely preserved as written. The final journal entry was originally dated August 23, 2008. The resulting book was first released August 24. Astoundingly, it became publicly available in print while the games were still in progress. This is the first time in history that any book-length account of the Olympics became available to the public before the closing ceremonies. Additional entries were added in following weeks. 


About Author: 


Mark Butler is an electrical and audio engineer. He is president of Majestic Sound Productions, a company that has provided design, consulting, and engineering for music, recording, and television remote productions for the past 25 years. Butler is a seven-time Emmy award winner and a Grammy recipient. Mark works with major television networks including NBC, ABC, and Fox. He has worked on four Olympics, seven Super Bowls, five World Series, and worked with artists such as The Rolling Stones, U2, and Alicia Keys. His wife Kim is a multiple Emmy award-winning audio technician. Mark has been with NBC for the last two Olympics, working as integration engineer for the main Olympic venue designers. His team is affectionately known as "The Firemen," because they put out everyone's fires. In 2008, he dragged his wife Kim to China to work at the International Broadcast Center in NBC's studio, as you will read in this remarkable behind-the-scenes journal of a history-making sports event that captured the world’s attention like never before.