On the Media

A big push in the cbc news over this past year has been to get feedback on how to improve their layout to please people that want to watch cbc, and hopefully attract new viewers in the process. And they did change their layout; Peter Mansbridge got a new space age desk where he stands instead of sits, and logos continuously twist and turn behind him as if by some unseen news or tv wind. For the most part I had no complaints, and I actually liked when they split up major news components as standalone segments you can watch from their website, so I can catch At Issue when I want some perspective on current Canadian politics, or not watch Rex Murphy's masturbatory drone at all, ever, any of the time. But, like the webcasts of the Daily Show, there is now advertisements embedded between every segment.

The commercials are still not nearly as long as on tv, but I feel like I'm being weaned on the 7% rule. I heard from someone or read it or something that people will pretty much always adjust to about 7% overall change for a given period of time. So I think the end game of webcasts is that it will end up looking exactly like television, which has been honed as an advertising paradise over televisions 60 years of history.

One other thing, obviously when they were finding out people's comments, NOBODY mentioned that they wanted actual journalism, actually answering the 5 W's and all that. I watched a piece on the rebel upsurgance in Thailand with the red shirts, and all they did was talk with someone in Canada who is going to Thailand and showed how she watches cbc news....seriously? Not once did they say what the fighting was about, what the issues are and perspective from both sides. There was just some footage from embedded journalists with the Thai army showing how the army methodically moved in and shot some people.

Last point, they have taken to showing DEAD BODIES on the news. They announced 6 rebels were killed while footage was shown of a soldier covered 2 dead people in plain clothes. Is that what people asked for? More real footage of dead bodies? Really?