Unprecedented winter snowfall, spring floods of apocalyptic proportions, famine on the African Continent while North Americans bake under an unrelenting heat-wave. If it wasn't for the absence of plagues and pestilence believers might well conclude that Biblical Prophesy is upon us.
Little wonder that radio and television weather forecasters; "climatologists" as per the preferred designated terminology of this 21st Century, have assumed the role of Hero to the Masses. Lest I digress, what a surprising turn of events particularly when contrasted against the featured dumb-blond stereotypical "Weather Girl" (The Weather Bunny) of the golden age of television and/or the iconic mid-sixties Hippie-Dippy Weatherman persona of the brilliant monologist, George Carlin...
The acute dramatic changes in climate which we now suffer are (of course) the result of humankind's abuse of the planet and its precious ecological systems and balances. Since we're clearly not doing enough to change the obvious outcome, we North Americans must slog through a crisis decade of remarkable floods, drought and in the United-States in particular this year, the deadliest tornado season on record. And if we can't change the weather (or if we won't!) then better that the broadcast meteorologist be our new best bud.
As the weather becomes a bigger story, our need for information will grow. U.S. National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro told The New York Times recently: "The weather is more extreme, the floods are wetter and the droughts are drier. That's going to have real implications on society and it elevates the need for more information and a need for those on-air personalities. It's beyond what to wear for the day or do I need to carry an umbrella."
I am of a generation who remembers when the weather forecast was read directly right-off of the teletype machine. Or at best the weather guy stood in front of a giant chalkboard map to draw smiley face suns and gloomy clouds after patiently waiting his turn till the very end of the News Broadcast. Now of course weather broadcasters preside over radar systems and they frequently cover more "on set" real-estate than their fellow news readers and reporters.
Clearly changing atmospheric patterns are now the reason why "weather" commands watching television news. And in as much as most of us would like the climatologist to "change the weather" sometimes, if he could he wouldn't be on television. We should just get used to watching, preparing for the worse and hoping for the best.
Showing posts with label Future of broadcasting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Future of broadcasting. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
ALAS! FAME IS FLEETING
Re-action has been mixed and divided over the actions of the Senate of Canada Page, Brigette DePape, who held-up a "Stop Harper" sign while the Governor-General, the Queen's representative in Canada, delivered the Speech From the Throne in the Senate on Friday.
What seems clear however is that the young woman's protest trumped the news value of the Throne Speech, and likely will be remembered long after the contents of the "speech" (whatever they were) have long been forgotten. To that degree at least; Ms DePape aged 21, sealed her 15 minutes of fame.
About 25 years ago I attended a writing seminar in Ottawa. The workshop designed to assist writers focus their vocabulary and message for better communications was conducted by Eric McLuhan, the son of Marshall McLuhan. He made no secret about the identity of his famous father, in a government town like Ottawa it was good business. Frankly I would not have hidden his identity either. He died in 1980, but Canadian educator Marshall McLuhan is regarded as the father of, and his book "The Medium Is The Massage (sic)" (1967) the Genesis of the modern electronic age. Lest I digress; 44 years ago a typographer working on the book's cover accidentally substituted "Massage" for "Message" - McLuhan chuckled and left it uncorrected.
Pundits commenting on Ms. DePape's unique protest have quoted Voltaire: "I don't agree with one word you are saying - but, I will fight to the death for your right to say it." Just as appropriate and to the point is Andy Warhol's 1968 observation that "In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." - The American "Prince of Pop Art" was a contemporary of Marshall McLuhan and clearly understood the "massage"!
Increasingly, (We should be alarmed) it seems the world is being distracted by a media circus, and the news neutered by the public appetite for round-the-clock gossip masquerading as essential information. It is not a new phenomenon. Since the invention of the print medium, whether Paul Revere, Evangeline and/or Laura Secord, the media have fawned over the unique exploits of otherwise unworthy commoners. Though at least in those cases theirs' had purpose. If "News" is a first draft of history: It is, as foretold by McLuhan and Warhol, that the media's new obsessions are tantamount to a modern "Great Train Robbery" of the draft - to paraphrase historian Clinton Rossiter.
I am a fan of the popular personality "Judge Judy", and the television news satire of the "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and the "Colbert Report" - Guilty as charged! I am nonetheless appalled by the number of people, victims of Warhol's prophesy, who are willing to be humiliated (or humiliate themselves) on these and the many other "reality" television programs of our times that substitute for journalism. These poor sods, their problems, and their issues ARE NOT, as Journalist Bill Moyers would suggest: "The actual experiences of regular people...the missing link in a nation wired for everything but the truth."
No wonder that the real news makers; politicians, business leaders, personalities of consequence can obfuscate and say anything but the clear unequivocal truth with impudence and little fear of challenge....and when they can't: There's a course they can take for that too!
What seems clear however is that the young woman's protest trumped the news value of the Throne Speech, and likely will be remembered long after the contents of the "speech" (whatever they were) have long been forgotten. To that degree at least; Ms DePape aged 21, sealed her 15 minutes of fame.
About 25 years ago I attended a writing seminar in Ottawa. The workshop designed to assist writers focus their vocabulary and message for better communications was conducted by Eric McLuhan, the son of Marshall McLuhan. He made no secret about the identity of his famous father, in a government town like Ottawa it was good business. Frankly I would not have hidden his identity either. He died in 1980, but Canadian educator Marshall McLuhan is regarded as the father of, and his book "The Medium Is The Massage (sic)" (1967) the Genesis of the modern electronic age. Lest I digress; 44 years ago a typographer working on the book's cover accidentally substituted "Massage" for "Message" - McLuhan chuckled and left it uncorrected.
Pundits commenting on Ms. DePape's unique protest have quoted Voltaire: "I don't agree with one word you are saying - but, I will fight to the death for your right to say it." Just as appropriate and to the point is Andy Warhol's 1968 observation that "In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." - The American "Prince of Pop Art" was a contemporary of Marshall McLuhan and clearly understood the "massage"!
Increasingly, (We should be alarmed) it seems the world is being distracted by a media circus, and the news neutered by the public appetite for round-the-clock gossip masquerading as essential information. It is not a new phenomenon. Since the invention of the print medium, whether Paul Revere, Evangeline and/or Laura Secord, the media have fawned over the unique exploits of otherwise unworthy commoners. Though at least in those cases theirs' had purpose. If "News" is a first draft of history: It is, as foretold by McLuhan and Warhol, that the media's new obsessions are tantamount to a modern "Great Train Robbery" of the draft - to paraphrase historian Clinton Rossiter.
I am a fan of the popular personality "Judge Judy", and the television news satire of the "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and the "Colbert Report" - Guilty as charged! I am nonetheless appalled by the number of people, victims of Warhol's prophesy, who are willing to be humiliated (or humiliate themselves) on these and the many other "reality" television programs of our times that substitute for journalism. These poor sods, their problems, and their issues ARE NOT, as Journalist Bill Moyers would suggest: "The actual experiences of regular people...the missing link in a nation wired for everything but the truth."
No wonder that the real news makers; politicians, business leaders, personalities of consequence can obfuscate and say anything but the clear unequivocal truth with impudence and little fear of challenge....and when they can't: There's a course they can take for that too!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS
Just as few days ago as the 111th Congress of the United States convened in Washington; nine white men from isolated outposts in Arizona, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Kansas and California were meeting with reporters just around the corner from the White House.
Emboldened by what observers and pundits have described as the new "Tea Party Congress," they brandished a manifesto proposing legislation to make a distinction of American birth certificates between persons "born" subject to the jurisdiction of the United-States, and persons who are "not born" subject to the jurisdiction of America. Essentially, a "Class B" birth certificate for the offspring of non-U.S. parents who are born in America: So called "anchor babies"...The American born children of what the group described to reporters as an..."illegal invasion of roofers, house cleaners, carpenters, nursemaids, drug mules, drywallers, hookers, gardeners."
