So I get a call offering me a free trail of the Globe and Mail. The spin they used was that they have "changed". Not buying it. I used to comment at the Globe, but it has become such a forum for the same posters day in and day out, I don't even bother to go there anymore. So, scratch the Globe and Mail as a daily read.
The Toronto Star? Are you serious? As if they have a clue about western Canada and our issues. Never read it, not going to start now.
The Sun, read it online mainly for the letters to the editor. My husband does buy it so they get some of our money. The Edmonton Journal? Are you kidding? They should just call themselves the Edmonton Star and be done with it.
I read the National Post because I get it free at work, but I would buy it if I didn't. I enjoy the "full comment" section online the most.
TV news is a sad, biased media. I don't need to hear the same story, by the same talking head every twenty minutes. I have also noticed that CTV has stopped putting video on their site showing the Prime Minister. This is an example of a story without video backup. Is CTV so broke that they can't create a video of our PM or were they all gone early for a long weekend? The experts are usually lefty idiots who have a hidden agenda. I miss the Mike Duffy show, and since he is gone do not watch any political programs. Luckily I get Fox News and that is about the only thing I watch on TV these days.
Moving away from news, what happened to all the good TV shows? I watch the "Dog Whisperer" and Discovery Channel, Mike Holmes and the occasional cooking show. I sometimes catch CSI, but that's it.
What's up with Hollywood these days? Where are all the good action movies? The last movie we rented that I enjoyed was "Eight Below". Lately my husband has been renting movies and he ends up stopping them less than half way through because they are so bad. Where is the creativity? Or are they so busy being political activists that they have no time to actually make a good movie?
The only media that I enjoy these days is radio. I listen to talk shows as often as I can because real Canadians can phone in with their opinions.
The problem with media is that they have no idea of what Canadians are thinking, most are too Toronto centric and they are too biased. They are no longer reporting the news, they are making it up. They are telling us what to think and feeding off each other. Too often you see the Canadian Press as the author of the same news article on the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and CTV. Are they so lazy that they can not research a story on their own?
The media wonders why they are losing money? Maybe they should ask the average Canadian why. The demand is dropping because they think they know what is best for us, and nobody is going to convince them otherwise.
The dying media, you can't die fast enough for me. Stop feeding us slop and we might come back.
16 comments:
Hunter - I get quite a few papers on-line at work and I read them mainly for reader comments and letters to the editor. I find the Ottawa Sun does a much better job of local news than the Ottawa Citizen. I pulled the plug on Rogers in 1996 because the shows were mostly drek and it cost so much for the little TV that I watched. I don't miss TV at all. The only time I watch is when I visit friends or my mom - it's a nice diversion for a half-hour or so but that's about it.
Most of what I see on TV is pure, unadulterated garbage. As for movies - I go maybe once in 5 years if I'm dragged along. I prefer to rent or purchase quality DVDs. Surprisingly, there are some good movies which come out of Africa - somewhat dark and serious but really deep - and there is an absence of gratuitous sex. I prefer books over TV or DVDs any day and I prefer European authors because, as a rule, they don't include sexual content. I just don't understand why North American authors feel compelled to have sex in books which have nothing to do with sex.
I like legal novels - the way that lawyers can twist the law is intriguing - and murder mysteries as well as historical novels. But, always, there are lovemaking scenes with lots of descriptives.
There's nothing wrong with intimate relations but, really, I don't need to read about it - been there and, fortunately, still doing it.
As for the news - I'd hardly call it that. Somewhere along the line, our so-called journalists developed the idea that they are experts in some subject. It really cracks me up to see some talking head making like a pundit but the sad part is that most people are so uninformed and so accustomed to being spoon-fed all sorts of pap that they actually buy into it. So-called journalists have become medias new televangelists (another species which I do not like).
Good post - and all to sadly true.
Let's love corporate Canada for rationalizing and rationing the news.
Personally, I don't read newpapers or watch television news to get viewpoints that are the same as mine. I read, watch, and listen to the media in order for me to challenge my own thinking about the world. For example, I read the Jerusalem Post and Al Jazeera (English) on the internet so that I can get different viewpoints about the world.
Enjoy the National Toast while you can -- they will probably file for bankruptcy this week. Adios NP!
The Post is almost dead. The Toronto Star is expected to deal with your issues? The Globe and Mail uses too many hard words for someone like you. The Sun papers have decent comics on the weekend. That should hold some appeal?
The media (as you call it) isn't dying. People are reading their favourite papers online. Quit trying to channel Kate McMillan and think for yourself occasionally.
Excellent post, Hunter. I totally agree and that is why I don't buy or read newspapers either.
Excellent article...And the sooner they are put in the casket and buried the better.I always failed to understand how these propaganda machines could keep churning out this garbage.Only thing i could come up with in my mind was,,perhaps sponsorship money that we couldn,t track down or some of the left over brown envelopes are still circulating.Why would a whole group of reporters & news medias continue for so long to attack a very popular Prime Minister and an equally popular and honest government.And then back and cheer on a desperate attempt by a coalition of opposition parties that included a party that was trying to destroy the country???There has to be some big money behind these newspapers,that keep them trying to destroy our country with all the negative crap about the economy and how great the Liberals are.The sooner they are buried and out of business,the sooner Canadians will start to feel better about themselves,without the constant fear mongering headlines every morning.Like you said ,they never were about the news,they were about themselves and what they wanted you to hear and read.And for the past 13 years its been LIBERAL PROPAGANDA & Conservative hate.
