TORONTO, ONTARIO - There was entirely too much political coverage in both the United States and Canada this week, and while some of it was excellent, I was more interested in making fun of it. Surprisingly, this did not mean the Capitol Steps became my weekly radio pick. Instead, Harry Shearer's LeShow received the nod. An amusing episode of "Clintonsomething" and the inclusion of "Yes We Can But" by Will.i.never were amongst the highlights of his 59-minute Halloween broadcast.
Listen to LeShow "Pre-Election Show"
Showing posts with label Harry Shearer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harry Shearer. Show all posts
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Margin Notes: Dining Car, Steampunks, I-Lean
Arno Martens and Michael Guy enjoyed the first meal aboard the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre's dining car on 28-August-2010
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Those wandering through Roundhouse Park in Toronto, Ontario this weekend were treated to an unusual sight--an approximately one-eighth scale dining car in use on the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre's miniature railway. The car debuted this weekend. The first meal? Barbecued hamburgers and water--what did you expect, wine and cheese?
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A group of steampunks (note the steam-powered gun at left) gathered at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre in Toronto, Ontario on 29-August-2010
Across the street from Roundhouse Park, FanExpo Canada was going on at the Convention Centre. That can result in some interesting comic book characters running around, particularly when FanExpo becomes so crowded that some cannot get inside. This year, the only significant spillover to Roundhouse Park, appropriately enough, were a large group of steampunks. Could there be a more fitting place for steampunks than a place where steam engines were in operation?
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Some in Washington state must be thinking they would be better off if they had a steam-powered ferry. The new ferry Chetzemoka's acute vibration problems were apparently solved by a software change this week, but the vessel suffers from a multitude of other design issues, large and small; read this thread on the West Coast Ferries forum for details. Amongst the issues is a four degree list, which has led to the ferry's new nickname--"I-Lean" or "Eileen." Eileen is still on target to replace Bob in a few weeks. Bob, of course, is the Steilacoom II leased from Pierce County--so nicknamed because of its propensity to bob in the rough waters of Admiralty Inlet.
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Water is central to Harry Shearer's new film, The Big Uneasy, about the flooding that caused the damage in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina passed through. The only problem is, Shearer's key point in the whole film, that the problem was flooding, not the hurricane, has been rejected by NPR. As told this week on Shearer's weekly radio show, LeShow, he wanted to buy underwriting announcements for his new film, but NPR claimed that only factually incorrect wording for the announcement would be acceptable. Anyone that believes that Shearer is some powerful influence at NPR or that NPR is not corporate radio should give his story some close attention.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Media: No Audience for Facts
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans has been surprisingly limited in the mainstream media (and that includes the CBC). While most "national" papers in the United States (e.g. the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor) have followed up on the story well, the broadcast media has not. The only two audio programs that have consistently reported on New Orleans have been Open Source (first in radio form, then as a podcast) and, of all programs, Harry Shearer's satire show LeShow.
Last week in an appearance on the Dave Ross show (from KIRO-FM in Seattle, Washington), Shearer talked about his attempts at concrete activism surrounding New Orleans. His main critique of the mainstream media was that they had not reported on the fact that I had heard many times on his show that the levies did not collapse because of Hurricane Katrina per se, but because they weren't built properly in the first place. He had the opportunity to ask Brian Williams, anchor of the top-rated NBC Nightly News, why it had never been reported on his program. Williams' response, which Shearer commended for its honesty, amounted to "our audience is better served by personal stories."
In other words, the "tell me a story" approach to news pioneered by 60 Minutes' recently-deceased Don Hewitt does indeed run NBC's evening news broadcast. While I do not have an issue with using such a strategy for a magazine show like 60 Minutes, I do have a problem with it dominating a hard news show like a network's nightly newscast. Editors should be choosing the most important news of the day, and THEN the reporting staff should figure out the most compelling way to present it.
I find it especially galling in this particular case because it seems to me there is a good story to tell here. (In fact, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Shearer have told it.) The fact that a government agency--the US Army Corps of Engineers--had failed to properly build levies cries out for an investigative report showing how widespead the problem is across the country or how specific circumstances in New Orleans made this failure possible. Done right, it should be a very interesting story to tell.
Implicit in Williams' statement is not just a preference for story-telling over fact-reporting, but that the audience doesn't want facts but does want human interest stories. Hogwash. NBC is being lazy (as are all the other networks, for that matter)--they aren't putting in the time to figure out how to make facts turn into compelling stories. It's easier to take a known human interest story and present it, sometmes much harder to take a set of facts and figure out a story-telling version of it. Nothing is holding them back other than their own talent. (Some would also argue that money is holding them back, but I contend that with adequate talent, the stories to tell could be found at existing budget levels.)
The sad part is that audiences don't even know what they are missing, unless they also partake in alternative media. If New Orleans feels forgotten, it's for good reason. The mainstream broadcast media in the United States has decided that there are no good stories to tell there, even when some of the basic stories have not been told.
Last week in an appearance on the Dave Ross show (from KIRO-FM in Seattle, Washington), Shearer talked about his attempts at concrete activism surrounding New Orleans. His main critique of the mainstream media was that they had not reported on the fact that I had heard many times on his show that the levies did not collapse because of Hurricane Katrina per se, but because they weren't built properly in the first place. He had the opportunity to ask Brian Williams, anchor of the top-rated NBC Nightly News, why it had never been reported on his program. Williams' response, which Shearer commended for its honesty, amounted to "our audience is better served by personal stories."
In other words, the "tell me a story" approach to news pioneered by 60 Minutes' recently-deceased Don Hewitt does indeed run NBC's evening news broadcast. While I do not have an issue with using such a strategy for a magazine show like 60 Minutes, I do have a problem with it dominating a hard news show like a network's nightly newscast. Editors should be choosing the most important news of the day, and THEN the reporting staff should figure out the most compelling way to present it.
I find it especially galling in this particular case because it seems to me there is a good story to tell here. (In fact, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Shearer have told it.) The fact that a government agency--the US Army Corps of Engineers--had failed to properly build levies cries out for an investigative report showing how widespead the problem is across the country or how specific circumstances in New Orleans made this failure possible. Done right, it should be a very interesting story to tell.
Implicit in Williams' statement is not just a preference for story-telling over fact-reporting, but that the audience doesn't want facts but does want human interest stories. Hogwash. NBC is being lazy (as are all the other networks, for that matter)--they aren't putting in the time to figure out how to make facts turn into compelling stories. It's easier to take a known human interest story and present it, sometmes much harder to take a set of facts and figure out a story-telling version of it. Nothing is holding them back other than their own talent. (Some would also argue that money is holding them back, but I contend that with adequate talent, the stories to tell could be found at existing budget levels.)
The sad part is that audiences don't even know what they are missing, unless they also partake in alternative media. If New Orleans feels forgotten, it's for good reason. The mainstream broadcast media in the United States has decided that there are no good stories to tell there, even when some of the basic stories have not been told.
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