Nov 23, 2007 19:52
Some of you may know, I have been watching the CBC a lot lately. I try to catch the news for Vancouver which airs at 6 pm or kind of watch "The National" while on my PC at 10 pm. CBC is of course a governmental entity, similar to the USA's PBS with a lot more commercial advertising time (and as far as I know, no regulations stipulating how to fit the 'educational' guideline). The newscasts are similar to "the Newshour with Jim Lehrer" bringing viewers mostly in-depth reports about relevant issues. CBC also runs a cable news channel.
Tonight in my travel, I got to watch "Global news BC" - I was skeptical. The first story out of the box was much like a US newscast might open "Warning, this story contains some graphic footage that may be shocking to some viewers..." and it was about gun violence. However, after the modestly sensational first story, the remainder of the news block was several relevant, important, in-depth pieces that reminded me of "The CBS Evening News" et. al. however it was all BC content. In the USA, I have never seen a local TV newscast like that. In my hometown, there are more long-form packages, but they usually are not locally produced or about important things like civic affairs - that's what the newspaper seems to be for. If people want the weather forecast they might turn on the TV but otherwise it's pretty basic stuff.
The newscast here was well done journalism, even from a commercial broadcaster. It made me realize that TV journalism doesn't have to be lousy, but apparently our populace isn't demanding enough from the media in the form of 'public service' to get more quality content. I hope in the future someone will wake up and try this model on a local level - I've only heard it on the radio in the 'States - KCPW in Salt Lake City or Oregon Public Broadcasting's radio news divisions being good examples.
Lastly, the newscast closed with a little clip show of 'satellite junk?' that was pretty funny, and I thought that was a good place for that to air, a little lightheartedness after all the important things. However, I was quite disturbed by a commercial for a hair iron that insisted that beauty/skin deep appearance was all that mattered - it was for Remington. I suspect the commercial must have been from Brazil, since I have heard the culture is very appearance obsessed (high plastic surgery rates, etc.).
I guess that's it for now, I am having a great time in my travels though. I hope everyone else is having an excellent extended weekend for Thanksgiving as well.
~ Bendawg
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