Being everywhere
Posted on 26 August 2013
Craig Norris, who is the host of the CBC morning show in Waterloo, received a complaint this weekend about his outlet not being at an indie music show over the weekend. He responded on Facebook, including this line
“Simply, we can not be everywhere. It’s impossible. And, frankly, it does little good for us to be at a show and report on it after the fact. Much more impact is made if I can facilitate pre-awareness for the show!”
From time to time, I’ve received/heard complaints about my own media outlet not being at events to cover them as they happen. I’m sure anyone whose worked in any sort of newsroom has. The truth is, most of the time we would like to be there. But it is impossible. There are only so many people, so many hours in a day, and so many hours on our show.
Everything happening north of Quesnel is competing for room on the program. This includes arts, sports, politics, and community events, plus some more provincial, federal, and national news. That’s a lot to get to in two-and-a-half-hours a day, believe it or not.
I once had someone ask me why we didn’t cover more of a certain type of event. I simply gave him a list of the stories our staff had pitched that week that hadn’t made the final cut of the show due to time constraints (including an interview with a high-profile celebrity who was in town). There was quite a bit more understanding after that.
I don’t get upset or frustrated if people complain about a lack of coverage, because it shows they are paying attention and care about what we do. But it’s worth explaining the limitations we- and all media- have once in a while. And then try and do better.
Filed under: CBC
Posted on 26 August 2013
Craig Norris, who is the host of the CBC morning show in Waterloo, received a complaint this weekend about his outlet not being at an indie music show over the weekend. He responded on Facebook, including this line
From time to time, I’ve received/heard complaints about my own media outlet not being at events to cover them as they happen. I’m sure anyone whose worked in any sort of newsroom has. The truth is, most of the time we would like to be there. But it is impossible. There are only so many people, so many hours in a day, and so many hours on our show.
Everything happening north of Quesnel is competing for room on the program. This includes arts, sports, politics, and community events, plus some more provincial, federal, and national news. That’s a lot to get to in two-and-a-half-hours a day, believe it or not.
I once had someone ask me why we didn’t cover more of a certain type of event. I simply gave him a list of the stories our staff had pitched that week that hadn’t made the final cut of the show due to time constraints (including an interview with a high-profile celebrity who was in town). There was quite a bit more understanding after that.
I don’t get upset or frustrated if people complain about a lack of coverage, because it shows they are paying attention and care about what we do. But it’s worth explaining the limitations we- and all media- have once in a while. And then try and do better.
Filed under: CBC