Forty years ago this week "All In The Family" debuted on North American television. Though it forever changed television, it seems that it's ability to use comedy as an equal opportunity weapon to tackle politically charged issues has been abandoned to the garbage bin of history. It is not surprising therefore that in the aftermath of the shocking and dreadful events which have unfolded in Tucson, Arizona; Archie Bunker has surfaced back in America's national consciousness and conversation, with some observers and pundits claiming that the legendary character portrayed by actor Caroll O'Connor who died in 2001..."was the original Tea Partier"
As Americans (Indeed the entire world) may have learned from the events which have unfolded in Arizona's 8th Congressional District. It is entirely possible that over-the-top rhetoric whether it is pronounced by politicians, far too frequently by television commentators, or quite simply by unbalanced people; may lead to violence.
Norman Lear who is credited with creating the characters of "All In The Family" isn't quite sure whether Archie Bunker was 40 years ahead of his time a charter member of the "Tea Party Movement". Of Archie, Mr. Lear who is 88 years old, is quoted in the current issue of Parade Magazine: "He would, however, defend the Tea Party because he, too, was for small government and fiscal responsibleness - just as he sang, ...Mister we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again."
In early 1971 Archie Bunker's worries and fears: Whether about losing his job; making the next mortgage payment; or quite simply that the world (embodied in son-in-law "Meathead") is moving too fast, struck the very same chord and fears which grip modern Americans.
But as Tucson bears witness: Far greater dangers are lying amongst our current hyper-partisanship biases than Archie Bunker's issues forty years hence. Today, the media and perhaps more so personal mass communication devices via the Internet; wireless technology; Twitter and social media of every description instantly assign motive; and far too frequently speculation of every nature is passed-on as fact without any reasonable effort at confirmation.
Emboldened by what observers and pundits have described as the new "Tea Party Congress," they brandished a manifesto proposing legislation to make a distinction of American birth certificates between persons "born" subject to the jurisdiction of the United-States, and persons who are "not born" subject to the jurisdiction of America. Essentially, a "Class B" birth certificate for the offspring of non-U.S. parents who are born in America: So called "anchor babies"...The American born children of what the group described to reporters as an..."illegal invasion of roofers, house cleaners, carpenters, nursemaids, drug mules, drywallers, hookers, gardeners."
Forty years ago this week "All In The Family" debuted on North American television. Though it forever changed television, it seems that it's ability to use comedy as an equal opportunity weapon to tackle politically charged issues has been abandoned to the garbage bin of history. It is not surprising therefore that in the aftermath of the shocking and dreadful events which have unfolded in Tucson, Arizona; Archie Bunker has surfaced back in America's national consciousness and conversation, with some observers and pundits claiming that the legendary character portrayed by actor Caroll O'Connor who died in 2001..."was the original Tea Partier"
As Americans (Indeed the entire world) may have learned from the events which have unfolded in Arizona's 8th Congressional District. It is entirely possible that over-the-top rhetoric whether it is pronounced by politicians, far too frequently by television commentators, or quite simply by unbalanced people; may lead to violence.
Norman Lear who is credited with creating the characters of "All In The Family" isn't quite sure whether Archie Bunker was 40 years ahead of his time a charter member of the "Tea Party Movement". Of Archie, Mr. Lear who is 88 years old, is quoted in the current issue of Parade Magazine: "He would, however, defend the Tea Party because he, too, was for small government and fiscal responsibleness - just as he sang, ...Mister we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again."
In early 1971 Archie Bunker's worries and fears: Whether about losing his job; making the next mortgage payment; or quite simply that the world (embodied in son-in-law "Meathead") is moving too fast, struck the very same chord and fears which grip modern Americans.
But as Tucson bears witness: Far greater dangers are lying amongst our current hyper-partisanship biases than Archie Bunker's issues forty years hence. Today, the media and perhaps more so personal mass communication devices via the Internet; wireless technology; Twitter and social media of every description instantly assign motive; and far too frequently speculation of every nature is passed-on as fact without any reasonable effort at confirmation.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
WHAT IF ICARUS FLEW TOO CLOSE TO SUN NEWS?
We've chatted about this previously: Whilst French Canada, primarily Quebec, has a well developed muscular "star" system in Television, Movies, Music and even Sports; English Canadians, overwhelmed by the cultural Juggernaut of the "star" system from south of the border, most frequently must seek-out their own "icons" in the most unlikely places.
It is thus that Canadians who share the same Anglo-Saxon cultural ancestry as our American partners, and in the absence of their own home-grown "star" system, have sought to identify separately and culturally with Canadian politicians, and more recently with angry and increasingly bitter personalities, many of whom are beyond their "best before" expiration date...Come to think of it: In Canada these days bitter "has beens" and our politicians are frequently one and the same - Toronto Mayor, Robert Bruce 'Rob' Ford; and ex OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, being among their latest manifestations - I digress.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former NHL Coach Don Cherry further blurred the line between politics and Hollywood North most recently: Harper fronting an Ottawa based rock band (Herringbone) and belting-out "Jumpin' Jack Flash" among several other "golden oldies" at a Tory caucus Christmas Party and; Cherry in an unprovoked public outburst against "bicycle riding pinkos" in a speech delivered as guest of honour at the fore mentioned Rob Ford inaugural as Mayor of the country's largest city. To say nothing of Cherry's outrageous shilling for Julian Fantino, the Tory candidate in the Federal riding by-election of the affluent Toronto suburb of Vaughan, which Fantino won on November 29th with 49.1% of the votes.
Much of which is leading to widespread speculation that Cherry will abandon his cherished "Hockey Night in Canada" sinecure, and jump ship to "Sun News," the Fox News lookalike set to hit the airwaves next March, and become a Canadian Glenn Beck clone. All of which may save the CBC the embarrassment of throwing Cherry overboard for grossly violating the Corporation's code of ethics for its broadcast professionals...as opinionated as Don Cherry may be.
If Don Cherry were to abandon "Hockey Night in Canada" for a starring role on "Sun News" it might well be a blessing in disguise for the CBC. In recent years the Corporation has "bent-over" repeatedly to distance itself from the former coach's immature outbursts, giving-in to fears that any blue-collar backlash from firing the former NHL coach would play right into the hands of the Harper Government which is no friend of the CBC; and which, most importantly, controls the purse strings that keep the struggling and frequently moribund Mothercorp alive. Perhaps adding a metaphor will illustrate the debate, and digress further - Throwing Don Cherry and his "neon" wardrobe overboard might have seriously jeopardized many of CBC-TV's ratings underwater dwellers who would get electrocuted in the process.
As for the seriously "Right O' Centre" cable television news channel upstart which will see the light of day early in March - About the same time Mr. Harper is contemplating a Federal election to defend next spring's budget - It could surely greatly benefit from the publicity of a Cherry move to its stable of eccentrics just as the 2011 NHL playoffs get underway...and English Canada could be on the verge of acquiring a Hollywood-style "star" system it doesn't quite justly deserve. Could a "TMZ North," with Ezra Levant be much further behind? - "I'm a lawyer!" - Oh, the Humanity!
It is thus that Canadians who share the same Anglo-Saxon cultural ancestry as our American partners, and in the absence of their own home-grown "star" system, have sought to identify separately and culturally with Canadian politicians, and more recently with angry and increasingly bitter personalities, many of whom are beyond their "best before" expiration date...Come to think of it: In Canada these days bitter "has beens" and our politicians are frequently one and the same - Toronto Mayor, Robert Bruce 'Rob' Ford; and ex OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, being among their latest manifestations - I digress.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former NHL Coach Don Cherry further blurred the line between politics and Hollywood North most recently: Harper fronting an Ottawa based rock band (Herringbone) and belting-out "Jumpin' Jack Flash" among several other "golden oldies" at a Tory caucus Christmas Party and; Cherry in an unprovoked public outburst against "bicycle riding pinkos" in a speech delivered as guest of honour at the fore mentioned Rob Ford inaugural as Mayor of the country's largest city. To say nothing of Cherry's outrageous shilling for Julian Fantino, the Tory candidate in the Federal riding by-election of the affluent Toronto suburb of Vaughan, which Fantino won on November 29th with 49.1% of the votes.
