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April 3, 2020 1:11 pm  #1


Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

It was hardly riveting, but it was pretty important. Nearly every major TV station took the 12:30 PM press conference with the long awaited deaths/disease projections for COVID-19 in Ontario Friday. It had been heavily promoted and hyped across the country, perhaps beyond its actual importance, but it was certainly of high interest. And it involved a lot of graphs and charts, which made it mostly a television story. 

All the major noon news shows took the thing live, as they should have.

But to my astonishment, while they all chose to take the daily Trudeau non-informative-stock answer-no new info presser live, they all cut out of this one when the noon hour ended.

Global thought it was more important to show yesterday's replay of Entertainment Tonight Canada at 12:30 than to stick with the presser.

CTV Toronto kept it on until 1 PM, then decided The Social was better for the viewers.

And even CBLT, which is supposed to be Canada's taxpayer-supported national voice, made the baffling decision to end its local coverage for a rerun of "Murdoch Mysteries." 

Yes, I know there was live coverage on the cable news stations, but with cord cutting and many using antennas, not everyone has access to them. You might think given the importance of this long awaited announcement, they would have stuck with the press conference until it finished. But I guess all those reruns were somehow more important. Stunning. 

I finished listening to it on the radio. Shame on the TV stations. This was important and should have been considered part of their condition of licence to serve the public. 

But hey, wasn't that a great Murdoch Mystery?

 

April 3, 2020 1:24 pm  #2


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

All of them were very slow to share the on-screen slide data while it was being discussed and that frustrated me immensely.   Instead the camera was focused on each speaker while he referenced the slides off screen.   They finally got their act together as time moved on, but why do they insist on focusing on the guy speaking when we can all hear what he's saying and don't need to look at him?    Aren't they used to meetings that use visual aids during presentations?

Last edited by SpinningWheel (April 3, 2020 1:25 pm)

 

April 3, 2020 1:29 pm  #3


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

I noticed that, too, and was actually yelling at the screen, "Let's see it, already!" It was hard to follow without seeing what they were referring to. 

     Thread Starter
 

April 3, 2020 1:33 pm  #4


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

Me too.  I wonder how many others joined us in yelling at our screens?      

 

April 3, 2020 1:36 pm  #5


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

Stunning numbers, assuming current measures continue- 80,000 COVID-19 cases in Ontario by the end of April and 1,600 deaths in the province by the end of the month. April is going to be a bad month. Total deaths in Canada right now sit at 173.

 

April 3, 2020 1:43 pm  #6


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

Actually I am finding this part right now with the questions from the press more informative than the initial release. CBC is showing all of the figures to the side that Dr. Donnelly was speaking on. CTV is not showing as much detail on the numbers. On my Bell Fibe, top trending stations right now are CP24, CBCNN and CTV News Channel, so a lot of people are still watching the press conference. 

 

April 3, 2020 2:57 pm  #7


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

To their credit CHCH continued to air the briefing until it ended at about 1:45.  They again interrupted their programming in the 2:00 hour to air the Premier's daily update...something else they have carried every day unlike the rest.

Like you,  I was disappointed (but not surprised) when the others refused to interrupt their "valuable" afternoon shows to air the rest of the first briefing.

Last edited by Media Observer (April 3, 2020 3:37 pm)

 

April 3, 2020 3:18 pm  #8


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

Apparently it was a media release snafu: the charts were only released as the presser started. Too late for prep., etc.

 

April 3, 2020 5:36 pm  #9


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

SpinningWheel wrote:

All of them were very slow to share the on-screen slide data while it was being discussed and that frustrated me immensely.   Instead the camera was focused on each speaker while he referenced the slides off screen.   They finally got their act together as time moved on, but why do they insist on focusing on the guy speaking when we can all hear what he's saying and don't need to look at him?    Aren't they used to meetings that use visual aids during presentations?

Following several frustrated reporters on Twitter, it seems where they were setup they were not able to see/shoot the slides. Once realized, the stations were sent copies they could then broadcast.

 

April 3, 2020 10:09 pm  #10


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

I also was watching The CTV Noon news. When they started blathering at 12:59, my first reaction was shut the "F" up. This is important. I want to hear this. Being on cable, I had the option to move, and did, to CP24. I feel for the OTA  crowd. CTV had no simsubs at 1pm. Just a rerun of The Social. Not cool.

