32 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

Is it just me, because I'm searching for news to fill my social media pages?

 

But seriously, the major media here just abandons their job for 2 days every week.

[AllseeingEye]

Of course the times are much different from when my dad was in the media (to 1979) and when he certainly worked days/nights/weekends etc,, in view of advances in technology and especially due to corporate concentration and mergers the result is that there are far fewer (human) resources available to do the job.

 

Consider that VicNews is a shadow of the operation it once was, the same goes for CHEK TV (I remember how many people worked there in the late 60's when I hung out as a kid at the old Epsom Road location - "lots", even on a Saturday), and ditto especially for radio stations all over BC and the west. Working in radio these days - on air or behind the scenes - especially is a precarious career proposition. And in both radio and TV once you hit a certain salary you have a bulls-eye squarely affixed to your back courtesy of the bean-counters at orgs particularly such as Corus and Bell.....

Edited by AllseeingEye, 21 November 2015 - 10:25 PM.

[AllseeingEye]

Heh...and right on cue I see this little nugget from my pals over at Puget Sound Radio, which merely underscores one of my points above:

 

http://www.pugetsoun...raffic-reports/

[todd]

Mondays for the Times Colonist, according to my front porch.

[VicHockeyFan]

Stories posted to the internet, Thursday November 19th vs. Sunday November 22nd:

 

CFAX:  1 today, 9 Thursday.

CHEK:  0 today, 10 Thursday

[VicHockeyFan]

Heh...and right on cue I see this little nugget from my pals over at Puget Sound Radio, which merely underscores one of my points above:

 

http://www.pugetsoun...raffic-reports/

 

It's kind of like the assault on newspapers by technology/the internet.

 

Newspapers had the TV guide to bolster sales on Fridays.  Gone.

Newspapers had classified ads (a HUGE money-maker).  Gone.

Newspapers had a great weekend wrap-up of sports scores and stats.  Gone.

[AllseeingEye]

I think a lot of it honestly also has much to do with the need of today's consumer for "immediacy": bombs and terrorist shootings happening in Paris? In the "old days" you'd hear something about it on the radio, "perhaps" see an update on the TV news assuming the event didn't happen too late in our time zone for it to be reported on; however in terms of reading about it in the paper you had to wait overnight for the next day's edition - an eternity today, where you can practically follow events online as they occur.

 

And of course the old classified ads; I worked at a local tech firm starting in 1992 that had the then-radical idea of posting job vacancies, real estate and automotive ads online; funded with venture capital from Torstar (Toronto Star) Corporation, which figured it needed to be an early adopter and somehow get into the "online" business but like everyone else at the time was struggling to fund a business model that "paid", our firm was a few years ahead of its time yet fast forward to today: who searches the newspapers for any of those things now?

Edited by AllseeingEye, 22 November 2015 - 05:51 PM.

[VicHockeyFan]

CTV VI has not posted a fresh story since Friday.  Are we to just presume news does not happen on weekends?

[Mike K.]

Don't they have a Saturday and Sunday newscast?

[VicHockeyFan]

Don't they have a Saturday and Sunday newscast?

 

The news team broadcasts seven days a week: ‘CTV News at 5', a fast-paced magazine-style show that delivers the most popular news, current local affairs, and regular segments airs weekdays, followed by "CTV News at 6', the station's flagship newscast, anchored by Andrew Johnson. We round out each weekday with ‘CTV News at 11’ following up on the day’s top stories and preparing you for tomorrow. Weekend coverage happens with the half hour broadcast of ‘CTV News at 6’ on Saturday and Sunday.

 

 

They say they do.  I guess their web people only work M-F.

 

http://vancouverisla...act-us/about-us

[VicHockeyFan]

CHEK's top story still is:  

 

Environment Canada predicting snow will fall on Vancouver Island Tuesday

 

 

Which we already know is cancelled.

[Rob Randall]

They say they do.  I guess their web people only work M-F.

 

http://vancouverisla...act-us/about-us

 

It seems to me radio and TV have not fully embraced the web as a news platform. Stories posted there are random, incomplete and outdated. The TC does better even if it does seem the entire weekend staff consists of an intern at home on the couch watching TV with an iPhone.

[tedward]

...the major media here just abandons their job for 2 days every week.

 

And how long have you lived here? Or, for that matter, in Canada?   It has always been thus since before the invention of television.

[Mike K.]

But you'd think that in the age of the Internet where information is no longer contained until a newspaper is published or a televised newscast runs that they would have adapted. Al Gore will be pissed if he hears this.

[nagel]

But you'd think that in the age of the Internet where information is no longer contained until a newspaper is published or a televised newscast runs that they would have adapted. Al Gore will be pissed if he hears this.

It's probably more of a question of not being able to afford the staff.  Obviously the quality of the TC online for instance has gone quite downhill.

[Mike K.]

I remember people chuckling at the quality of the TC back when the Internet was nothing more than an idea on Al's napkin, but generally speaking perhaps you're right, that they can't keep even one staff member on 24/7.

[nagel]

I remember people chuckling at the quality of the TC back when the Internet was nothing more than an idea on Al's napkin, but generally speaking perhaps you're right, that they can't keep even one staff member on 24/7.

Seriously what's even in that building of theirs?  I haven't been there since I signed up to be a paperboy.

[VicHockeyFan]

Seriously what's even in that building of theirs?  I haven't been there since I signed up to be a paperboy.

 

Well, I used to work there, from about 1988 to 1992.  I can tell ya what's in there.  

 

At the back is a big press, that was brand new in about 1988 or 1989.

 

North of that,  but still at the back is the "mailroom", where inserts are added and the papers are bundled.

 

On the main business floor is the circulation department, north end, and then the rest is editorial in the middle/south end.

 

The is not much on the top floor, and in the basement there is really just the maintenance shop, and newsprint storage/movement.

[Mike K.]

Keep in mind everything VHF just wrote is circa 1992 back when half of that building's workforce would have been adorned in pastel coloured fashions. Including VHF.

 

[Rob Randall]

^Yeah, they had a busy classified ad counter but I'm sure that's been replaced by an old guy waiting for the phone to ring. 

 

A lot of the reporters are probably out filing their stories from out in the field via their laptops. Photographers, too. 

 

Your typical newsroom today looks more like your high school's yearbook club than the vast, bustling newsroom of "All The President's Men"