Posted by RadioActive on October 22, 2009, 12:44 pm
65.95.143.127 | Message modified by user RadioActive October 22, 2009, 10:52 pm

You had to know this was coming, but after the Balloon Boy escapade of last week, it simply reinforces why so many view the news media in such disdain. There are a plethora of stories that could have lead the local news today - a protest outside of a local high school over police presence inside the halls; a Toronto storekeeper charged with kidnapping for holding onto a theft suspect is in court; and the Ontario gov't. is about to announce the highest deficit in history, with the possibility of unpaid "Dalton Days" affecting thousands. So what does CTV lead with on Channel 9 at noon? The Olympic Torch being lit in Greece. It may be worth noting, but the lead story? (By contrast, Citytv led with the high school and put the torch story after its first commercial break.) My problem with this? It's not news - it's corporate PR. After all, CTV is the network that paid millions for the rights (I thought local TV was going broke?), kicking the hype machine into full gear. They spent several minutes on this "important" yarn, with a gleaming-eyed Christine Bentley coming back from this report to give it even more hype by asking "did you notice what they were wearing?", only to go back to the viz and show the red Canadian gloves with the Olympic symbol on them. It was made even more specious by the fact the Games are being held in a province thousands of kilometres away from Toronto. Not to mention the articles in the Star and the Sun that CTV anchors have somehow been awarded the "privilige" of carrying the Torch ahead of more deserving Canadians. Toronto Star Sun Article I'm not saying this is a surprise. In fact, I would have been shocked if it had gone any other way because I know the way the game is played. I worked for one large local news outlet for decades and while no one ever came out and told us what to lead with, there was an unstated sense that a story that benefited the large corporation that owned the station was to be given attention. But in most cases, we refused to make it the lead unless it truly deserved to be one. So if you're wondering why journalists rank so low on the yearly listing of credible occupations, look no further than CTV. Over the next few months, it's only going to get worse as the hypemobile revs up to unseen speeds. Local TV Matters to CTV. But, apparently, not Local News. -End of Rant-

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Posted by GregOB on October 22, 2009, 3:06 pm, in reply to "CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
24.141.78.64

Speaking of local TV, another Sun story/lobbying pitch. TO Sun

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Posted by RadioActive on October 22, 2009, 3:30 pm, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
65.95.143.127

Both sides would be well served to take a look at what happened in the U.S. when the FCC allowed networks to demand payment for carriage. At one point, CBS and the Dish Network went head to head over the issue, with the Eye Guys and Gals at Black Rock demanding a huge increase for the privilege of providing CBS signals. Dish head honcho Charlie Ergen refused, and they reached an impasse. After weeks of this back and forth, CBS finally pulled ALL their signals from Dish's multi-million subscriber base, not so coincidentally around the time of the February sweeps and the Super Bowl. The result: Dish lost huge subs to DirectTV and cable, saying they refused to accept blackmail and be forced to raise rates. Consumers - unaware and really unconcerned about this corporate battle - did whatever they could to see the big game. But for weeks, CBS also lost the eyeballs of millions of viewers as they stubbornly refused to lower their demands. The situation was finally resolved, and CBS was restored to Dish. But in the end, all sides lost as the finger pointing between the corporate monoliths continued. And yes, consumers who subscribed to Dish wound up paying more and most didn't really understand the reasons why. So everyone came out a loser. In the last few years, this bizarre negotiation process has been more easily resolved amongst all the webs. The solution? Generally, it's an agreement to distribute the broadcasters' cable arms on the system in question, (Dish, Direct, cable et al) instead of an actual money payout, distribution being the key to launching a new network. That probably couldn't happen here - the CRTC mandates that the locals have to get priority and would likely insist that the CTV and Globals be given mandatory cable placement, and could not be removed regardless of the area of dispute. Still, all these greedy Canadian companies on both sides should take a lesson from what happened down south. You risk pissing off the public by fighting these corporate wars. And in the end, no one really wins.

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Posted by ig on October 22, 2009, 3:55 pm, in reply to "CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
99.226.90.65

Any assignment editor or news director or whatever who didn't make the Olympic torch the lead story on a network that paid millions and millions for exclusive Olympic coverage is a fool. Why wouldn't you do that? The news is what's happening, and that's a pretty important event, made more-so because the network sponsors the coverage. The same stories were still covered later in the cast, just in a different order. There's no real way to quantify that Olympics isn't more or less important to a viewer than the threat of Dalton Days on the horizon. Indeed there's not much 'newsy' about the province being borderline broke, the only real development was a deficit billions higher than the billions that was expected. So what? It was the flame being lit on the Olympic torch for an Olympics being held here in a few months. It's a feel-good legitimate story and I would have run it as the lead. No second thoughts and no regrets. And I might even have re-capped it coming out of the last break just for fun . Now.. had the torch been caught up in the ropes of a low flying helium balloon and pulled away into the skies.. I would have led with that also . ig.

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Posted by GregOB on October 22, 2009, 4:07 pm, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
24.141.78.64

I believe that will happen here. We're going to get "negotiated fee for carriage". Will bring new rules too like very slim basic cable packages and corporate battles you describe. TSN being pulled because cable or sat won't pay for CTV? You bet that could happen.

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Posted by g.g. on October 22, 2009, 4:13 pm, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
70.26.136.210

TV NEWS stories I wanted & expected over lunch were updates on what John Oakley, John Moore & Andy Barrie were jawing about this morning. Not a ceremonial lighting-up in Olympia.