 

April 3, 2020 10:14 pm  #11


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

Was the choice of doctor the Ontario gov't chose to introduce the "slides" intentionally boring to listen to?  the monotone and awkward delivery distracted me from what facts he was presenting.  Not surprised to hear that the media wasn't presented with advance copies of the "slides" since that would have reduced the impact of the boring doctor. 

too cynical???

 

April 6, 2020 11:50 am  #12


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

Again I wonder what's going on at the national broadcaster.

CBC Radio 1 cut out of the daily Trudeau press conference, while CFRB stayed with it through most of the Q&A. Look, I know he never says anything and he keeps on saying it. So there's not much news in it.

But if the national broadcaster that's supposed to bring Canada to Canadians doesn't think the country's leader is worthwhile sticking with, what does that say about the CBC? (Not to mention The Prime Minister?)  After a short analysis of his comments, they went back to The Current already in progress mid-interview at 11:45 AM.

     Thread Starter
 

April 6, 2020 12:35 pm  #13


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

RadioActive wrote:

Again I wonder what's going on at the national broadcaster.

CBC Radio 1 cut out of the daily Trudeau press conference, while CFRB stayed with it through most of the Q&A. Look, I know he never says anything and he keeps on saying it. So there's not much news in it.

But if the national broadcaster that's supposed to bring Canada to Canadians doesn't think the country's leader is worthwhile sticking with, what does that say about the CBC? (Not to mention The Prime Minister?)  After a short analysis of his comments, they went back to The Current already in progress mid-interview at 11:45 AM.

Well contrary to what many feel, CBC is not a state broadcaster.  This sort of shoots down the argument of some that CBC is beholden to the Liberals. Like any other broadcaster they can opt in and out of the daily update, and if the PM hasn't said anything  new or made any major announcements they decided to leave and go with regular programming. Radio One is not a news network per se even though they do have a lot of news and public affairs programming.  The fact that CFRB stayed on is not that surprising since they are news/talk, same with AM640.

Should CBC radio also be covering all of the provincial updates from all of the premiers and health ministers every day? They are the national broadcaster so shouldn't this be covered as well?  Or the daily update from all of the federal ministers that is happening right now? Shouldn't radio cover this too?  Personally I think that would be overkill and not necessary.. All of this is available on line or on the news channels for anyone who wants to sit through this, so I don't see that Radio One broadcasting hours and hours of this every day would be necessary or should be expected.

 

April 6, 2020 12:54 pm  #14


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

Don't get me wrong - I've pretty much stopped listening to the non-information pressers myself. But if the state broadcaster doesn't feel it's worth covering Trudeau's presentation in its entirety, that seems to be a comment on the necessity of the pressers themselves.

Maybe they could cut them down to just a few a week - and only when he actually has something to announce. It's become something of a PR exercise for the PM, rather than informing the Canadian public about anything new. Still, you'd think the CBC of all broadcasters would be almost mandated to stay with it and I would say that regardless of which party was in power. 

(Although oddly, if you do get anything relevant out of it, it's usually the Q&A that follows that contains the most important info. Once you get by all the "ums" and "ahs.")  

     Thread Starter
 

April 6, 2020 1:37 pm  #15


Re: Stunning Decisions By OTA TV Networks During COVID-19 Presser

 Referring to CBC as a state broadcaster is incorrect. Some may not like their programming or news coverage but that doesn't make them a state broadcaster.   A public broadcaster and state broadcaster are not the same thing.  CBC is a public broadcaster, so the government can't mandate them what to carry or not carry.  Contrary to what some feel, the CBC is not a mouthpiece of the government. They are supposed to be the voice of the public..I am not saying that they always achieve this, but that is what the goal is. 

Even though it is a private commercial network, you could argue that FOX news is more of a state broadcaster than CBC ever was.  Trump seems to have the run of the network, and gets on any FOX talk show or morning show whenever he wants. They give him a freebie and let him ramble on  and rarely challenge him.   He has even said in a press conference how great FOX's ratings are and then dumps on CNN, MSNBC and even his old network NBC.