Next time I can't sleep and I just want to flip through the satellite channels I will make sure to avoid anything on CBC and their so called 'news'. In the ten minutes that I watched their sports and weather coverage they mentioned the hockey games of the night but said NOTHING about tomorrow being the championship game in this years Brier. It only is THE biggest bonspiel in Canada that brings out all the best teams in the country to choose the Men's Champion who gets to be Team Canada for the next year and get a free pass into next year's Brier. However, with record TV audiences and crowds in the stands, it gets NO mention on the CBC - CANADA'S BROADCASTER. It's the biggest sporting even in the country this week and all I got was silence from CBC sports 'coverage'.
Now I could have ignored this slight if the very next story wasn't about the hurricane force weather that is currently hammering the capital of Newfoundland, St. Johns. Of course instead of actually SHOWING the wind blowing in the city and what category 2 winds (157 km/h) look like they show no footage. I thought the worse the weather got was the exact time when they stuck some poor reporter out in the shit with a flimsy poncho on so we could see their suffering and know to stay indoors. Storm coverage is interesting and hurricane force weather is the most interesting of all but I guess not to the geniuses at the CBC. Now why are these two stories connected and why am I so annoyed right now?
They are connected because the Brier is being played in St. John's right now and the high winds caused the arena to loose power and the game play was delayed for an hour or so. How could both sports and weather miss the connection between the two while basically ignore them stories. Showing me numbers and fancy colors and isobars on a map tells me NOTHING about what it was like for people living in the area this evening. Hell, why not get a camera down to the arena and ask some people what it felt like to hear a wind that strong smashing against the building?
To even compound the error, Team Gushue represent Newfoundland and after losing the last 4 finals and playing in 11 Briers total, they are on the verge of winning their first title in front of a full house of fans looking for a local boy to make good. Now THAT is a good story. TELL IT!!
For a national broadcaster they know less about what is going on in this country than I do. We could use a good story like this right now but it was not to be. I am sure the game will get some mention after it's over and it's too late for newbies to see what all the fuss is about. It will be a great game to watch. Kevin Koe has a good team himself and they are the reigning Team Canada. Curling doesn't get any better than this.
But if you watched the CBC you wouldn't know any of this and that makes me sad. I almost want to believe that the media doesn't know what it's doing anymore.
No I can't think that. But damn did the overnight crew at CBC news really screw the pooch this night. I have often heard people bash the CBC for their 'liberal' bias but I usually ignored those critiques. Tonight they have lost an ally in me. Maybe next time someone wants to tell me how useless CBC news is I will give them a listen.
But for now I will be sticking with Global for my television news coverage. And the Internet if I want to see some pictures and read the story I should have seen on TV and not just on the CBC website.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/brad-gushue-brier-final-1.4021273
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7 comments:
Hockey's the one on ice, right? With the stick thingies and Jason masks?
You're young to be so bitter, Cal.
No, my bitterness is strong. I am Jedi like in my bitters and the Well of My Bitterness is deepest of all. But CBC? The did me dirty. If a cop had tazered a guy at the Brier and they missed that it might truly had broken me. But that didn't happen thankfully.
As yes, J-swim, the one with the Jason masks. Sigh.
One: It's in Newfoundland and not Toronto so... CBC don't care. Two: CBC doesn't have the money they used to have and getting a Toronto cameraman and reporter out to St. John's (because a Newfie newscrew just ain't good enough) costs too much and... well, it's all the way out in Newfoundland so... CBC don't care
That is the way I felt and that is what hurt. I felt let down by an old institution that I did have some faith in. I know it's a silly reaction but it's how I felt early in the morning.
I agree. If my wife wasn't a curler, and I didn't love your musings, I probably would have missed this story entirely.
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