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Posted by Mike Cleaver on October 22, 2009, 5:35 pm, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
76.10.186.26

It may be a "feel good" story for people living where it's not being held. Vancouver is being held hostage by the "Limp Dick" Games (tm) and the locals are last on the list for anything games related. Except paying the bills. It's already started. Areas of the city are being cordoned off and traffic rerouted to suit the fat cats and those with even fatter wallets. You won't be able to get there from here in the weeks leading up to and during the games. For example, I live in Kits. My partner works in the heart of downtown. For him, getting to and from work will be a nightmare. It's the same for all others in the Lower Mainland who have to come downtown. The "Limp Dick" solution? Take your vacation during the games. Tell that to your employer who is hoping for a big cash in. And yes, CTV has become a shill of the games organization. Real news has no place when they can rave on about "itchy and scratchy," the games mascots et al. As for "balloon boy," a quick call to an expert on helium balloons could have stopped the hoax in it's tracks. No one bothers to investigate "news stories" any more. They take the handout or a tip from some dork on a social networking site and run with it.

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Posted by Donny on October 22, 2009, 8:32 pm, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
99.231.30.81

I agree. The Olympic story is a big deal for CTV. It's their network, why wouldn't they trump it? The protest outside that school was an excuse for 45 kids to skip class. That shopkeeper story is old. Who cares that he's in court? TV and News is a business. Remember that.

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Posted by oneil on October 22, 2009, 9:02 pm, in reply to "CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
99.232.81.37

CTV can run the news about the lighting of the torch. It's not a big deal. It's homerism thats practiced by any network that has the rights. The worst part is the inclusion of 27 CTV employees as torch bearers while former Canadian athletes who normally are selected and deserve to carry the torch are squeezed out by the likes of Ben Mulroney. Why would Ken Shaw be a torch bearer? Does he represent the spirit of the games as an athlete? No he doesn't nor will any of the CTV employees. But that's how it works. CTV paid and they get to put their employees ahead of former Olympic athletes who truly deserve to carry the torch.

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Posted by Mike in the Southwest on October 22, 2009, 9:58 pm, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
76.71.43.132

I really don't care about the Vancouver Olympics any more than I cared about the Beijing Olympics. Vancouver is further away from me than most of North America, including most of Mexico. It is getting way more news coverage in Ontario than is warrented. I would expect a lot of coverage in BC and even Alberta, but not way out here. I'd be a lot more interested if the 2010 Olympics were in New York.

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Posted by Mike in the Southwest on October 22, 2009, 10:02 pm, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
76.71.43.132

I have yet to hear from Dougall Media, which owns Ontario's only non-CTV-owned CTV affiliate, CHFD in Thunder Bay. Why aren't they crying about this? Are they doing well because they're not owned by CTV?

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Posted by RadioActive on October 22, 2009, 10:09 pm, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
65.95.143.127 | Message modified by user RadioActive October 23, 2009, 12:56 am

Well obviously Mr. Grant and I will have to differ on this, but I will say one thing - I'm not complaining about them covering the story per se (And no, I'm not calling you Percy!) My beef is that they lead with it - twice! Yes, it's a no-brainer that the network that paid millions for the rights would want to hype it and cover the most minute event surrounding it. (If they're so poor that they have to close down stations, where did those mega millions come from? But I digress...) They spent 7 1/2 minutes on their flagship 6 PM newscast on what is essentially a fluff event in a country thousands of kilometres away to promote games that are taking place in a city another few thousand kilometres away - and four months off, to boot. And half of it was about how Olympic gear is selling like hotcakes in Toronto. Really? Have you actually seen any large numbers wearing the toques, the gloves and other Games ephemera in the city? The true litmus test may be to ask if they didn't have the rights, where would they have put it in their line-up? You know the answer would not be at the top - let alone nearly 10 mins. of the 6 o'clock show. When the Torch reaches T.O. I can definitely see an all out blitz. At least it will be local. Until then, leave it at the least for Lloyd on the national show. I'm hoping he has enough power to veto them leading with it on the coast-to-coast cast at 11. (Update: They didn't. It was there, but much farther down in the show.) No matter how you spin it, this surely can't have been the most important thing GTA residents needed to know about as the first item of business on Thursday. --- Closed circuit to Mr. Cleaver: I'm not a huge fan of these overblown and over priced games, done in the name of some misguided and completely fabricated nationalism, not to mention the monstrous and overinflated egos of the odious IOC. You have my sympathies for the mess this is going to cause you for the foreseeable future. Thank God Toronto's attempt to land this nightmare went nowhere.

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Posted by radioguy on October 22, 2009, 10:59 pm, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
76.10.183.167 | Message modified by user radiokid October 22, 2009, 11:04 pm

I have said it before.. but when I watch LOCAL news... I expect to get LOCAL stories.. That Olympics story regardless of how big is was, IS NOT LOCAL and should not have been the lead.... That's that international news is to be leading with. This is why so few watch local news anymore.. That's the main reason I watch City.. I know when I turn it on, my own backyard gets covered first... CTV Toronto is by far an embarrassment for Canada's largest city.. when CTV from Vancouver and Halifax both do a really good job. Have talented people who know that not everything rolls off a teleprompter. If they could take the staff from Vancouver and bring them to Toronto, I would likely consider watching CTV. It's too bad too many Canadians and people living in the GTA, like to be told news instead of given the info to think for themselves.

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Posted by Kay on October 23, 2009, 10:20 am, in reply to "Re: CTV News: Why The News Media Is Greeted By Cynicism "
174.113.195.35

Local news is what local people are talking about. That being said, I don't know how many people are chatting about the Olympic torch being lit at local coffee shops, but it probably rates higher than whatever my city council discussed this week.

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