Much of which is leading to widespread speculation that Cherry will abandon his cherished "Hockey Night in Canada" sinecure, and jump ship to "Sun News," the Fox News lookalike set to hit the airwaves next March, and become a Canadian Glenn Beck clone. All of which may save the CBC the embarrassment of throwing Cherry overboard for grossly violating the Corporation's code of ethics for its broadcast professionals...as opinionated as Don Cherry may be.
If Don Cherry were to abandon "Hockey Night in Canada" for a starring role on "Sun News" it might well be a blessing in disguise for the CBC. In recent years the Corporation has "bent-over" repeatedly to distance itself from the former coach's immature outbursts, giving-in to fears that any blue-collar backlash from firing the former NHL coach would play right into the hands of the Harper Government which is no friend of the CBC; and which, most importantly, controls the purse strings that keep the struggling and frequently moribund Mothercorp alive. Perhaps adding a metaphor will illustrate the debate, and digress further - Throwing Don Cherry and his "neon" wardrobe overboard might have seriously jeopardized many of CBC-TV's ratings underwater dwellers who would get electrocuted in the process.
As for the seriously "Right O' Centre" cable television news channel upstart which will see the light of day early in March - About the same time Mr. Harper is contemplating a Federal election to defend next spring's budget - It could surely greatly benefit from the publicity of a Cherry move to its stable of eccentrics just as the 2011 NHL playoffs get underway...and English Canada could be on the verge of acquiring a Hollywood-style "star" system it doesn't quite justly deserve. Could a "TMZ North," with Ezra Levant be much further behind? - "I'm a lawyer!" - Oh, the Humanity!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
BABY AND BATH WATER - TURFED-OUT!
The Toronto International Film Festival, one of the world's most prestigious, is about to get underway. Believe me try as he may, CTV pretty-boy Ben Mulroney is not going to be able to overcome the sad sack fact that English Canada long ago abdicated any homegrown star system to our American neighbours. In Canada there are simply no music, television or movie stars unless they first move south of the border.
While Toronto may go bonkers over the line-up of American super-personalities who will attend next week; in this country, and in English speaking Canada more specifically, our "default" stars are the parliamentarians, the politicians and the journalists who grind-out the daily media coverage of the debates, events, activities and the related travels from coast to coast.
My FaceBook friends have noted; and the Canadian Press finally now reports that there however has been an unprecedented convergence of both over the past week, and it's in fact America's "star" media which made the connection. The U.S. based entertainment trade magazine - "The Hollywood Reporter" has joined the ranks of Canadian outlets covering the controversial bid to introduce "Sun News" (Dubbed - Fox North) to cable subscribers north of the 49th. After just short of a century covering the hot American star scene, since early this month the "Reporter" has run two stories over the publicly expressed fears in Canada that the promoters of "Sun News", primarily Kory Teneycke, will turn the proposed network into a mainstream mouthpiece for the Conservative Government of Prime-Minister Stephen Harper.
Well-known author Margaret Atwood launched her own offensive against the proposed news channel about ten days ago by issuing a flurry of Twitter "tweets" denouncing the proposal from Quebecor / Sun Media and urging like-minded Canadians to sign a petition called "Stop Fox News North." Ms Atwood notes that Mr. Harper's government has a past pattern of silencing critics and she's expressed concern for the head of the regulating agency, CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein - "Will CRTC head's head roll to get Sun licence? That's my concern;" she tweeted.
The CRTC has already denied Sun's bid for a category 1 licence, but concern has been expressed over an unusual decision to fast-track a revised application for the proposed channel which would allow "Sun News" to jump the step everyone else has to take: To wit - persuade cable companies and satellite providers to offer the service to their customers.
Certainly since Kory Teneycke became Vice-President of Development for Quebecor with responsibility for Sun Media's Parliamentary news service there's been a palpable neo-conservative shift in coverage. Mr. Teneycke got the job after leaving the Prime Minister's Office where he was Mr. Harper's Director of Communications. While the "new" Sun media coverage isn't always Harper positive; the most vocal critics, including long-time respected Sun columnist Greg Weston, have been turfed overboard.
Regardless of "Sun News Network's" success or not; even in its pre-licensing stage it seems to have engendered tectonic shifts in coverage of Ottawa's "Star" political scene - Not the least of which is the abrupt departure of Tom Clark from CTV's flagship political program: "Power Play With Tom Clark" after almost 40 years as one of the network's top journalists. In addition to the "Sun's" Weston, Clark joins other high-profile journalists leaving to "pursue other opportunities" including Anchors Kevin Newman (Global) and the retiring Lloyd Robertson (CTV).
In a just published commentary in the "Globe and Mail" titled: Why Does The Harper Government Do What It Does"; Carleton University Political Scientist, Jonathan Malloy describes the new Conservative ideology as inconsistent and..."in the end no one seems to have a clear explanation that makes sense of the Harper Government."
Most observers will agree that through these ending summer months the government appears to have stumbled several times from setbacks that for the most part have been self-inflicted. The wasteful spending on the Toronto Summits; the killing of the long-form census; and the controversial untended purchase of F-35 "stealth" fighter jets from the United States among them.
Somehow the scheme may be to create the kind of sharp polarization in politics here that has divided, and cripples the government, the administration and the people of the United-States, and for which Fox News (USA) bears no small level of blame. As Professor Malloy concludes in his "Globe and Mail" commentary - "One thing is clear, (Harper's) is a stubborn government that refuses to back down." But if anything, Canada's (and Canadians') history of inclusion rather suggests that we are pragmatic, common sensed, progressive, and patriotic. Hardly stubborn!
Perhaps more than ever this fall as Parliament resumes (polarized or not) Canada's news media and journalists will have a singularly significant role to play making sure Canadians are fully and fairly informed: The stakes may be that high.
While Toronto may go bonkers over the line-up of American super-personalities who will attend next week; in this country, and in English speaking Canada more specifically, our "default" stars are the parliamentarians, the politicians and the journalists who grind-out the daily media coverage of the debates, events, activities and the related travels from coast to coast.
My FaceBook friends have noted; and the Canadian Press finally now reports that there however has been an unprecedented convergence of both over the past week, and it's in fact America's "star" media which made the connection. The U.S. based entertainment trade magazine - "The Hollywood Reporter" has joined the ranks of Canadian outlets covering the controversial bid to introduce "Sun News" (Dubbed - Fox North) to cable subscribers north of the 49th. After just short of a century covering the hot American star scene, since early this month the "Reporter" has run two stories over the publicly expressed fears in Canada that the promoters of "Sun News", primarily Kory Teneycke, will turn the proposed network into a mainstream mouthpiece for the Conservative Government of Prime-Minister Stephen Harper.
Well-known author Margaret Atwood launched her own offensive against the proposed news channel about ten days ago by issuing a flurry of Twitter "tweets" denouncing the proposal from Quebecor / Sun Media and urging like-minded Canadians to sign a petition called "Stop Fox News North." Ms Atwood notes that Mr. Harper's government has a past pattern of silencing critics and she's expressed concern for the head of the regulating agency, CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein - "Will CRTC head's head roll to get Sun licence? That's my concern;" she tweeted.
The CRTC has already denied Sun's bid for a category 1 licence, but concern has been expressed over an unusual decision to fast-track a revised application for the proposed channel which would allow "Sun News" to jump the step everyone else has to take: To wit - persuade cable companies and satellite providers to offer the service to their customers.
Certainly since Kory Teneycke became Vice-President of Development for Quebecor with responsibility for Sun Media's Parliamentary news service there's been a palpable neo-conservative shift in coverage. Mr. Teneycke got the job after leaving the Prime Minister's Office where he was Mr. Harper's Director of Communications. While the "new" Sun media coverage isn't always Harper positive; the most vocal critics, including long-time respected Sun columnist Greg Weston, have been turfed overboard.