I agree with many of your comments about the various media. My question tho is who would generate the online content for the internet? Currently it is a "media" through which the blogging community then take hold of and run on their sites.
I like to read letters to the editor and comments pages because I want to know what people are actually thinking. Unlike many of the great unwashed, I prefer to hear what actual people think and not to what so-called pundits are trying to feed us.
We are human and we have brains in our heads. Unfortunately, the media would prefer that we do not use our brains. Well, call me a renegade, but God gave me a brain and, although not a candidate for a MENSA membership, my brain still functions and I intend to use it until the day I go to meet my God.
hunter, what you are observing is not a change in the media. What you are observing is your own aging, or to be kinder, your own maturing.
TV has been called a vast wasteland for over 40 years. It's 57 channels and there's nothing on.
Same as it ever was.
A couple of weeks ago I received a free trial copy of McLeans. Will get two more. The only time I every bought that mag was during elections, just to compare coverage to what was going on.
Friday I was in a doctors office and saw a recent issue of Time and was shocked. Used to get the US version, but was shocked at the size of the mag. At one time the advertising was more than the entire issue.
As long as the print media try to blame the recession etc for falling ad sales the more they will tank. Someday they might wake up to the fact it is content, not the economy that is their downfall.
Today on CNN all the talking heads are tearing the stimulus pkg apart, and giving O a bad time.
And one O advisor says, the job numbers he will create are all sort of iffy. Also some talk about -were the media afraid to attack the bill for fear of being called racist. Yes.
Was O wrong to turn the authorship of said bill to Pelosi/Reid-yes.
Will these two be as big a headache for O as they were for Bush-Yes.
As for movies, the last one I went to, in a theater, was Horse Whisperers. I boycott all "stars" who have gone political.
These stars forget their fan base are lib/conservative/dem/rep. and if they diss one of them those fans turn off.
Very good post.
Greetings. I share your frustration and rely on your entertaining and enlightening blog to get me through the day.
No, seriously, I do agree. I recently canceled my daily paper. I had talked to the editorial staff and explained that I was tired of getting day old news. They were pulling too much off the wire and passing it off as news. Now I get my neighbours day old paper for the comics and am quite happy.
As far at TV there are three shows I watch. One is Medium, another is Bones and the third is Dragon's Den on CBC. All are well written and highly entertaining.
Movies are another disaster area. I am extremely hard to please but went to a movie the other day and it was full so we chose the movie Gran Torino instead. It is the Clint Eastwood movie and I must say that I was 'gobsmacked'. This was the BEST movie I have seen in many, many years. It has great character development, excellent dialogue, a great realistic story line and great acting. Eastwood is the only recognizable actor.
As far as renting movies I find, if you watch them with a friend, it is great fun to add dialogue and comments and just generally trash them. It makes for a good evenings entertainment.
Again, although I don't comment a lot, I read you religiously. Cheers.
Hunter, you hit the nail on the head once again. The media has sure gone down hill. They mostly all seem to push the same agenda.
Do you ever notice flicking channels when the news is on, they lots of time use the same video, photos etc. no originality. Except for Foxnews which I watch more than anything now.
At least they use some originality when talking about issues.
The papers don't interest me much anymore except when someone on a blog etc. links to a particular article.
TV like I said I pretty much watch Foxnews most of the time. I'v been watching the Tom Clark show off and on, the local news to catch the weather report. That's about all.
Talk radio is my thing now. Dave Rutherford, Charles Adler everday, Roy Greene on the weekends. Oh and Money Talk on the Corus network Saturday mornings with Micheal Campbell.
Movies, I like the old classic ones and a lot of family movies. Other than that, well there isn't any worth watching and for music I like to listen to Christian music and '70's music.
I enjoy reading books by conservative authors (too bad there weren't more from Canada here) like Bill O'Reilly, Mark Steyn, Glenn Beck etc. Of course my Bible as well. It gets me through everyday.
LS - Hunter is only 29 so how can she be aging. From what I was taught, women never go beyond 29. Okay, maybe a grandmother could hit 39 but that's the absolute limit.
frmgrl: you are pulling our leg, right? please say right...
Obama has a website with Canadian only content,
this is a site to watch after the visit with PMSH, there will be positive US reaction here:
President Obama and Canada - 2008/2009 - Complete News and Photo Archives
http://www.reobama.com/ObamaEh.htm
You're wrong so often that your ears must burn when somebody says the word "Wrong."
I honestly don't know where to start. No, I do. You should try to be less a stereotype of a conservative -- your posts and the comments sound fake, they really do -- and more of a human being. Stop listening to people who are preaching to your certainty-fed choir. I'm from Alberta and I'm so sick of you automatons/Reformbots.
And it's damn funny that you, an unread blogger, misspell "trial" in the opening sentence of this tired recap of the Canadian media scene. The Globe is no great shakes and it's just a typo, but it says so much.
You probably won't post this, but do try to expand your horizons.
-- Hank Nin
P.S. You're being paid to write and intermingle on these blogs, aren't you? How trustworthy are you?
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