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November 3, 2020 9:40 am  #1


Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

You may not be able to vote for President but you can use your remote to choose who you watch on Tuesday. This one is unusual in that Canadian TV networks are getting in on the act bigtime this year 

My go-to network is usually NBC, although I can't exactly explain why. But if you're one of those who hate constant channel changing, you probably wouldn't want to watch this with me. I generally graze just about every station in a given hour to see who's saying or predicting what. So I'll be looking at ABC, CBS, PBS, and Fox as well as CTV and occasionally the CBC. 

And depending on how the trends go, I'll be curious to see the glee/fury/conspiracy theories being spouted on the cable outlets like CNN, MSNBC or Fox News.

Then there's the radio - CFRB or GNR640? Or maybe a quick dial twist to WABC to hear how their ultra conservative hosts are dealing with a possible Trump loss/win.

It's also possible you could just be on the Net all night, checking various sites, an option that in the old days was never available. 

Or maybe you're just going to chuck the whole thing, and watch an old movie, play a video game or read a book.  

For political junkies or the just curious, this is the Olympic gold medal championship of American elections. I can't recall one that's ever attracted this kind of interest, for obvious reasons. 

So who's your choice for this marathon? And how long will you stick with the coverage if there's no winner declared after a few hours? 

One thing's for sure - it's going to be a long night.

And a long four years.

 

November 3, 2020 10:06 am  #2


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

Not having to work on Wednesday's, I can scan the variety of networks until the wee hours of the morning, providing I can stay awake. I have seen "Law" but have never seen "Order" until VCR's/PVR's arrived.

 

November 3, 2020 2:34 pm  #3


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

I usually like whatever the American broadcast networks serve up for election night, especially NBC. I'll flip between CBS, ABC, and Big FOX (the network, not the news channel).

I am staying away from the cable news channels (FNC/CNN/MSNBC). 

Also, do any of you find it odd that 3 of our broadcast networks (and other international broadcasters for that matter) are dedicating significant amounts of airtime and money to cover an election in another country? I know how significant this year's election is, but still, it seems odd to me.

 

November 3, 2020 3:33 pm  #4


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

CNN is usually the fastest with the results. 

 

November 3, 2020 3:42 pm  #5


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

I may bounce around some, because....All I want is...




 

 

November 3, 2020 3:43 pm  #6


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

ED1 wrote:

I usually like whatever the American broadcast networks serve up for election night, especially NBC. I'll flip between CBS, ABC, and Big FOX (the network, not the news channel).

I am staying away from the cable news channels (FNC/CNN/MSNBC). 

Also, do any of you find it odd that 3 of our broadcast networks (and other international broadcasters for that matter) are dedicating significant amounts of airtime and money to cover an election in another country? I know how significant this year's election is, but still, it seems odd to me.

I wondered about that, too, but as some posters pointed out in previous threads, the results will have major effects on Canada either way. Plus, it's just such a compelling contest, many Canadians would have tuned into the U.S. feeds anyway. It's kind of like a Canada-U.S. Olympic gold medal hockey game or the Raptors championship final game. You don't have to be a fan to want to see how it all comes out. 

     Thread Starter
 

November 3, 2020 3:45 pm  #7


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

I'm going on record with a wild prediction of the outcome - Brock Pierce wins in a landslide upset no one saw coming!

His first official act as President of the United States will be to smoke a doobie on the White House lawn...

     Thread Starter
 

November 3, 2020 7:06 pm  #8


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

I'm always interested in what the various producers at the Toronto stations choose to lead their 6 o'clock major newscasts with. CTV, CBC and Global all led with the U.S. election. 

Only City TV thought the re-opening plan for COVID in Ontario was more important. 

Not sure who was right, but I tend to lean towards the City headline, because people's livelihoods are hanging in the balance, it's a local story and it's an urgent change. There is nothing new to report in the U.S. election until the polls close. And although it affects us all, the vote is an American story.

Still, hard to argue both were certainly worthy! 

     Thread Starter
 

November 3, 2020 7:14 pm  #9


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

I agree RA, the US election is important but not the lead story. My local station ran several local stories before getting to the US election (at approx. 6:08) and there was very little new information in the report they ran but the local stories touched on matters that could impact my life. 

 

November 3, 2020 7:41 pm  #10


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

CTV Kitchener had the US election for the lead, CTV London local story, CTV Windsor US election lead but different than Kitchener.

 

November 3, 2020 8:11 pm  #11


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

Just listening to GNR640. 