Regardless of "Sun News Network's" success or not; even in its pre-licensing stage it seems to have engendered tectonic shifts in coverage of Ottawa's "Star" political scene - Not the least of which is the abrupt departure of Tom Clark from CTV's flagship political program: "Power Play With Tom Clark" after almost 40 years as one of the network's top journalists. In addition to the "Sun's" Weston, Clark joins other high-profile journalists leaving to "pursue other opportunities" including Anchors Kevin Newman (Global) and the retiring Lloyd Robertson (CTV).
In a just published commentary in the "Globe and Mail" titled: Why Does The Harper Government Do What It Does"; Carleton University Political Scientist, Jonathan Malloy describes the new Conservative ideology as inconsistent and..."in the end no one seems to have a clear explanation that makes sense of the Harper Government."
Most observers will agree that through these ending summer months the government appears to have stumbled several times from setbacks that for the most part have been self-inflicted. The wasteful spending on the Toronto Summits; the killing of the long-form census; and the controversial untended purchase of F-35 "stealth" fighter jets from the United States among them.
Somehow the scheme may be to create the kind of sharp polarization in politics here that has divided, and cripples the government, the administration and the people of the United-States, and for which Fox News (USA) bears no small level of blame. As Professor Malloy concludes in his "Globe and Mail" commentary - "One thing is clear, (Harper's) is a stubborn government that refuses to back down." But if anything, Canada's (and Canadians') history of inclusion rather suggests that we are pragmatic, common sensed, progressive, and patriotic. Hardly stubborn!
Perhaps more than ever this fall as Parliament resumes (polarized or not) Canada's news media and journalists will have a singularly significant role to play making sure Canadians are fully and fairly informed: The stakes may be that high.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
A DONE DEAL...
I was surprised by friends' assumptions that since the CRTC has turned thumbs down on Sun-TV's application for an all-news "tier one" cable licence, the project is "dead in the water," so to speak.
The exodus of casualties from Quebecor's "Sun Media" hard right-turn in the last few days is otherwise proof positive of the launch; as planned in January; of what critics and pundits have described as a Fox News North clone. Respected and middle-of-the road columnists and journalists are being turfed overboard faster than Stephen Harper's popularity expectations.
Notable long-term Sun Media scribes Eric Margolis, Greg Weston, Elizabeth Thompson, Christina Spence and Peter Zimonjic; all gone in the blink of an eye-lid. Kathleen Harris has been kicked-out of the chain's Ottawa Parliamentary Bureau and now is barely hanging-on as one of the media Web's National Reporters. Lest I digress: Greg Weston it seems, is paying a pretty price for creating "all the fuss" by breaking the news over the "Fake Lake" G-20 Summit bloat just a month ago.
"Fair and Balanced.ca" is but a notch around the next corner. Toronto based "Sun-TV", which will anchor Canada's assertive new conservatism come next January first is already distributed nation-wide to Bell satellite receivers, and on cable across Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Ontario as well as parts of Alberta. Any additional carriage the CRTC through wisdom, generosity and / or nebulous Cabinet directive allows, is gravy as in the concept of: "If you build it...they will come."
Many already believe that the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is operating from the American Republican Party's "playbook": To wit - Using any single frightening event or memorable case where justice is seen not to be done as more emotionally riveting and politically useful than reasoned debate. Pretty much anyone who has worked with the Prime Minister knows already that his top priority is message control based on the tenet - Control the message, and you control the outcome. Kory Teneycke, Vice-President of Development at Quebecor, is behind the new Sun-TV venture. He was Mr. Harper's Director of communications. - An entire channel run by people who think that political dialogue panders to extremes and pivots on name calling.
It was just a few days back in the United States that a cleverly edited video of an Agriculture Department Official Shirley Sherrod, which aired on Fox News, caused a furor and eventually forced President Obama to apologize for throwing Ms. Sherrod out of her job in the ensuing uproar. An all too familiar scenario that maybe former Cabinet Minister, Helena Guergis, could share some sympathy with: Two women thrown under a bus as examples of things deemed wrong with politics by an overly partisan too fast paced simplistic accelerated modern news media cycle.
Yes indeed: Canada's political media landscape is shifting rapidly. Doubtless, it is true that the public is better served by having a broad range of perspectives rather than just one or two. But, as President Obama and his Agriculture Secretary just learned; there is inherent danger lurking when fringe elements are given access to a forum for rants based on perceived biases. Canadian politicians in high places should perhaps take a lesson from the example.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
ODE TO 20TH CENTURY JOURNALISM
The proliferation of personal communication devices, and the explosion of the social networking phenomenon via the Internet have strained the practice of journalistic integrity near its inability to recover.
I should not have been shocked last week (though I was) to witness a seasoned practitioner of the trade, Larry King, reduced to interviewing the judges from "American Idol" on his once top-rated nightly CNN show. The lines separating news and entertainment; opinion, rumour and fact; professional from amateur have been obliterated during this first decade of the 21st Century.
Anyone with a connection to the Internet may now contribute to the discourse of public conversation. Doubtless it is more democratic, but is it any more healthy? In the United-States a recent survey conducted by the reputed Pew Research Center notes that Americans have become a nation of "news grazers" whose..."relationship to news is becoming portable, personalized and participatory."
But: In a society where journalism (Voyeurism to some degree - I digress!) includes citizens with cellphone cameras; the micro-blogging service Twitter; social media Facebook, and millions of blog sites and bloggers, few of us have neither the time, nor the skills and ability to sort-out the news from the entertainment, and the facts from the fiction.
The U.S. media reported recently about a debate within Fox News which has divided the organization over journalistic principles and the antics and pronouncements of its highest rated program hosts (to be polite) the eccentrics Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck. Little wonder that the Pew Research survey referenced above found that 70% of its respondents were "overwhelmed" by the amount of news and information from different sources and; more critically, that almost two-thirds (72%) thought most sources of news were biased.
Most current efforts by 20th Century media organizations to carve-out 21st Century niches amongst the clutter of un-traditional journalism are frequently misguided.- Which may explain why Larry King interviews "American Idol" has beens; Barbara Walters hosts "The View"; and CBC News Network's "Power and Politics" interviews Kitty Kelley about Oprah's biography.
The sensible late 20th Century phenomenon of "All-News" TV channels has evolved from a desire for competent round-the-clock journalism to a relentless competitive aggressive multi-channel universe. Each of which; in a relentless search of audiences and revenue; has devolved, along a particular political bias and agenda, from sensible journalistic choice to an egregious barrage of infotainment alternatives. In the process each bears a substantial level of blame for elevating the mundane to manufactured crisis. As in the case of last fall's "swine flu" pandemic. And, perhaps more recently the grounding of all flights over Europe; and (here in Canada) scandalous allegations involving a former junior Cabinet Minister and her partying husband.
It seems that the traditional news hierarchy has been up-ended. A recent opinion forum published in "USA Today" concludes that consumers of information are both overwhelmed and appallingly under-informed..."With actual news, and items that look suspiciously like news, coming at us from a variety of outlets, how do we know what to trust? How do we distinguish credible information from raw information, misinformation and propaganda?"
Then why should anyone seek-out quality journalism - especially if we believe anyway that it's all driven by opinion, entertainment, ratings, revenues and bias?
I should not have been shocked last week (though I was) to witness a seasoned practitioner of the trade, Larry King, reduced to interviewing the judges from "American Idol" on his once top-rated nightly CNN show. The lines separating news and entertainment; opinion, rumour and fact; professional from amateur have been obliterated during this first decade of the 21st Century.
Anyone with a connection to the Internet may now contribute to the discourse of public conversation. Doubtless it is more democratic, but is it any more healthy? In the United-States a recent survey conducted by the reputed Pew Research Center notes that Americans have become a nation of "news grazers" whose..."relationship to news is becoming portable, personalized and participatory."
