Wednesday, February 14, 2007

What Drives the News in Vancouver

Just how far have Olympic promoters penetrated the CTV Newsroom?

A student of ours (and my buddy) Joel Baycroft was at the unveiling of the countdown clock for the 2010 games, and he (along with everyone other than CTV)witnessed quite a different event.

To be fair, on board Chopper9 David Kincaid noticed the protesters and did mention their concerns - perhaps they just looked like a small group from up in the air...

To be extra fair - CTV links to 2010watch from their site - check the bottom of the yellow block of links on the left.

To be opinionated and rude, the evening news for Monday night was basically a blow job for games-organizers and a celebration along the lines of "We have the broadcast-rights, na na na na na!" I hate criticizing a broadcast in public because in general CTV really can put together a stellar show, but it was gross.

I wonder if the other broadcasters are increasingly going to focus on CTV painting the games with their happy-brush. It seems strange to me, and I think the central issue is that Bill Good is doing a considerable amount of Rah-Rahing outside of the newscast - and for many people he represents CTV-News in Vancouver. When I see B.G. on TV it means I'm watching news, not a hosted-celebration.

At first I though maybe it was all in my head, but pretty much everyone I've chatted with has agreed.

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