RadioActive wrote:

When you get to the #1 market in Canada, you don't expect perfection, but at least you should try to come close. Which makes what I saw on two major Toronto 6 o'clock newscasts Saturday that much more egregious. And both surrounded the same story - the police shooting a man dead after an apparent domestic dispute in Scarborough. 

CFTO led their newscast with it, which it certainly deserved. On came the two anchors, who talked about the SIU being on the scene of the police shooting that happened in Scarborough. So far, so good. Then they threw to their reporter live on location, who set up his own piece, complete with a police spokesperson, neighbour reaction, etc.

So what was the problem? They never - not once - told viewers exactly where in Scarborough this happened. Not the name of the street, not the cross streets, not the neighbourhood. Nothing. There was no key identifying the location. I kept waiting for someone to say it, but it never came.

They did the exact same thing a week or so ago with a similar story, where something happened in "North York," Despite watching the full two minute report and the intro, we never found out where that took place, either. How in the world was such a vital fact left out two weeks in a row?

Perhaps the most important tenet of journalism is the old W5 (ironically the name of CTV's venerable documentary show.) One of those W's is Where. On Saturday, we never found that out. And it being the second time makes me wonder if anyone is paying attention over there.  

And don't get me started on Rahim Ladhani attempting in vain to ad lib anchor weather. (Where are all their weather people? This happens a lot.) He kept mixing up the normal high and the current one, going over it three times before he almost got it right. Sad. 

But perhaps more embarrassing was the incredible verbal error I saw during the same police shooting story over on City TV. (I'm an inveterate channel changer.) This might be one for the so-called Christmas tape, where the worst bloopers are replayed for a semi-inebriated staff. I have to say I didn't recognize the anchor, since I rarely watch City News these days, but after coming back from a live press conference with Police Chief James Ramer he told viewers this:

"We'll have more on this story on CTV News at 11."

Yes, CTV. I went back twice to check it, and the close captioning confirmed what I heard: "CTV." It was certainly a misspeak. But it's a rare day in August when the main anchor of a newscast accidentally tells you to tune in the competition later that night!  

All in all, not a good showing for two big stations in the largest market in Canada.

I’ve seen Global Toronto go a step further and not even mention the city where a story is taking place. On multiple occasions they’ve had a story where the only location mentioned is “Ontario”. And these aren’t stories where there’s a need for anonymity.

As recently as a week ago Global ran a story where they referenced a truck attack on a Muslim family last year. No mention that it happened in London.

RadioActive wrote:

I can almost see this when it's out of province, although not giving the name of the city seems pretty absurd. 

But in the case of the North York example, I grew up in what we laughably used to call that "borough" and I wanted to know where the incident happened, just to see if it was near my old stomping grounds. The CTV Toronto newscast never told me. When it's national, it's OK to just say the city. But when it's local, pinpointing the cross streets or the specific area is vital. 

If you lived near the spot where something serious happened, wouldn't you want to know? Basic reporting 101 and it never ceases to amaze me when that's not in the lede.  

I used to live in North York myself and it always bothered me when media referred to a crime as “North York”. That is a geographically large area - are they talking about Don Mills? Downsview? Willowdale?

I remember in 2018 when the van attack first happened, some outlets merely said “North York” initially - no mention of Yonge Street initially. Others said Yonge Street but no mention of whether it was downtown, in North York, or even Richmond Hill.

Last edited by MJ Vancouver (August 14, 2022 3:28 pm)