But: In a society where journalism (Voyeurism to some degree - I digress!) includes citizens with cellphone cameras; the micro-blogging service Twitter; social media Facebook, and millions of blog sites and bloggers, few of us have neither the time, nor the skills and ability to sort-out the news from the entertainment, and the facts from the fiction.
The U.S. media reported recently about a debate within Fox News which has divided the organization over journalistic principles and the antics and pronouncements of its highest rated program hosts (to be polite) the eccentrics Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck. Little wonder that the Pew Research survey referenced above found that 70% of its respondents were "overwhelmed" by the amount of news and information from different sources and; more critically, that almost two-thirds (72%) thought most sources of news were biased.
Most current efforts by 20th Century media organizations to carve-out 21st Century niches amongst the clutter of un-traditional journalism are frequently misguided.- Which may explain why Larry King interviews "American Idol" has beens; Barbara Walters hosts "The View"; and CBC News Network's "Power and Politics" interviews Kitty Kelley about Oprah's biography.
The sensible late 20th Century phenomenon of "All-News" TV channels has evolved from a desire for competent round-the-clock journalism to a relentless competitive aggressive multi-channel universe. Each of which; in a relentless search of audiences and revenue; has devolved, along a particular political bias and agenda, from sensible journalistic choice to an egregious barrage of infotainment alternatives. In the process each bears a substantial level of blame for elevating the mundane to manufactured crisis. As in the case of last fall's "swine flu" pandemic. And, perhaps more recently the grounding of all flights over Europe; and (here in Canada) scandalous allegations involving a former junior Cabinet Minister and her partying husband.
It seems that the traditional news hierarchy has been up-ended. A recent opinion forum published in "USA Today" concludes that consumers of information are both overwhelmed and appallingly under-informed..."With actual news, and items that look suspiciously like news, coming at us from a variety of outlets, how do we know what to trust? How do we distinguish credible information from raw information, misinformation and propaganda?"
Then why should anyone seek-out quality journalism - especially if we believe anyway that it's all driven by opinion, entertainment, ratings, revenues and bias?
Saturday, October 24, 2009
FADE TO COLOUR BARS
The "Toronto Sun" newspaper reported a couple of days back that CTV claims eleven of its twelve stations in Ontario are in financial jeopardy. Network representatives, along with some from Global television, had participated in an editorial board round-table with the newspaper in support of their argument to access cable fees: "The Save Local TV" campaign which mercifully will end-up off our television screens and before the CRTC in just a few days.
CTV claims only it's flagship CFTO-TV in Toronto is actually making money...which begs the question why does CTV own 12-stations in Ontario to begin with? To some degree:- Either each was a going, occasionally growing, community business (mostly owned by local entrepreneurs) before the network began its acquisitions...Or:- Business pressures would have ensured its eventual demise anyway. Although it's the country's largest province, the Ontario market cannot; should not; support twelve seperate stations owned by one single network in an ultra-competitive environment. It makes no sense. In contrast, although it is no poster child for broadcasting management (management of any business really); Global has one TV station in Ontario...the Public Broadcasters: TVO - One station; the CBC, three (Toronto-Ottawa-Windsor).
Although very much different as a model, and unlike the CRTC, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United-States discourages network ownership of local TV and the regulator actually limits the number of stations a business may licence. The problem here it seems evident is that greed fueled the virtually uncontrolled acquisition by CTV of just about every single television outlet in this province (as elsewhere), eventually sucking-out their life-blood to feed an apparent desire to dominate the airwaves. How else to explain that in addition to the 12 Ontario stations over which it now pleads poverty, CTV also owns more than 30 Specialty Television channels; and outbid its nearest rival by a claimed $50-million for the rights to broadcast the Vancouver Games ($150-million)...a commitment which now given the economy it is nearly unable to sustain.
That the flagship station CFTO-TV is the network's sole source of positive cash-flow in its local station business should be of little concern to cable television subscribers, and most certainly of no concern to Canadian taxpayers. It does however speak volumes about greed which has been anchored on a foundation of "maxed-out" lines of credit and somewhat limited business sense. CTV and the other proponents of "Save Local TV" are right...the model is broken: I've concluded that it would not be broken if they had not meddled with it in the first place, and I'll be damned if I am expected to pay for their greed, ill-conceived planning and incompetence.
CTV claims only it's flagship CFTO-TV in Toronto is actually making money...which begs the question why does CTV own 12-stations in Ontario to begin with? To some degree:- Either each was a going, occasionally growing, community business (mostly owned by local entrepreneurs) before the network began its acquisitions...Or:- Business pressures would have ensured its eventual demise anyway. Although it's the country's largest province, the Ontario market cannot; should not; support twelve seperate stations owned by one single network in an ultra-competitive environment. It makes no sense. In contrast, although it is no poster child for broadcasting management (management of any business really); Global has one TV station in Ontario...the Public Broadcasters: TVO - One station; the CBC, three (Toronto-Ottawa-Windsor).
Although very much different as a model, and unlike the CRTC, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United-States discourages network ownership of local TV and the regulator actually limits the number of stations a business may licence. The problem here it seems evident is that greed fueled the virtually uncontrolled acquisition by CTV of just about every single television outlet in this province (as elsewhere), eventually sucking-out their life-blood to feed an apparent desire to dominate the airwaves. How else to explain that in addition to the 12 Ontario stations over which it now pleads poverty, CTV also owns more than 30 Specialty Television channels; and outbid its nearest rival by a claimed $50-million for the rights to broadcast the Vancouver Games ($150-million)...a commitment which now given the economy it is nearly unable to sustain.
That the flagship station CFTO-TV is the network's sole source of positive cash-flow in its local station business should be of little concern to cable television subscribers, and most certainly of no concern to Canadian taxpayers. It does however speak volumes about greed which has been anchored on a foundation of "maxed-out" lines of credit and somewhat limited business sense. CTV and the other proponents of "Save Local TV" are right...the model is broken: I've concluded that it would not be broken if they had not meddled with it in the first place, and I'll be damned if I am expected to pay for their greed, ill-conceived planning and incompetence.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
POSTER CHILD FOR AN INDUSTRY
There are less than three weeks remaining before - Surely with the wisdom of Solomon - the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) meets head-on the proponents and promoters of: "Save Local TV" and those of "Stop the TV Tax."
Canada's big entertainment providers the television broadcasters; and those who distribute their programs the cable and satellite providers, have been waging an all too public over the air battle to win our hearts and minds. One group guts local programming and threatens more cuts. Increases in the monthly bills from the other outpace rising costs and any reasonable expectations.
Regardless; and at the risk of becoming the poster child for this national malaise, any solution which the sages of the CRTC can cobble together will come too late for the now bankrupt Global Television Network who's assets will by then be portioned-off amongst the parent company's $4-billion creditors.
Even before Global's flow of red ink sank the network beyond its capacity to recover, rumours in the business were circulating as early as last spring that the network's national news anchor, Kevin Newman, was ripe for the picking. Since signing-on the early evening newscast in September 2001, its star anchor has matured into an accomplished seasoned newscaster...a far cry from his difficult American beginnings back in the mid-nineties at ABC News where he struggled with "World News Tonight" as with later on "Good Morning America."
While Mr. Newman surely ranks amongst Global's valuable assets; it stands to reason that both salary and production costs for his major national and international news package seven evenings per week are also a considerable liability for the now bankrupt network. The temptation to shop Newman's talents to rival broadcasters can't possibly have escaped those charged with making the best out of Global's tenuous future.
