by Glen Livingstone » Sat Feb 06, 2010 1:41 am
You're quite right, Mighty ... there is no excuse for that.
Even worse is the once-mighty CBC.
When the torch first arrived, it was carried in a beautiful big Haida canoe by the chiefs of the First Nations ... all decked out in full ceremonial regalia ... rowed to the dock in Victoria ... where the chiefs all got out, and, in heartfelt and eloquent words, welcomed the Olympic torch, and all the peoples of the world, to their traditional ancestral lands.
Or, at least we think they were heartfelt and eloquent words, but we couldn't hear them .. because the mental midgets they had 'reporting' at the scene talked right over the top of every single speech. You couldn't hear a damn word !
It was supposed to have been a moving moment.
I, for one, was moved to get right on the phone to the CBC and blast those morons ... then send a follow-up letter, to which I received some half-hearted, or half-arsed, 'apology'.
But the moment was lost.
What amateur hour reporting, having a couple of reporters giggling away like schoolgirls, and breathlessly 'reporting' " I remember when I was a little girl, I liked the Olympics on tv ' ... blah, blah, blah ... while the Chiefs were talking ... and they were standing right there ... in front of them ! ... They, the 'reporters' kept getting louder and louder, so they completely drowned out every single word any of them were saying.
I couldn't believe my ears. In the first place it was rude and disrespectful, as it would have been to talk over anyone. In the second place, what were they doing there if they weren't going to report on the story ?
But, that is the state of the 'talent' they hire sometimes now ... They think they are the story ... The 'me' entitlement generation who thinks that what they think about what is happening is more important than what is actually happening ... and they can't seem to wait to comment on something, if indeed comment is even necessary, until after it is over ... and they also can't imagine that any of we listeners or viewers might have a modicum of brains to form our own opinions on what we might hear ... if only we could hear it !
Evidently there ain't no-one to ride herd on 'em and rein 'em in ... Shame.
Makes me long for Peter Mansbridge. He has, many a time in the past, when someone has gotten too giddy to remember to shut the hell up during a momentous news event ( such as a Royal Wedding or funeral, even, for heaven's sake ), then stepped in and gently saved them from themselves by saying " Let's listen ". And we did listen. If we didn't want to hear it, we could turn it off our own selves ... we didn't have that choice taken away from us. This is what, for a long time, separated the great Canadian news reportage from some of the inane American reporting, is that they refrained from 'analyzing' the story while it was happening, and, instead, let it play out ... recognizing that their mandate was to report ... to be our eyes and ears , and let us see and hear just what was going on.
Whatever one might think of the Olympics, we have to recognize that there are things being seen and done and events taking place which showcase some of the ways that Canada is unique in all the world ... First Nations Chiefs, the once-mighty Haida nation, the cooperation between the tribes ( albeit it may be short-lived for the Olympics ), the torch being taken by dogsled in Labrador-Newfoundland, the far north, where a jet had never before landed at their airport, and many more sights and sounds which people around the world marvel over. Yes, some of them might seem cliche to us, and we might be jaded, or even cringe at some of the 'stereotypes' ... but at least we should show some respect whilst reporting on them ... or else not bother to report on them at all.
I cringed when I thought what someone picking up that news feed would think, hearing that high-school gab and chatter, at such a 'momentous' event ... And it wasn't like they were picked up accidentally not listening, with their mic's open ... They were proud of that bullshit chatter, and didnt' want to leave a second of silence on their own mic's ... Never mind that the Chiefs were all standing on a podium in front of mic's of their own ! ... Whether we think it is 'important' or not, it doesn't matter ... the fact is, like it or not, we are throwing a party to which the whole world has been invited, and the whole world is watching ... so we oughta get it right.
Cheers ~
Mrs. P.
