On Nov. 16th, I dashed off the following email to news@ctv.ca, after the airing of the National at 11 pm.
Subject: Film footage hypocrisy
Time : 11/16/04 11:32 pm
No tape of the aid worker’s execution. Too disturbing to show the audience the face of the enemy? Or too truthful?
Two plays of the Marine shooting of the wounded prisoner. (whose unit had lost a member the day before when a boobytrapped body exploded)
And you wonder what the mainstream media is struggling with credibility issues and falling audience share?
—
Kate
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com
I’ve probably sent about 6 complaint emails to CTV news over the past year – their coverage of the Iraq war and US politics has been abysmal – slanted, inaccurate, selectively incomplete…. in short, pretty typical. But for the first time, I recieved an actual reply from someone who claims to be a “news producer”, and it appears I hit a nerve. From which news producer, I can’t say – the email was unsigned. I reproduce it here, spelling and typos unaltered.
Ask Us askus@ctv.ca
Re: film footage hypocricy
Your arguement is specious. Video ot the aid worker being shot in the head was not available in North America. However it was reported on extensively. The marine shooting video — which on the surface appears in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention — was frozen before the bullets ripped into the body.
I fail to see either a moral equivalency or a moral imbalance.
If you think there are credibility issues … by all means … check out other forms of media. How many conspiracy theories can you really take.
I find it amazing that you think we news producers disucss issues the way you seem to think we do: that masters attend our meetings telling us what and what not to put on air.j
News value. It’s a concept.
Whew! …Looks like I’m in over my head…
Unbelievable! The problem with the left is that they have no ability to see objectively. They can never see their own hypocrisy in the way they treat Christians vs. Atheists (or any other religion for that matter), the way they portray Israelis vs. Palistinians, or their portrayal in a multitude of social conservative vs. socially liberal issues. If they were honest and at least admitted their bias, perhaps there wouldn’t be such great conflict, but they continue to see themselves as fair, balanced and “in the centre”.
Congratulations on receiving an answer of any sort. I wish you luck in your future attempts; I would further say that the failure of the ‘news producer’ to provide their identity is simply good sense, based on observation of Rathergate et alia – it permits an elitist response, with no personal accountability. 🙂
I do think it’s a pity you didn’t work something in there about Oil-for-Food.
Kate, I couldn’t resist sorry. I’m including my reply to the huffy response from ctv:
Krusty Krab
The body of my email to ctv:
Here’s a concept for you: spell checker.
Here’s another concept for you as well: factual, fair, balanced reporting. As a foil for all of your hyped-up sensationalization about “violations of the Geneva convention”, see:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2004_11_14.shtml#1100799952
But perhaps we should let the poor freedom fighters alone so they can go back to hacking off the limbs and gutting foreign aid workers in their blood-soaked hostage slaughter rooms.
And fever-swamped induced conspiracy theories seem to be a trait of of left-wing blogs. Indies and right-wing blogs don’t seem to have too much problem with being grounded in reality.
That bit about an inavailability of footage and have no “master” (they don’t have editors or producers?) to tell them what to air seems to imply that they air what they air for the sake of convenience (read laziness).
Don’t give up Kate. Attack back.
That the enemy (in my book, probably not theirs) doesn’t mind delimbing, disembowelling and blowing the brains out of defenseless women is news worthy to me.
Has anyone seen the “slaughter rooms” they’ve found in Falluja? Still photos? Video?
Are we really to believe these images don’t exist?
And if they do (I can only assume) why don’t western media outlets strive to attain them and air them? Do they have no “news value”?
Don’t answer. We already know why they are not aired.
I’m not a Canook but I’ll send a round of emails none the less.
Ever vigilant. Eh?
Lunacy
You know, the more I think about it the more ired I get. We are talking about an organization that will air the most salacious, sensationalist, scandalous crap to draw viewers to the tubes.
IF they announced that they had such video of poor Mrs. Hassan, the slaughter rooms, the delimbed bodies, would or would not their viewership increase just as sites which carry the snuff videos fly off the charts of site hits?
Again, we know the answer. They are even more interested in neutering/neutralizing the enemy (to me, not them) than they are in their corporate endeavors or their viewers wishes!
Lunacy
FoxNews sings,
Kate at Small Dead Animals related her experiences with Canadian television.
Kate; being the proud recipient of several dismissive letters from the venerable CBC I smell a rat. When these guys want to communicate their contempt they use much better prose.
Note to eager intern defending the corporation: group-think makes conspiracy unneccessary.
Well, the message headers confirm CTV as the sending mailserver. Perhaps an intern with dalushuns of grand-ooer wrote it on the behalf of a producer….
Received: from agcoms05.ctv.ca ([10.4.5.42])
I sent a reply. We’ll wait to see if there’s any more communicaton from Lloyd Tower
Hi Kate,
Is it logical to try and be logical with people who aren’t?
It would be nice think that there is someone at the other end to debate the issue clearly and logically, with. But from the reply you received, there isn’t.
As for “conspiracy theories” and “masters attend our meetings telling us what and what not to put on air.j”
These are not needed because for the most part, as Michael Coren argues, the MSM operate under “a cult of liberal assumption.”
I think the producers of “Team America” have a better battle plan, using satire and sarcasm. (without the over the top vulgarity, though.)
Once somebody has been turned into a joke they will never again be taken seriously again. Think Joe Clark, Dan Quail, etc.
I like to send goofy emails to the “offenders.” At best the author might be alarmed by his admirers. At worst it helps sooth the anger that they have caused me.
Should Canada Indict Bush by THOMAS WALKOM
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1100517502971&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist969907626796&DPL=IvsNDS/7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes%20%20http://www.rabble.ca
To:twalkom@thestar.ca
Hey dude,
Right on bro. thats the right on serious shit that my buds say you cant’ find in pAyed for paper.he should be indickted for sure.kegger this week end
hope to C you as an honored guest
Call me,
ryerson (Rye or Son) 😉
1st yr
ps
> hope to catch him when he comes up here to fish.
2 sweet baby 2 sweet!!
The problem with news programs today is that the people choosing what to put on and what not to put really have no opinion at all it seems.
Their arguement for everything is the same everything IS news when it’s available and not news when it’s not. There’s very little “investigative” to go along with the “journalism”.
Pigs to the trough … as long as someone can drive us there. Walking is too much work.