Neither the CBC nor CTV have vast talent pools from which to draw replacements for their own anchors. At age 76, Lloyd Robertson will have to retire some day. On the eve of its massive coverage of the winter Olympic Games from Vancouver, Kevin Newman would seem to be a perfect fit for CTV. Over at the CBC, though at age 61 Peter Mansbridge is younger than his CTV rival, he has just one more year left on his contract. The network's well documented financial problems and lacklustre ratings could crack open the door for a younger less expensive replacement with the profile of the "Global National News" high in his pedigree. After all if you believe Global's spin on ratings, though given different broadcast hours it's like comparing apples and oranges, still Kevin Newman consistently beats rivals CBC and CTV every night.
"Global National with Kevin Newman" does an admirable job with a consistently well produced newscast particularly given the network's limited resources. Global's finances are floundering and the network's trustees in bankruptcy are unlikely to pump any additional cash into the operation. The stars may have just aligned perfectly to encourage the anchor to jump ship before sailing into rougher waters. Let the bidding war begin. That is if it is not already underway.
Canada's big entertainment providers the television broadcasters; and those who distribute their programs the cable and satellite providers, have been waging an all too public over the air battle to win our hearts and minds. One group guts local programming and threatens more cuts. Increases in the monthly bills from the other outpace rising costs and any reasonable expectations.
Regardless; and at the risk of becoming the poster child for this national malaise, any solution which the sages of the CRTC can cobble together will come too late for the now bankrupt Global Television Network who's assets will by then be portioned-off amongst the parent company's $4-billion creditors.
Even before Global's flow of red ink sank the network beyond its capacity to recover, rumours in the business were circulating as early as last spring that the network's national news anchor, Kevin Newman, was ripe for the picking. Since signing-on the early evening newscast in September 2001, its star anchor has matured into an accomplished seasoned newscaster...a far cry from his difficult American beginnings back in the mid-nineties at ABC News where he struggled with "World News Tonight" as with later on "Good Morning America."
While Mr. Newman surely ranks amongst Global's valuable assets; it stands to reason that both salary and production costs for his major national and international news package seven evenings per week are also a considerable liability for the now bankrupt network. The temptation to shop Newman's talents to rival broadcasters can't possibly have escaped those charged with making the best out of Global's tenuous future.
Neither the CBC nor CTV have vast talent pools from which to draw replacements for their own anchors. At age 76, Lloyd Robertson will have to retire some day. On the eve of its massive coverage of the winter Olympic Games from Vancouver, Kevin Newman would seem to be a perfect fit for CTV. Over at the CBC, though at age 61 Peter Mansbridge is younger than his CTV rival, he has just one more year left on his contract. The network's well documented financial problems and lacklustre ratings could crack open the door for a younger less expensive replacement with the profile of the "Global National News" high in his pedigree. After all if you believe Global's spin on ratings, though given different broadcast hours it's like comparing apples and oranges, still Kevin Newman consistently beats rivals CBC and CTV every night.
"Global National with Kevin Newman" does an admirable job with a consistently well produced newscast particularly given the network's limited resources. Global's finances are floundering and the network's trustees in bankruptcy are unlikely to pump any additional cash into the operation. The stars may have just aligned perfectly to encourage the anchor to jump ship before sailing into rougher waters. Let the bidding war begin. That is if it is not already underway.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
THE FAMILY JEWELS
Doubtless the numbers-crunchers from Portage Avenue, through Bay Street, Rue de la Gauchetiere, and all the way to Wall Street are poring over the entrails of the now bankrupt Canwest Media Company. Reality dictates there is not here anymore in Canada a knight in shinning armour ready to rescue this failed media empire.
Though the failure of Canwest Media, its parent company crushed under a $4-billion debt, may signal the greatest media sell-off in Canadian history, the takers are likely few; if any. Judging by its incessant whining about tethering on the verge of poverty, CTV-Globe Media, is obviously not poised to rescue neither the Global Television Network, nor its newspaper empire; even though the "National Post" competes directly against the "Globe and Mail" and would be an obvious candidate for closure.
Sun Media also of Toronto is wholly-owned by Quebecor of Montreal and that publisher's global empire isn't quite as frisky as during the halcyon days of Pierre Peladeau. Though Power Corporation also in Montreal has the financial resources to rescue all of the Canwest assets, and its enormously profitable Great-West Life Assurance division is headquartered in the Asper family's Winnipeg homestead. Power Corp. has been cutting back on media holdings and pleading mercy for its money losing "La Presse" newspaper of Montreal.
This is not Global Television's first bankruptcy, but surely it is its most spectacular and it may shake Canada's national media to their vary core. Surely not quite what its founders, Al Bruner, a former Detroit big band singer, and Peter Hill his business partner had in mind when Global signed-on as Canada's third English TV network on January 6, 1974. Sadly, their fate foretold of the future for Global. Three months into the first year of operations, Bruner and Hill were bankrupt. That's when Izzy Asper, the Winnipeg millionaire owner of small independent CKND-TV bought the Global name, franchise and network.
Blame the regulator, the CRTC, for licensing a total of six conventional networks (Three English: CBC - CTV - Global / Three French: SRC - TVA - V) in a country of less than 35 million people; and then further failing to monitor adequately their increasing dependence on American imported programs to make ends meet. Public hearings scheduled to get underway in just a few weeks into the so-called "fee for carriage" demands of the television broadcasters may be a blessed opportunity for the CRTC to mend the errors of its past.
As for the Canwest holdings, newspapers and television alike: The scavengers of this cut-throat media business; aided by the bankers and money managers who hold much of the company's now near worthless assets; will pick-out the best. The rest will be dissolved. Canadian culture will be further diminished and impoverished in the name of the greedy.
Though the failure of Canwest Media, its parent company crushed under a $4-billion debt, may signal the greatest media sell-off in Canadian history, the takers are likely few; if any. Judging by its incessant whining about tethering on the verge of poverty, CTV-Globe Media, is obviously not poised to rescue neither the Global Television Network, nor its newspaper empire; even though the "National Post" competes directly against the "Globe and Mail" and would be an obvious candidate for closure.
Sun Media also of Toronto is wholly-owned by Quebecor of Montreal and that publisher's global empire isn't quite as frisky as during the halcyon days of Pierre Peladeau. Though Power Corporation also in Montreal has the financial resources to rescue all of the Canwest assets, and its enormously profitable Great-West Life Assurance division is headquartered in the Asper family's Winnipeg homestead. Power Corp. has been cutting back on media holdings and pleading mercy for its money losing "La Presse" newspaper of Montreal.
This is not Global Television's first bankruptcy, but surely it is its most spectacular and it may shake Canada's national media to their vary core. Surely not quite what its founders, Al Bruner, a former Detroit big band singer, and Peter Hill his business partner had in mind when Global signed-on as Canada's third English TV network on January 6, 1974. Sadly, their fate foretold of the future for Global. Three months into the first year of operations, Bruner and Hill were bankrupt. That's when Izzy Asper, the Winnipeg millionaire owner of small independent CKND-TV bought the Global name, franchise and network.
Blame the regulator, the CRTC, for licensing a total of six conventional networks (Three English: CBC - CTV - Global / Three French: SRC - TVA - V) in a country of less than 35 million people; and then further failing to monitor adequately their increasing dependence on American imported programs to make ends meet. Public hearings scheduled to get underway in just a few weeks into the so-called "fee for carriage" demands of the television broadcasters may be a blessed opportunity for the CRTC to mend the errors of its past.
As for the Canwest holdings, newspapers and television alike: The scavengers of this cut-throat media business; aided by the bankers and money managers who hold much of the company's now near worthless assets; will pick-out the best. The rest will be dissolved. Canadian culture will be further diminished and impoverished in the name of the greedy.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
CHEESE WITH THAT WHINE?
Cable and satellite television viewers are outraged after being slapped with a one and half percent increase in their monthly bills courtesy of a new CRTC dictate to increase the Canadian Television Fund.
The fund requires the distributors of television services on cable or by satellite pay a small percentage of their revenues to assist with the production of Canadian programs. The total annual fund amount has been set at near $68-million for about a year, but increased just recently to $100-million on orders from the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as a stopgap measure to incessant whining from broadcasters that the downturn in the economy has left them unable to fulfill their programming requirements.
