Media: Looking Back on Changes

TORONTO, ONTARIO - In 2009, the (arguably) most intellectual evening newscasts in Canada and the United States, CBC's The National and The PBS NewsHour (formerly the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer) went through major re-formatting. Now, after some months in which the broadcasts have stabilized, I would contend that neither re-format has proven to be especially profound and both broadcasts remain the worthwhile presentations that they have been for years.

The National made its changes first, in late October, and the first day was not well-received on this blog. Visual changes aside, the story selection and emphasis on man-on-the-street interviews was disturbing--the amount of hard news and "real" (perhaps "traditional" would be a better term) journalism had clearly declined, and I wasn't the only blogger complaining about the changes.

A survey of the last week of programming reveals a different story. The "streeters" are basically gone, except when the story is actually about public opinion (e.g. on a change in political polls) and thus have journalistic relevance. Originally touted as a weekly feature, the "Analysis with Wendy Mesley" pieces have proven to be less frequent, bumped at times by real news like Haiti, and have tended to be more relevant, particularly in the political sphere, such as exploring the accountability of the prime minister. The puff pieces like whether NASA should be funded (hardly a burning issue for Canadians) seem to have quietly disappeared.

In fact, I daresay that if one compared a National program from August with a recent program from January, the only significant difference that would be seen would be the visual appearance changes. I don't find Peter Mansbridge walking the set to be distracting (or enticing, for that matter), or the new color scheme incorporating blue to be that significant. Guests--if not reporters introducing a story--are now allowed to sit down again (Rick Hillier was especially awkward standing up). Differences of style rather than substance don't really bother me. Ratings are apparently still down (though a MacLeans article points out this may have as much or even more to do with new monitoring devices to determine ratings than with the broadcast), so this story may not yet be over.

The PBS NewsHour made its changes officially on 7 December, but as has often been the case on this show, many of the changes were gradually introduced, including the placement of the news summary after the top story of the day, something that prompted a margin note from this blog last August. The major changes in December were a mild (compared with the CBC's) visual makeover and the re-introduction of two anchors each evening, just like the program had prior to Robert MacNeil's retirement in 1995. The second anchor besides Jim Lehrer rotates amongst the program's senior staff. Hari Sreenivasan now reads the news summary instead of one of the anchors.

I never detected any serious change in editorial selections or tone as a result of the re-formatting, or any change in the journalistic value of the newscast. What has changed significantly has been the on-line integration of the broadcast. Whereas the podcast had been spotty in delivering the complete program (and, in fact, the program as presented on-air was not available on-line, just most segments), the On-Line NewsHour, as it is called, is now if anything more valuable than the broadcast itself, with additional coverage of some stories and often extra interviews with analysts. The full broadcast is readily available. As someone who was traveling for most of the early weeks after the change, I really appreciated the improved on-line NewsHour.

So, a few months into the changes, I rate the CBC changes as a long-term wash after short-term negatives, and the PBS changes as a clear improvement.

Margin Notes: Krieghoff, Bikes, Cranes, 'BZ

Kennedy Park near Bloor and Runnymede in Toronto, Ontario looked quiet on 4-February-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - The works of Dutch painter Cornelius Krieghoff have been mentioned on this blog before. This winter, I think I have grown to understand his fascination with winter in what was then Lower Canada, even if I am in what was then Upper Canada. The scene at Kennedy Park in my neighborhood looked like an urban version of a Krieghoff painting to me, but no man with a dog walked by to complete the scene so I was left with the emptiness above.

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An anti-war message adorned a bicycle along Bloor Street West in Toronto on 3-February-2009

Not far away from Kennedy Park on Bloor Street, I found the above bicycle parked in the snow at dusk. The concept of a bumper sticker or rear-window sticker certainly is not new, but I think this is the first time I've seen a readable message on the rear of a bicycle. Appropriately, the bicycle was not far from an open house on the Georgetown South rail corridor covered last week.

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VIA Rail Canada train #84 from Sarnia, Ontario passed the construction cranes at the West Toronto diamonds on 2-February-2009

One of the minor questions I asked at that open house was whether the construction going on at the West Toronto diamonds was really going to lead to a four-track right-of-way on the current CN Weston Subdivision underneath the CP North Toronto Sub. As shown in the photograph above taken on Monday, it sure looks like the retaining walls being constructed leave room for only two tracks. Perhaps these are only for the purpose of making a "shoo-fly" track for use during the construction, but I wonder.

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My eyes weren't deceiving me on the world wide web earlier this week. Starting on Monday, CBC Television's The National started using their High Definition format on the Internet archive of the program, instead of the traditional television format. Of course, most of the advantages of HD are completely missing on the web, but it still struck me as an interesting change--television as we knew it is changing north of the border, as well.

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Another media organization deserves credit for doing some things correctly. Last month, I criticized twice WBZ Newsradio 1030 out of Boston, Massachusetts for ending their overnight talk show and not replacing morning sports reporter Gil Santos. Apparently, audience complaints have paid off, as WBZ has re-hired Steve LaVeille for the overnight slot and Walt Perkins will take Santos' morning sports slot. While the lack of overnight news reporting and an incredibly obscure time slot for Lovell Dyett (4:30 am Sunday) have been noted by Scott Fybush's Northeast Radio Watch, at least it now appears that WBZ is trying within the confines of decreasing ad revenue to maintain its brand, and it should be commended for that. Perhaps there is hope for the radio business yet.

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Is there hope for the concept of "read dating"? The combination of speed dating and book clubs came to Seattle last week at the University Book Store. In an interview with KUOW's Ross Reynolds before the Thursday event, spokesperson Stesha Brandon noted that plenty of women that expressed interest in the eight-minute one-on-one book discussions, but no men had said they would come. Apparently they did, as a blog posting on Friday implied that the event was a success. I have a feeling that the over-age-30 restriction placed on the meeting may have had something to do with that--unless the plan is to share things read on a Kindle or iPhone, I have my doubts the concept would work with members of Generation Y.