Journalism Topic
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TV
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Podcasting down, video up
One of the topics I’ve been speaking about over the past year has been online news trends, and there’s a few recent pointers from The Editors Weblog that speak a bit more in-depth about two of my themes: video and podcasting. -
Not-so quality TV
Last night, CBC broadcast an English-langauge remake of its Quebec arm’s hit sitcom, Rumeurs. This version, produced by the one and only Moses Znaimer, was well promoted and expectations were higher than normal for a Canadian show. -
CBC: deal reached
After being told to settle their dispute, and given a 48-hour deadline, the CBC management and the Candian Media Guild (CMG) did just that last night. The Great CBC Lockout looks to be over. Finally. -
Blogging the CBC lockout
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CBC locks out employees
This morning, I woke up and flipped on CBC Radio One as I normally do. Today, though, I did it primarily to see if the inevitable didn’t happen. But it did. The voice on the radio told me the CBC management had locked-out its 5,500 or so members of the Canadian Media Guild. The Mother Corp. wants more flexibility in its hiring practices by hiring more contract workers. Already, almost a third of the employees now are currently working on a contract basis. -
Blogging success may endanger the indie Web
Thanks to the American political conventions’ decision to accredit some bloggers (which in turn was helped by a leadership campaign by Dean Edwards), the mainstream media (and the Internet Explorer development team) has finally accepted the format. (The media also seem to recognize blogging will force them to improve the online efforts.) Although pundits might herald CNN’s partnership with Technorati, the network’s founder offers a warning. Ted Turner wrote a lengthy article in Washington Monthly decrying how big media. The article argues the consideration has crushed independent voices in the broadcast world, and although the online world still seems free, we’d be wise to watch for similar indicators. -
Big BBC Online cuts
A few weeks ago, when talking with someone who worked at the BBC Online, I was stunned to learn the massive scale of its operation. Now the government is ordering the broadcaster to shut down some of those reported 20,000 Web sites. The BBC is shutting five down, and is promising to limit its online budget to about �21-million-a-year, down from a �73 million this year. A cut that size will have a dramatic affect on the services offered by BBC Online, but still leaves them with an budget many Canadian sites would envy. -
Newsworld Gore’d
As speculated, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has bought Newsworld, the international network once owned by the CBC. Although the Mother Corp. will continue to provide the content, the purchase continues the politicalization of the American broadcast media. Like the country itself, it seems the U.S. media is splitting along so-called left and right lines (or liberal-conservative, or Democratic-Republican) with the common ground held, surprisingly, by the Big Three plus CNN -
Toronto 1, f--k
One of the knocks against Toronto 1 is that it is trying to be Citytv; and now its seems to be copying City’s delicate sensibilities. We all remember the blooper reel from Gord Martineau and crew, and now Toronto 1 has one of its very own -
Bought by CHUM
Get one redesign done, and dive into work on another. Difference is this time, I like the design. More details to in the coming months (and, no, it still is not this site)… -
Final Disclosure
Ironically, The Eleventh Hour has been renewed, but one of its real-life inspirations, Disclosure, has been cancelled. What’s more, there’s speculation a hockey strike could affect the CBC’s other news programs. Antonia Zerbisias has a bit more on this and the Toronto Sun’s surprising redesign -
CTV’s big intranet
The Globe and Mail profiles (in a convergence-friendly story) another way the Internet has changed the way news has gathered. CTV, Canada’s big private network, relies on, essentially, an intranet to shunt videos between bureaus. By not relying on the technology revolution of the sixties — satellites — the network is saving phenomenal amounts of money and time -
Black on TV
Lord Conrad Black will now have to suffer the ignominy of a TV movie of his life; CTV has confirmed that it will be adapting the biography, Shades of Black. Of course, Black could do worse than have the Churchillian Albert Finney portray him -
Watching the CBC lurch left
It may be “Comedy Day in Canada,” but apparently Michael Connell isn’t laughing. He’s launched a new site to keep an eye on the creeping bias of the Mother Corp. Called CBC Watch, the site is designed to look like a community blog. Technically, it could be a community blog, but the only posts are by two anonymous users — “user2” and “Guest” — who share the same right-wing views. -
CBC’s online gambit
Following-up on Wednesday’s item on the CBC archives, there’s speculation that the music may be partly to blame. Although the CBC has an agreement with SOCAN for its radio broadcast, it allegedly has none for its Web content. Nor does the broadcaster have online rights to some of the content produced by freelancers. All this may help explain the clips canishing from the Web site. -
Public broadcasting a “monster”
News on the CBC… -
Citytv’s true colours?
Citytv’s CityPulse journalists making goofs on themselves on tape: a prominent Toronto anchor makes some questionable jokes (he’s apologized), a crime reporter steals some of an interviewee’s Grand Marnier, and the Leafs’ former captain tells off a cocky sports reporter. -
CSS layout tutorial; CBC archives flooded
Russ Weakley has produced a well-written, step-by-step tutorial for creating CSS layouts. Great for beginners and veterans alike. -
CBC (r)evolution; whatever:hover; hand-writing fonts
Could the CBC be in for some changes, too? CanWest reported at the end of 2003 that two internal studies found the public broadcaster too stuffy, and suggested a new anchor was needed to attract younger viewers, like, say, me. -
Semantic mark-up; TV funding; new XHTML 2.0 draft
Pretty much decided to scrap the rant I was going to publish about the latest CSS debate. The arguments have been made quite rationally by a number of people I respect, so I don’t think there’s a need to go over them again here. -
QAML; The Eleventh Hour
Given XML is creeping up everywhere, it’s something I should really start playing with. And so, this is something I plan to look at for tomorrow: the Question and Answer Markup Language, or QAML. -
CBC at 50, interactive style, and detecting browsers
Fifty years ago today in Montreal, CBC Television debuted with an English-language children’s movie. Two days later, the Toronto station flickered to life with an upside-down logo and a newscast hosted by Lorne Greene — the National aired a bit of that first newscast last night. -
Rogers scolded; CBC TV at 50
In the “what sounded like a good idea at the time” department: Rogers was scolded by the CRTC scolded Rogers for using its community TV channels last fall to explain how it’s Internet unit was dealing with the @Home bankruptcy. (Thanks to David Elfstrom.) -
Mike Bullard and Steve Mann
Went to the taping of Mike Bullard’s show after picketing today. During my time on the line I’ve read a few books, the latest being Cyborg. Written by the eccentric Steve Mann (the wearable computer guy), it’s, unintentionally, a fascinating insight into a hard-core geek’s head. -
CanWest’s editorials; hip iMacs; dull newscasts
A whole bunch of media stories caught my eye today. -
Bert - bin Laden and airing the tape
By now you’ve likely seen the Bert - bin Laden poster, perhaps read the explanation for its appearance, but did you know about, as the National Post writes, “Bert’s political beliefs first aroused controversy in 1996”? -
Canadian TV
Canadian television is having some sort of renaissance. Five of the seven shows I now watch are Canadian (Da Vinci’s Inquest, The Eleventh Hour. The Newsroom, This is Wonderland, and Snakes and Ladders), and last night TVO aired the first of three parts of The Corporation. The film is a leading part of the documentary renaissance, too, and is an visually and intellectually engaging work