Frankly if I may digress, It ain't really mattered one scintilla that Ben Mulroney and "Canadian Idol" (one of the CTV casualties) haven't been on air this year - Likely no one has noticed.
CTV-Globemedia CEO, Ivan Fecan, has been amongst the loudest whiners launching a bid early last spring to charge the cable companies to broadcast CTV stations. Canwest-Global, the country's other privately held English language network, also supports the proposal. The war of words has waged and escalated since that time.
Every time there is a "tempest in a teapot" of this nature there is plenty of blame to go around. For now it's but a campaign for the hearts and minds of consumers, and Mr. Fecan's CTV, including the "Save Local TV" campaign have been good at setting the debate's agenda. This month though Rogers Cable (the country's largest), and Bell Canada, the largest satellite distributor, have made it mighty clear just who's pocketbook the networks' whining will hit. And, in a double whammy, Bell has also filed suit in court, asking a Federal Judge to intervene to stop the CRTC plans to hold hearings into the CTV and Global applications to begin charging for carrying their signals. The Federal regulator had scheduled the hearings to start on September 29, but has now pushed them back to mid-November with the expectation that the Federal Court will rule by then.
In the interim, CTV has decimated its smaller "A" channel group of stations, and has plans to close at least three of them. Global too has cut back, and put up the "for sale" sign on it's smaller "E!" television stations chain. Just like Nortel and so many others, the network's greed and disregard for sound financial planning are at the source of the problems. Dumping the burden on the television distributors, ultimately with the complicity of the Federal regulator isn't going to cause anything but agravation and grief.
Lost amongst the accusations and arguments is one undeniable fact: Cable and satellite viewers across the country already pay amounts ranging from a few cents to as much as a dollar per month for each of the so-called specialty channels they receive. Nationwide, CTV collects on its 33 specialty channels, versus its two over the air offerings (CTV & "A")...Canwest too each month collects money from viewers for each one of its 17 specialty channels, versus its two traditional channels: Global TV and E! In this war of words, CTV this week had the temerity to ask for transparent billing practices on the part of cable and satellite companies. The danger is that should its wish be granted, consumers will know once and for all just how much cash already flows into CTV and Global from the hidden specialty channel fees paid each month...I'm all for that.
While both sides have been lobing accusations and charges at each other; the CRTC, the Federal Agency mandated to protect our interests, seems to have lost the will and the backbone to tell them each to quit whining, just shut-up, and get on with their business.
The fund requires the distributors of television services on cable or by satellite pay a small percentage of their revenues to assist with the production of Canadian programs. The total annual fund amount has been set at near $68-million for about a year, but increased just recently to $100-million on orders from the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as a stopgap measure to incessant whining from broadcasters that the downturn in the economy has left them unable to fulfill their programming requirements.
Frankly if I may digress, It ain't really mattered one scintilla that Ben Mulroney and "Canadian Idol" (one of the CTV casualties) haven't been on air this year - Likely no one has noticed.
CTV-Globemedia CEO, Ivan Fecan, has been amongst the loudest whiners launching a bid early last spring to charge the cable companies to broadcast CTV stations. Canwest-Global, the country's other privately held English language network, also supports the proposal. The war of words has waged and escalated since that time.
Every time there is a "tempest in a teapot" of this nature there is plenty of blame to go around. For now it's but a campaign for the hearts and minds of consumers, and Mr. Fecan's CTV, including the "Save Local TV" campaign have been good at setting the debate's agenda. This month though Rogers Cable (the country's largest), and Bell Canada, the largest satellite distributor, have made it mighty clear just who's pocketbook the networks' whining will hit. And, in a double whammy, Bell has also filed suit in court, asking a Federal Judge to intervene to stop the CRTC plans to hold hearings into the CTV and Global applications to begin charging for carrying their signals. The Federal regulator had scheduled the hearings to start on September 29, but has now pushed them back to mid-November with the expectation that the Federal Court will rule by then.
In the interim, CTV has decimated its smaller "A" channel group of stations, and has plans to close at least three of them. Global too has cut back, and put up the "for sale" sign on it's smaller "E!" television stations chain. Just like Nortel and so many others, the network's greed and disregard for sound financial planning are at the source of the problems. Dumping the burden on the television distributors, ultimately with the complicity of the Federal regulator isn't going to cause anything but agravation and grief.
Lost amongst the accusations and arguments is one undeniable fact: Cable and satellite viewers across the country already pay amounts ranging from a few cents to as much as a dollar per month for each of the so-called specialty channels they receive. Nationwide, CTV collects on its 33 specialty channels, versus its two over the air offerings (CTV & "A")...Canwest too each month collects money from viewers for each one of its 17 specialty channels, versus its two traditional channels: Global TV and E! In this war of words, CTV this week had the temerity to ask for transparent billing practices on the part of cable and satellite companies. The danger is that should its wish be granted, consumers will know once and for all just how much cash already flows into CTV and Global from the hidden specialty channel fees paid each month...I'm all for that.
While both sides have been lobing accusations and charges at each other; the CRTC, the Federal Agency mandated to protect our interests, seems to have lost the will and the backbone to tell them each to quit whining, just shut-up, and get on with their business.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
SECRET...OR NOT (SO) SECRET!
There is a debate amongst journalists in this country over whether the "secret" documents left behind at CTV's Ottawa News Bureau were indeed "state secrets"...and the implications for journalistic integrity to hold-on to them for 6 days if indeed they were.
One thing is clear - They weren't "secret" enough in the mind of the Prime-Minister to cost the Minister of Natural Resources her job as had, for instance the secret NATO documents left behind at Julie Couillard's condo by Maxime Bernier...almost a year to the day.
Writing for the Sun Newspapers this weekend, Columnist Greg Weston suggests that it's easy enough for a Federal Government obsessed with confidentiality, and a Prime-Minister obsessed with control, to stamp "Secret" on pretty much any document it wants to keep away from prying eyes - Journalists and opposition politicians included..."Truth is no one got excited about a breach of official secrets because there were none in the documents"...So says Weston.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council publicly chastised CTV-News recently after a full review of the broadcast of a television interview, three false starts and all, of former Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, with its Halifax anchor, Steve Murphy, during the fall 2008 Federal Election campaign. The interview was re-broadcast ad nauseum on "Mike Duffy Live" for which the CBSC also blasted CTV.
While I may subscribe to Greg Weston's interpretation about the value of the documents left behind at CTV by the Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt; I am having difficulty understanding why they were held-on to by the News Bureau for 6 days while it prepared a news story based on their content. It seems to me (As the CBSC seemed to raise in the Dion matter) to call into question CTV's journalistic integrity perhaps verging on an abuse of our journalistic freedoms...well at least it seems un-Canadian.
Regardless of the value, authenticity or worth of the documents; a year ago when in Maxime Bernier's case, Julie Couillard brought with her "his secret documents" to a TVA French language interview in Montreal, authorities there didn't hesitate...and sure as hell didn't read or copy the contents...they called the department of Foreign Affairs who sent the RCMP to retrieve the briefing book. To me it seems that is the "only" way to behave...I fault CTV for doing less (much less) with the documents left behind at their studio by Minister Raitt.
The documents may not have been so secret after all...they didn't hold Canada's nuclear bomb formula (as if we had one!)...but leaving them behind, and CTV's disclosure cost at least one departmental insider her job.
Somewhat like an acrobat walking the tight-rope, there are dangers inherent with stretching the limits of broadcast freedoms and calling into question one's journalistic integrity - Sometimes either the rope snaps, or the acrobat slips off.
To say the least: Either way I'll be making sure to hang-on to my wallet and credit cards if ever I am invited into CTV's Ottawa bureau. They're not so secret either, but I wouldn't want them in someone else's hands for 6 days without getting called.
One thing is clear - They weren't "secret" enough in the mind of the Prime-Minister to cost the Minister of Natural Resources her job as had, for instance the secret NATO documents left behind at Julie Couillard's condo by Maxime Bernier...almost a year to the day.
