Monday, January 04, 2010

Ex MSM Producer Nails It

As my profile indicates I'm no fan of the MSM. That said, I kinda like this fella's way of thinking.

At the end of the year it’s traditional to look back at what occurred during the past twelve months and pick out the highs and lows. Most years there are a few examples of each. 2009, however, has proved to be one of the most dismal years for news and current affairs in Canada ever. I can’t think of a worse period in my lifetime.

O.K. ...we don't have to be that morose...do we?

Everybody has already noted the disaster that is the new National at CBC: thin gruel masquerading as news, the worst reporting staff in CBC Television history, the inability to fill sixty minutes with relevant stories, and this doesn’t even refer to the ludicrous and totally unmotivated standing around to read the news and do interviews.

I hear you brother.

News has been, and still is, one of the best ways to build an audience for your entire schedule. Hello, Dick, is the CBC still the CBC without Little Mosque on the Prairie and Being Erica? Is the CBC still the CBC without The National and The Fifth Estate?

What about Hockey Night in Canada?...er..um..scratch that last thought...

Over at CTV and Global the news is not much better. The bulwarks of “Capitalist Broadcasting” are coming to the government cap-in-hand begging for money in the form of cable and satellite fees.

This is Canada.

CTV and Global news do a much better job of appealing to Canadians than CBC News does. For proof of this I only have to point out that both get over a million viewers regularly while CBC has trouble reaching half-a-million. Both are better produced and slicker than CBC’s effort but there is little room for celebration.

Whaa..no party?

In the U.S. we have witnessed the disintegration of the CNN audience with the odious Fox News being the main recipient of new viewers.

So your saying the viewers went to Fox News based on smell?

Sensationalism is winning and stories like Copenhagen are losing. Worse still the all news folks are challenging each other to see who can distort or get the facts more wrong.

Holy fuck batman....did you just say Copenhagen lost out to sensationalism? More wrong????

That's it then.

Keep in mind that this person claims to have been a tv producer.

Syncro

2 comments:

Patrick Ross said...

The CBC definitely has to pull it's shit together in terms of Canadian programming.

Little Mosque on the Prairie is a novel idea -- even if it's largely a fantasy -- but the mothercorp can't rely on this and Anne of Green Gables for the rest of time to keep it in the game.

They need to take a closer look at what's happening over at Showcase and emulate, emulate, emulate.

crogeopo said...

The CBC doesn't need to pull its shit together, it needs to be sold. It's an expensive anachronism that hasn't lived up to its mandate since a second channel was available.