Some of the bought & paid for media

[daftandbarmy]

CTV cut most of its foreign corps. It now uses CNN’s and other US media for its coverage I believe.

So journalists in Montreal or Toronto using reporting from foreign reporters rather than their own reporters.

And the quality shows...

 

[The Bread Guy]

CTV cut most of its foreign corps. It now uses CNN’s and other US media for its coverage I believe.

So journalists in Montreal or Toronto using reporting from foreign reporters rather than their own reporters.

CBC's & Global's foreign bureaus aren't what they used to be, either. Another symptom: reporting on country x, y or z being done by someone in country a, b or c. Like some Gaza coverage I see/hear from reporters based in London.

Closer to home, though, it's one thing to have foreign eyes looking at a foreign situation for a Canadian network, but quite another to have fewer eyes available to look at events in Canada for Canadians.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Bingo - which is a question to also ask when seeing Canadian newsrooms shrinking and shutting down.

Be better.

Again I shed no tears. Mostly because I am not asking that question.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

CBC's & Global's foreign bureaus aren't what they used to be, either. Another symptom: reporting on country x, y or z being done by someone in country a, b or c. Like some Gaza coverage I see/hear from reporters based in London.

Closer to home, though, it's one thing to have foreign eyes looking at a foreign situation for a Canadian network, but quite another to have fewer eyes available to look at events in Canada for Canadians.

For events in the ME, Ukraine, I get them hours/days on the web, before the MSM reports on them, using pretty much the same source material. For other international stuff, I go to some trusted SME's, as much will never be reported in the MSM here. (like Burma, Ed Nash is quite good) But without all the inane chatter from talking heads that know little. For Canada, the Canadian MSM do a better job. For local I check in with the online version of our two local papers, they struggle with a small staff and also use a few local online sources, but add enough content that I would otherwise miss.

 

[FJAG]

Should we expect US Broadcasters to cover other countries ?

They should but it's not realistic to expect that. CBC's reporting of the competition by Canadian athletes was adequate and better, IMHO. It was the panel that bored me. You do need panel discussions but they should advance the narrative of the competition or give relevant background on the sport and the athletes. Again, IMHO, this was poorly done. Maybe it was the panelists themselves or the directors, editors or research staff that failed but, all in all, it was weak. We pay enough for the CBC, and there should be good advertising revenue, that they can devote some good funding to this once every four years. We shouldn't need to rely on anyone else.

Bingo - which is a question to also ask when seeing Canadian newsrooms shrinking and shutting down.

Double Bingo. You're talking to a guy who grew up to watching Walter Cronkite do the news. Later on, I used to religiously watch the 11:00 o'clock news. Remember Mike Duffy? Now I absolutely despise the "entertainment" and "opinion" trash that has taken hold such as that which permeates Fox. For the last ten years or more I just scan various diverse news sites on the internet - yes, even Fox. I have better things to do than wait for the TV reports. I'm betting that I'm not alone in that and that the surveys have noticed our absence, adjusted ad revenue accordingly and thereby caused the shrinkage of the newsrooms.

 

[Halifax Tar]

They should but it's not realistic to expect that.

Why ? Why would we expect them to do that ?

Its a genuine question, because I truly don't understand that position.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

If there is a profitable market for Canadian produced news, someone will fill it.

CTV is my only Canadian news station. Not by choice. I only get local news and then it's only Mon-Fri.

 

[FJAG]

Why ? Why would we expect them to do that ?

Its a genuine question, because I truly don't understand that position.

Because, IMHO, something like the Olympics is about the coming together of the athletes of the world and there should be a focus on all of them; even the ones that aren't the superstars.

One obviously can't get away from the fact that any given broadcaster will spend the majority of their time covering athletes from their own country and there will always be a difference of opinion as to what is the right ratio. One of my pet peeves is that a broadcaster will probably run the same item on a given athlete of theirs several times during the day when some of that time could be given to others from elsewhere.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Because, IMHO, something like the Olympics is about the coming together of the athletes of the world and there should be a focus on all of them; even the ones that aren't the superstars.

 

[The Bread Guy]

For events in the ME, Ukraine, I get them hours/days on the web, before the MSM reports on them, using pretty much the same source material. For other international stuff, I go to some trusted SME's, as much will never be reported in the MSM here. (like Burma, Ed Nash is quite good)

Same here for international news.

For local I check in with the online version of our two local papers, they struggle with a small staff and also use a few local online sources, but add enough content that I would otherwise miss.

That's the issue - more below.

If there is a profitable market for Canadian produced news, someone will fill it.

In the bigger centres (especially like the "red triangle" where 1/2 of Canada lives in southern/SW Ontario), no problem. How about the Lethbridge's, Oromocto's, Kenora's of the world, though? Or should people there just move to where the news is? Don't know how to make covering courts, city hall & school board in small centres profitable.

One man's meh break dancer could be another's Eddie "The Eagle" or Jamaican bobsled team.

 

[dimsum]

They should but it's not realistic to expect that. CBC's reporting of the competition by Canadian athletes was adequate and better, IMHO. It was the panel that bored me. You do need panel discussions but they should advance the narrative of the competition or give relevant background on the sport and the athletes. Again, IMHO, this was poorly done. Maybe it was the panelists themselves or the directors, editors or research staff that failed but, all in all, it was weak. We pay enough for the CBC, and there should be good advertising revenue, that they can devote some good funding to this once every four years. We shouldn't need to rely on anyone else.

Double Bingo. You're talking to a guy who grew up to watching Walter Cronkite do the news. Later on, I used to religiously watch the 11:00 o'clock news. Remember Mike Duffy? Now I absolutely despise the "entertainment" and "opinion" trash that has taken hold such as that which permeates Fox. For the last ten years or more I just scan various diverse news sites on the internet - yes, even Fox. I have better things to do than wait for the TV reports. I'm betting that I'm not alone in that and that the surveys have noticed our absence, adjusted ad revenue accordingly and thereby caused the shrinkage of the newsrooms.

The CBC shouldn’t even need ads. The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp, not the American one) has zero ads in any of its TV/radio/digital platforms, YouTube excepted (and that’s a YT thing, not an ABC thing).