So let me get this straight. Global TV has taken its coverage entirely online, which will almost certainly get it a smaller audience than if it was on conventional television. But they're broadcasting the audio on 640, filled with explanations to be sure to look at the left side of your screen to see who's winning the Senate and Congressional races. And they also advised their radio listeners to look at the bottom of their screen to chart the presidential progress. 

It may not render 640's coverage completely useless, but I suspect CFRB - which is actually doing a show for the medium of radio - will mop the floor with them.

I wonder who at Corus thought this was a good idea. 

     Thread Starter
 

November 3, 2020 10:13 pm  #12


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

 

November 3, 2020 10:54 pm  #13


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

Well, I find I owe 640 an apology. Although they continue to refer listeners to "look at the bottom of the screen," their coverage has actually been pretty good, even if it's TV audio. 

CFRB, on the other hand, really surprised me. It's turned into an hours-long version of the Roundtable, with Barb DiGiulio, Jerry Agar, Ryan Doyle and Jim Richards yakking on and on. I had been expecting guests like Evan Solomon, Scott Reid and Tom Muclair. The latter did finally make an appearance, but it quickly became clear that most of their usual experts went to CTV, leaving few experts for 1010 to talk to. 

Despite my initial skepticism, 640 had the better coverage. I admittedly only monitored a small sampling of CBC Radio 1, but I wasn't all that impressed by what I heard. Still, I'll admit it's not fair to judge them without listening to more of their output.  

     Thread Starter
 

November 3, 2020 11:40 pm  #14


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

CNN's coverage has been surprisingly balanced, or at least compared to what it was four years ago.


PJ


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November 4, 2020 1:00 am  #15


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

I can't remember such a wide disparity in Electoral College numbers among all the networks. As of this posting, all have Biden ahead. But the numbers on CNN, Fox, NBC, CTV and others are all vastly different, often by a huge margin. Who are you supposed to believe?

Check out these numbers as of 12:15 AM

CTV
Biden: 196
Trump: 119

CBC
Biden: 192
Trump: 133

NBC/MSNBC
Biden: 205
Trump: 136

ABC
Biden: 205
Trump: 178

Global/PBS
Biden: 213
Trump: 118

CNN
Biden: 205
Trump: 132

Fox News
Biden: 227
Trump: 204

I've never seen such discrepancies on so many networks.

     Thread Starter
 

November 4, 2020 1:39 am  #16


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

I'm not sure what that was on CFRB after their local coverage ended (it could have been NBC Radio) but what a mess. All of the American commercials for services not available in Canada kept airing on 1010. (The system worked on CKTB, where their local spots aired as they should have.) It was certainly odd hearing an ad for a medical service that could be yours if you paid for it.

Not sure how long this went on - I tuned out by around 12:45 AM - but it was a very choppy and strange end to a long night on NT1010.

     Thread Starter
 

November 4, 2020 2:48 am  #17


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

What a nail biter. I was occasionally flipping among all the networks but I wound up staying with CNN for most of the night. I must give credit to John King and his board for making sense of the possible permutations and combinations
of results which could benefit either candidate. I found that CNN provided the fastest results & best analysis.
 

 

November 4, 2020 7:22 am  #18


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

I woke up in the lazy boy about 2:45am and for some reason WIVB  was running paid programming. They rejoined CBS at 3am.

 

November 4, 2020 8:30 am  #19


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

My wife is American and pro Biden. All she wanted to watch was CNN. It's obvious they were pulling for Biden (so was I) but to me they were all a bunch of talking heads who didn't have a clue as to what was going to happen. Their pre-occupation with the maps and all the paths to here and all the paths to there drove me up a wall. I was out like a light by 11. It was nice to hear John Moore and his sanity this morning.

Last edited by alangee (November 4, 2020 9:03 am)

 

November 4, 2020 10:18 am  #20


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

A nail biter and it's not over. Despite Trump coming out and saying he has won as the votes are still being counted and at this point I am not sure what he will take to the supreme court as he  said.I was mostly switching back and forth between MSNBC and CNN but I would occasionally switch over to CBC to get a Canada Perspective.

Roller coaster which first saw the blue mirage in the south as the early votes were counted first and then the red mirage as the same day vote was counted in the north/rust belt.

Right now the decision is still on a razor's edge but Biden is beginning  to make up ground in the north as more of the early vote gets counted with  maybe 20 % of that total vote still outstanding in the northern swing states.

Nevada and Georgia are still too close to call. 

The outcome at this point is still not certain but on this roller coaster the trend is a bit towards Biden but that could possibly change. Legal challenges may be coming.

