Comedic brilliance: What’s wrong with TV news
This is absolutely BRILLIANT. Tune in to any news show tonight and you won’t see any differences! Are you watching Mansbridge and Company?
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James in TO
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James in TO
CBS rejects gay dating ad
CBS has apparently rejected an ad promoting a gay dating site, but is airing an ad by pro-life group Focus on the Family. Selective morality at its best.
Besides, how is the dating site “ManCrunch” commercial even offensive? It actually seems more to me a poke at the audience of the superbowl than any sort of political message. It’s more comedy than sexual – view it for yourself:
If it were to air, I can just hear the collective testosterone-fuelled cries of “Eeeeeeeew” all across America. Can you imagine?
At least one thing is for certain: even CBS recognizes that this controversy is only going to guarantee free publicity for ManCrunch pretty much worth as much as any commercial during the Superbowl. And Focus on the Family is out $25 million. Nice.
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S
My kids and I are now referring to ourselves as a Clan rather than a family, because we can’t stand being remotely associated with the Focus on Family, or Family Values hypocrisy, homophobia, racism and general all round bigotry.
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James in TO
Oh dear. I wonder how those groups would react… they’re “redefining” family!
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James in TO
CBC’s Mark Kelley worth watching
I tuned into CBC TV’s new program Connect With Mark Kelley for the first time tonight out of curiosity more than anything else.
First – could Mansbridge retire already and make way for this guy? He’s authoritative and has a good interview style with his guests. Far more watchable than Mansbridge.
Tonight, the program featured a segment focusing on the increasing number of pedestrian deaths in recent weeks in Toronto. A pretty ho-hum story, but the show featured a couple of interesting guests with great ideas and the production values were far superior than anything I’ve seen on regular news programs (read: The National). One was an expert on “walkability” (whatever that is) and the second was a spokesperson from 8-80 Cities, an organization devoted to promoting safe, liveable communities.
One of 8-80 Cities’ ideas raised was to teach our kids in school how to walk safely. Spokesperson Gil Penasola said in Holland, schools spend days on this subject with primary school kids because while we may learn how to walk naturally, learning how to navigate safely is not something we focus on. He also suggested drivers’ tests to include more questions about how to safely interact with other vehicles, bikes and pedestrians.
At a time when Toronto continues to have this car versus bikes versus pedestrians conflict, there’s a great opportunity to talk about changes and improvements to our streets to make them safer for everyone.
P.S. The rest of the program dealt with France banning burqas and parental advice for discussing sex ed with their kids. Both segments were done well and featured guests who had interesting points of view. I’m willing to make this program regular viewing.
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ASME
Actually, the segments are far too short. Trying to cram doesn’t get to the meat of the story.
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James in TO
Censorship hits… a dictionary???
From today’s Star…
“A Southern California school board has pulled the Merriam-Webster dictionary off its shelves after a parent complained about the entry ‘oral sex.’ “
This is just too pathetic for so many reasons:
- Did the parent not know the definition and had to look it up when their spouse demanded it the previous night? See what happens when you miss phys ed class…
- How about the words “murder”, or “war”? Those are pretty violent and offensive words…
- I think snakes are gross – maybe I can get my local school board to pull all of its science textbooks or something…
And I thought *I* had too much time on my hands… sigh…
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James in TO
Where’s the savings?
So according to a Star story today, the city has saved money this winter so far because we’ve had less snow that’s required removal from the streets.
Apparently, it’s cost $21 million this year so far, compared to $32 million a year ago?
Huh? Last winter, we had at least two snowstorms that I can recall in January. Right now, as I look out the window, there’s absolutely no snow on the ground.
Okay, the story points out that the city pays a flat fee to keep plows on standby, so the cost doesn’t drop to zero. But how could it possibly cost two-thirds of last year’s total when there’s nothing to plow or salt? I’m sending a letter to my local councillor immediately – if/when I get a reply, I’ll post the response.
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Toe
Don’t forget the actual numbers are ‘interpretated’ for us, just like all the year end ‘reports’. Bogus.
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James in TO
Citytv layoffs: viewers lose again
Citytv, known for its strength in covering local news, suffered a round of layoffs this week, losing several reporters and anchors who have been there for years.
“We believe in local television,” said Jamie Haggarty, EVP Television Operations, Rogers Media Television in a press release. “We remain committed to innovation and development of our stations to increase our impact on our local markets. We will focus on quality over quantity.”
Citytv layoffs are yet another reason to dislike Rogers
Uh-huh… and how does he propose to provide quality news when there’s no one to produce it? It’s already getting harder and harder to get news coverage these days, especially when it involves “real” local news that affect residents. This does not bode well for media or for the health of our communities.
