Comments | suite_mck: Burned by a reporter

suite_mck

Burned by a reporter

Jan 27, 2008 11:24

Yesterday, Robert Scott of CTV came to The Suite for an interview on a proposal going to Edmonton City Council to prohibit the construction of new drive-through restaurants in our city ( Read more... )

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conan_o January 28 2008, 23:09:53 UTC

Good visuals. I bet it was a good TV piece, too. I don't know if you were really burned though. He wasn't malicious or anything.

Burned bullfrog_hawker January 29 2008, 20:38:58 UTC

Burned has better headline appeal, though.

Re: Burned suite_mck January 30 2008, 05:04:14 UTC

Actually, I picked the headline because last week Amandi was feeling burned by a reporter on another story; an off-based kind of commisseration, I guess.

suite_mck January 30 2008, 05:02:06 UTC

True enough. Still, the way the story came across to me was damning the idea with faint praise. Or worse, giving people the idea the 10 cents worth of gasoline is a small price to pay not having to get out of your car.

conan_o January 30 2008, 20:41:12 UTC

They seem to focus on money. For obvious reasons.

My latest media piece didn't include my favourite part of my 20-minute conversation with the reporter: my suggestion that people imagine their lives at $5/liter gasoline. It's tough to get any message that's the least bit contrary across, I guess.

mylesk January 31 2008, 15:32:55 UTC

I don't think your 'imagine' line was dropped because it was contrary, but rather because it asked the audience to analyse for themselves. I'm beginning to think that a misapprehension you and I share is that media is for educating - that is, building the intellectual capacity of the audience. It may be true that media is for either 'ordering', which is why reporters ask, "what should people do?" and using only answers like "turn off the lights"; or for 'assuring' by letting people know that someone else is taking care of the problem.

Great story...even without the Mars bars namaomel February 5 2008, 01:16:31 UTC

NO, your message wasn't lost!

I saw the story and at the time I thought, "about time someone said something about drive-thrus! I even got the part about how drive thrus encourage drive-thru behaviour, and that city planners have some responsibility in this. YES! I've always known it but never heard anyone actually say it before on TV news. And someone on council recognizes it and is willing to go on camera for it! That's huge!

I saw a similar CO2 commentary a couple (or three?) summers ago when tailpipe emissions were being measured as cars drove by....only instead of using Mars bars as the example, I remember the comparison was made to turds! Now THAT was memorable! (I had the pleasure of meeting the fellow a few months ago, and I'm sure he had no idea that's how I knew of him!)

Right on with the physical examples. Keep trying. It's the only way people can get their heads around what a tonne of CO2 is...

Re: Great story...even without the Mars bars mylesk February 5 2008, 23:35:53 UTC

Hi ~ thanks for the feedback.

That 'carbon-turds' story was me too actually, in October 2006 - http://mylesk.livejournal.com/187950.html. (I started a new LiveJournal because I was finding keeping up with communities on my first LJ was getting a little overwhelming. )

We met a few months ago, you say? Where were we?

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