Writing for the Sun Newspapers this weekend, Columnist Greg Weston suggests that it's easy enough for a Federal Government obsessed with confidentiality, and a Prime-Minister obsessed with control, to stamp "Secret" on pretty much any document it wants to keep away from prying eyes - Journalists and opposition politicians included..."Truth is no one got excited about a breach of official secrets because there were none in the documents"...So says Weston.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council publicly chastised CTV-News recently after a full review of the broadcast of a television interview, three false starts and all, of former Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, with its Halifax anchor, Steve Murphy, during the fall 2008 Federal Election campaign. The interview was re-broadcast ad nauseum on "Mike Duffy Live" for which the CBSC also blasted CTV.
While I may subscribe to Greg Weston's interpretation about the value of the documents left behind at CTV by the Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt; I am having difficulty understanding why they were held-on to by the News Bureau for 6 days while it prepared a news story based on their content. It seems to me (As the CBSC seemed to raise in the Dion matter) to call into question CTV's journalistic integrity perhaps verging on an abuse of our journalistic freedoms...well at least it seems un-Canadian.
Regardless of the value, authenticity or worth of the documents; a year ago when in Maxime Bernier's case, Julie Couillard brought with her "his secret documents" to a TVA French language interview in Montreal, authorities there didn't hesitate...and sure as hell didn't read or copy the contents...they called the department of Foreign Affairs who sent the RCMP to retrieve the briefing book. To me it seems that is the "only" way to behave...I fault CTV for doing less (much less) with the documents left behind at their studio by Minister Raitt.
The documents may not have been so secret after all...they didn't hold Canada's nuclear bomb formula (as if we had one!)...but leaving them behind, and CTV's disclosure cost at least one departmental insider her job.
Somewhat like an acrobat walking the tight-rope, there are dangers inherent with stretching the limits of broadcast freedoms and calling into question one's journalistic integrity - Sometimes either the rope snaps, or the acrobat slips off.
To say the least: Either way I'll be making sure to hang-on to my wallet and credit cards if ever I am invited into CTV's Ottawa bureau. They're not so secret either, but I wouldn't want them in someone else's hands for 6 days without getting called.
Friday, March 27, 2009
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS
Granted this was back in the idealistic late sixties when those of my generation thought that nothing was impossible.
The CBC: The Mother Corp., created in 1936 by a Conservative Government, was gripped with a serious dilemma. Facing the growing popularity of television, 'AM' Radio was undergoing a radical makeover. The emergence of Top 40 formatted radio stations catering to the young, hip, population bubble of my generation: The "Boomers".
CBC Radio remained pretty much stuck with its block-programmed broadcast schedule which first brought it to prominence during World War II. When men like the late Lorne Greene, The Voice of Doom, had read stale dispatches from the European front.
The CBC's Board of Directors realised that the radio service would die as audiences frittered away to listen to the "Motown Sound" on their just invented battery powered transistor radios. The medium had become mobile. Doubtless in a rare stroke of genius, (Painfully not seen since) the Corporation's Directors called upon two of their own young visionary radio producers: Doug Ward and Peter Meggs to develop the framework which would rescue the middle aged Mother Corp. out of its menopausal doldrums.
To those of us who were around then, and the thousands of CBC Radio craftspeople who have followed in its footsteps: The "Ward-Meggs Report" is legendary. Forty years later, still it remains the template for the information based non-commercial mixed national, regional, local format of CBC Radio One stations. Most of those are the top choice of listeners in their respective communities, broadcasting iconic all-Canadian programs: "As It Happens", the "World At Six", "Information Morning", "Radio Noon" and the dozens of others. Each: A direct result of the "Ward-Meggs Report."
After an entire career spent at the CBC, I yearn for the visionaries of my era to rescue our dear "Mother" from the death of a thousand cuts it now faces. In my chagrin, I hold responsible the managers and the Board Members of the present generation for their failure to call on the talent, vision, ideas and ideals of the hundreds of individuals who labour within the CBC, and whose jobs the Board has now jeopardized.
The CBC's financial dilemma; the fragmentation of television audiences, and the broken-down model for conventional broadcasting should have come as no surprise to the Corporation's managers. As for the Board of Directors, it has wasted almost 20 years of corporate practices, opportunities and memory during which workable solutions should, could and would have been crafted from within. The Board failed the CBC's wonderful craftspeople and the people of Canada because it provided no direction, no motivation, no support and no venue for the solutions to bubble-up from within its own educated, insightful program makers.
The cost-cutting measures now being implemented will strip the CBC of its soul. Sadly nothing was learned from the lay-offs, the cuts the "repositioning" which followed the obviously failed budget decisions of previous Directors in 1990 and 1995. Then, successive Federal Governments (Mulroney's and Chretien's) hammered the Corporation to get its spiralling costs under-control.
In the ensuing period the CBC wasted a 20 year window of opportunity to plan and develop an essential, perhaps unconventional framework for what should, could, and would still be Canada's dominant cultural institution. Fooled once in 1990, fooled twice in 1995, is there any wonder this time many Canadians just shrug and wish for what could have been?
The CBC: The Mother Corp., created in 1936 by a Conservative Government, was gripped with a serious dilemma. Facing the growing popularity of television, 'AM' Radio was undergoing a radical makeover. The emergence of Top 40 formatted radio stations catering to the young, hip, population bubble of my generation: The "Boomers".
CBC Radio remained pretty much stuck with its block-programmed broadcast schedule which first brought it to prominence during World War II. When men like the late Lorne Greene, The Voice of Doom, had read stale dispatches from the European front.
The CBC's Board of Directors realised that the radio service would die as audiences frittered away to listen to the "Motown Sound" on their just invented battery powered transistor radios. The medium had become mobile. Doubtless in a rare stroke of genius, (Painfully not seen since) the Corporation's Directors called upon two of their own young visionary radio producers: Doug Ward and Peter Meggs to develop the framework which would rescue the middle aged Mother Corp. out of its menopausal doldrums.
To those of us who were around then, and the thousands of CBC Radio craftspeople who have followed in its footsteps: The "Ward-Meggs Report" is legendary. Forty years later, still it remains the template for the information based non-commercial mixed national, regional, local format of CBC Radio One stations. Most of those are the top choice of listeners in their respective communities, broadcasting iconic all-Canadian programs: "As It Happens", the "World At Six", "Information Morning", "Radio Noon" and the dozens of others. Each: A direct result of the "Ward-Meggs Report."
After an entire career spent at the CBC, I yearn for the visionaries of my era to rescue our dear "Mother" from the death of a thousand cuts it now faces. In my chagrin, I hold responsible the managers and the Board Members of the present generation for their failure to call on the talent, vision, ideas and ideals of the hundreds of individuals who labour within the CBC, and whose jobs the Board has now jeopardized.
The CBC's financial dilemma; the fragmentation of television audiences, and the broken-down model for conventional broadcasting should have come as no surprise to the Corporation's managers. As for the Board of Directors, it has wasted almost 20 years of corporate practices, opportunities and memory during which workable solutions should, could and would have been crafted from within. The Board failed the CBC's wonderful craftspeople and the people of Canada because it provided no direction, no motivation, no support and no venue for the solutions to bubble-up from within its own educated, insightful program makers.
The cost-cutting measures now being implemented will strip the CBC of its soul. Sadly nothing was learned from the lay-offs, the cuts the "repositioning" which followed the obviously failed budget decisions of previous Directors in 1990 and 1995. Then, successive Federal Governments (Mulroney's and Chretien's) hammered the Corporation to get its spiralling costs under-control.
In the ensuing period the CBC wasted a 20 year window of opportunity to plan and develop an essential, perhaps unconventional framework for what should, could, and would still be Canada's dominant cultural institution. Fooled once in 1990, fooled twice in 1995, is there any wonder this time many Canadians just shrug and wish for what could have been?
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