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bob reid
I wonder what criteria was used by rogers to determine how and where the axe was going to fall at city t.v. news and how come the great majority of on air staffers who got the chop were female. When talented, capable long time employees like anne mroczkowski, lara dibatistta, pam seatle and mirella fernandez, are thrown under the bus in the name of corporate downsizing it appears more like senior level mismanagement and it behooves me to ask if a similar number of ivory tower geniuses of the male persuasion were also terminated. I also think that a fair question might be why anne and not gord. It does give one cause to wonder what the hell is going on there.
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James in TO
Love, charity and hope?
Here’s yet another reason why I get closer and closer to describing myself as an atheist:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/01/13/VI2010011303724.html
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ASME
Well…it’s time people began to realize just how much religion causes descenstion, hate and war. Haiti’s 10.5 million population is 80% Roman Catholic….I wonder if the Vatican will be sending money for relief? Another thing, it is without a doubt that adhereing to the dictates of the RC Church with regard birth control is a major problem why Haiti is so poor. Add to that an RC rogue government and you have a combination for poverty. Take a look at the Phillipines, South America or any ther Roman Catholic country…same story. The doctrine keeps them poor.
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James in TO
Funny how some conservative religious leaders conveniently forget certain responsibilities, but boy, when people are enjoying the movie Avatar a little too much, they come out with a statement saying it’s anti-religion.
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James in TO
Tories doth protest too much
Silliness has taken over Queen’s Park with Tim Hudak and company staging a protest against the proposed HST. Their protest might ring a little less hollow if they were willing to say that it’s such a bad idea that they would repeal it if elected, but alas, it seems they are opposing it just because.
Today’s column by Jim Coyle nicely sums it up:
Given the wide support already on the record for tax harmonization from Ontario PCs, the caucus’s outrage about the Liberal government’s proposed harmonized sales tax has always been opportunistic and contrived. This week, it bordered on the obscene.
For a party that has no new ideas and unable to grab onto an issue and make it their own, this is an act of desperation. Read Coyle’s column here.
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James in TO
Liberal media ambush Palin supporters!
Oh, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy…
This is either the scariest thing I’ve seen in a while, or the funniest. Or both.
These are some answers from people who lined up in Columbus, Ohio to see Sarah Palin at a book-signing at the local Borders.
The point of these interviews is to see what it is about Palin specifically that people like – her positions on issues, her policies, etc. Can you guess that not very many people had any idea what she actually stands for? No doubt, they will say that this is more “gotcha” journalism from the liberal media. Here are just a few gems in the eight-minute segment:
“She’s someone who can make a difference.”
Reporter: “What difference would you like to see her make?”
“I dunno. I guess I never really thought about it.”
Reporter: “What are some of her issues you agree with?”
“I’m not sure where you’re going with that,” says woman, fearfully taking a step back from the mic. “What issues?”
Reporter: “What are some of the spending you’d like to see cut?”
“All of it. All of it.” (Um, yeah. So we’ll just let private individuals pony up for local schools, roads, etc., because you KNOW selfless Americans are gonna want to do that.)
But here are my favourites:
“We’re Americans and she sticks up for the American people, not for the other people. We’re first, other people less.”
“When you’re right, you don’t have to compromise. Compromise is for people that are wrong.”
And finally someone speaking about Alaska: “Some of these special interest groups like PETA and that, that try to have endangered species like Polar Bears and other animals. You need to get the polar bears off the endangered list so we can DRILL THERE.”
I’m howling like a hyena. Oh, wait – are they an endangered species?
Watch for yourself:
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rww
Polar bears/caribou, same thing, not people, not Americans, expendable.
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James in TO
For Dan Payne Fans
A new pic I found of the Canadian actor who seems to be so popular with my readers… can’t figure it out…
S are discussing. 
ASME is discussing. 
Toe is discussing. 
bob reid is discussing. 
Ricky Barnes 9:54 AM on January 30, 2010 Permalink |
several years ago I was a spokesperson for AIDS Vancouver. Reporters and camera operators would want a response to some new study or to our media release. In almost every interview, i was asked to walk along a side walk or down a hallway, asked to sit at a desk and pretend i was on the phone. Every news outlet did this. It got so i would just ask which sidewalk they wanted….
James in TO 2:15 AM on January 31, 2010 Permalink |
Yeah, those “wallpaper” visuals are pretty standard when there are no interesting visuals to shoot. What’s worse is when the reporter knows it, and so they end up shooting themselves walking down the street or wherever so they become the story!