Most journalists agree there’s no issue like the Middle East that divides audiences in such stark terms.
Israelis feel the media is biased in favour of the Palestinians, while Palestinians see the opposite – and both sides make their feelings heard. No discussion, no matter how reasoned, can change those opinions. It leads to heated discussions including ones inside newsrooms of major media organizations around the world.
So, the relative calm of the past few years of the conflict has been a welcome respite for the media. In fact, for many organizations already hit by spiralling costs, the calm has led to the downsizing of their Middle East bureaus or closing them altogether.
October 7th changed all that. And now the charges and countercharges of bias are back.
Which leads me to CNN and a rather remarkable interview given by one of its major anchors to the network’s own nightly newsletter, Reliable Sources.
I’ve spent time with Jake Tapper, not a lot but enough to know he’s a serious and caring journalist who believes in facts, context, and fairness. Read what he had to say about trying to cover this story:Jake Tapper reveals challenges of covering war, why he feels news outlets ‘censor too much’ and what has left him ‘shocked’
Now here’s one of those inside stories about how television works and the moment a network television newscast begins.
The anchor is at the main anchor position, having spent hours working with his or her editorial team preparing coverage of the day’s news. Scripts are loaded into computers and appear on the teleprompter, attached to the camera, and pointed at the anchor. It has been that way since the inception of TV news.
When I first started anchoring CBC’s The National in the early 1980s, the prompter hadn’t been computerized: the intros were all on paper, taped together, and threaded through the machinery by an operator. Always a challenge, especially when the tape broke or the pages started running backward. Experienced anchors could handle such situations because they’d worked on the stories and could pull the intros off ad-lib.
The fear, if there was one, centred around breaking news stories that the anchor hadn’t seen before going into the studio. The story would quickly be written up and inserted into the prompter roll.
As an anchor, you’d get a warning in your ear that something was “breaking” and would be coming up in the prompter. That was fine. After all, that’s why we made the big bucks. An issue arose, however, if the story had words in it that you’d never seen before.
Enter my example:
I don’t remember the date or the story, but I do remember the fear I had when I saw a word rolling up in front of me that I’d never seen spelled out before but that I would be expected to flawlessly read:
E P I T O M E
I had less than a second to decide. So, I made my choice and confidently said:
“Ep-i-toam”
I heard a slight chuckle in the studio from the camera operators, but it was nothing like the roar in the newsroom when I got back for the post-broadcast review.
“Ep-i-toam! Really Peter?”
What was I thinking? I’d used the word many times, but I’d never seen it written out. Felt like a fool, but I never forgot it. And the dozens of letters I got in those snail mail days made sure I didn’t!
Speaking of pronunciation woes, I think I finally got my friend and podcast colleague Bruce Anderson on something.
He claims that Parliament Hill “insiders” refer to the annual Fall Economic Statement as the “FES.” Well, some of those insiders listened to this Wednesday’s edition of The Bridge and wrote in to say that they actually pronounce it “the FEZ” (like the hat). Why? Who knows. But bureaucrats love that kind of stuff.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t just Ottawa with a “FEZ” this fall and there’s intrigue in the others, especially one. The Toronto Star’s Armine Yalnizyan has this take:
How Ontario cooked its own books: Two very different fall economic statements tell the tale
Modernizing Canada’s Broadcasting Framework
The CRTC is preparing to modernize Canada’s broadcasting system. Canadians’ views on public policy priorities have changed with the times. The Motion Picture Association – Canada commissioned a national study and found people see and value what global studios and streaming services contribute to Canada’s creative economy, including a new world of opportunity for Canadian creative workers.
Have you been following the Alberta Pension Plan story?
You know, how Alberta premier Danielle Smith wants to get out of the CPP and take a huge chunk of its cash with her for Alberta’s use only? Outside of Alberta, most people are dead set against the idea and say the Alberta position makes no sense. But does it? I’ve been looking for a good explainer on this and I think I’ve found one. Check this out with CBC’s About That host, Andrew Chang:Why Alberta says it's entitled to half of Canada's Pension Plan
The whispering about Mark Carney has been going on for years, but it seems to be approaching a boiling point these days.
He’s making headlines and giving interviews to a variety of international news organizations as well as Canadian ones. Clearly, he wants his name out there in any conversation about future political leadership. The latest example is a feature with Barron’s, the 100-year-old business magazine based in New York.
Now a warning with the link I’m providing you. You’d better know your economic theory before you wade in here. It's heavy plodding but if you’re wondering whether this guy is the real deal on the big economic issues, the answers may be here. So, link away (or fast forward to the 14:43 mark to get to the Canadian angle):
He’s the Only Person to Run Two Central Banks. His Thoughts on Rates, the Fed, and Canadian Thanksgiving.
The man known as the “King of Crypto,” who just months ago was making deals in the billions, is now trading packets of Chicken of the Sea for haircuts.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the guy you may recognize from his wild hairstyle, was convicted of fraud this fall and is now sitting in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre waiting to be sent to federal prison. It hasn’t taken him long to learn how to survive on the inside.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s Life Behind Bars: Crypto Tips and Paying With Fish
Well, next week we slide into December and wonder where our national politics will take us as we head towards 2024. Check out the latest on this with Chantal, Bruce, and me on Good Talk available on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform.
As for me, I’ll be heading out into the country next week to sell my new book, How Canada Works, and to touch base with some of you. Never fear, The Bridge will still be broadcast throughout the week on Sirius XM and available for download anywhere you get your pods.
The Buzz will be back in seven days.
The Buzz is a weekly publication from National Newswatch that shares insights and commentary on the week’s developments in politics, news and current affairs.