Last edited by Fitz (November 4, 2020 10:18 am)


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November 4, 2020 10:36 am  #21


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

As sad as this whole episode has been, this headline just makes it all that much worse. 60,000 people? Really? 

Kanye West Gets 60,000 Votes Across 12 States In U.S. Presidential Race

     Thread Starter
 

November 4, 2020 2:57 pm  #22


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

CNN by far. It had more results and less commentary than the others. I love John King's "Magic Wall" - he really knows his stuff and avoids CNN's normal bias.


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

November 4, 2020 3:06 pm  #23


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

RadioActive wrote:

Just listening to GNR640. 

So let me get this straight. Global TV has taken its coverage entirely online, which will almost certainly get it a smaller audience than if it was on conventional television. But they're broadcasting the audio on 640, filled with explanations to be sure to look at the left side of your screen to see who's winning the Senate and Congressional races. And they also advised their radio listeners to look at the bottom of their screen to chart the presidential progress. 

It may not render 640's coverage completely useless, but I suspect CFRB - which is actually doing a show for the medium of radio - will mop the floor with them.

I wonder who at Corus thought this was a good idea. 

Late post, but just in case you missed it, it wasn't entirely online. Global did pre-empt all their 11 PM (10 PM CT) local newscasts to simulcast their election special on TV. 

 

November 4, 2020 3:09 pm  #24


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

Dale Patterson wrote:

CNN by far. It had more results and less commentary than the others. I love John King's "Magic Wall" - he really knows his stuff and avoids CNN's normal bias.

This article is a bit over the top, but someone obviously agrees with you. 

An Ode to John King, CNN's Statistician Magician

     Thread Starter
 

November 4, 2020 3:17 pm  #25


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

i can vote... and i didn't vote for the president.
a few people i know (here in canada) are actually rooting for trump and act as if they're living in the u.s.. they don't seem to get that the president isn't a fan of canada and his previous "dealings" reflect that. he's of the opinion that canada is "slick" when it comes to negotiations (re: nafta).
in my opinion, trump's attitude, towards canada, took a major negative turn with the public protesting the "trump" branding of the st. regis.
when it comes to election coverage, in my opinion cnn is leading the pack. it's amazing how john king can work those screens, for long periods of time (and explain what's going on), without missing a beat.... all this on a few hours of sleep.

 

 

November 4, 2020 5:45 pm  #26


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

John King actually has a fill in at the Magic Wall in Phil Mattingly who filled in while John may have been getting some rest. He's actually been doing that for while and is quite good and knows his stuff even if at times he mimics King too closely.


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November 4, 2020 5:55 pm  #27


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

the thing i like about john working the "magic wall" is he not fully understands the technical side, he uses the wall as a tool when conveying the massive amount of his knowledge (including geographically). his speed rules out any teleprompter or notes. other networks have similar walls but the "operators" don't compare. i always considered john to by an ok host/anchor, but when it comes to this election, the guy's a machine.

 

November 4, 2020 6:01 pm  #28


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

Fitz wrote:

John King actually has a fill in at the Magic Wall in Phil Mattingly who filled in while John may have been getting some rest. He's actually been doing that for while and is quite good and knows his stuff even if at times he mimics King too closely.

That's funny Fitz I noticed that Phil has the same mannerisms and even similar voice and phrasing as John King.  Both are doing a great job.

Overall, I would give my vote to CNN but also thought that both CTV and CBC did excellent coverage last evening/this morning.  They didn't get into the weeds as much as the US networks as expected and did a good job explaining how the electoral college works and the differences between  how we handle election results as compared to the US.  Both CTV and CBC had some good guest panelists. 

I did find it odd last night that  CTV, CBC and BBC were ahead of CNN and most of the other US networks getting up the totals and updates for the electoral college.  Sometimes they were up to half an hour ahead which I found strange.  

Last edited by paterson1 (November 4, 2020 6:03 pm)

 

November 4, 2020 6:36 pm  #29


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

This is over the top as Keith Olbermann often is but he's back doing politics and has quit his ESPN gig but I think he captures the gist of Trump's late night victory speech:



 

Last edited by Fitz (November 4, 2020 6:36 pm)


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November 4, 2020 7:26 pm  #30


Re: Who Gets Your Vote For U.S. Election Coverage?

re: trumps speech. to me his statement (paraphrase) "stop the voting i've one" is so out there/bizarre, even for trump, one has to wonder, is donald trump saying/doing all this for his own personal amusement or did the corona virus messed with an already messed up brain?