Complaints About Irresponsible Media

I wondered how long it would take from the day I got back from Italy for me to start complaining about things again. Often when I return from a change of scenery, vacation or not, I tend to have a more positive attitude and stupid shit doesn't bother me much. Well, it takes 7 weeks. That's the official number. My other blog entries so far have been about crap that's happened to me. This time I wanted to complain about something which the intent for this blog is in the first place. Now stay tuned for some complainage.

Keep in mind these are my own opinions and don't reflect those of my employer. Please don't fire me.

The past couple weeks in Vancouver the big news story has been the kidnapping and eventual rescue of Graham McMynn. The 23 year-old son of a Vancouver millionaire was kidnapped at gunpoint while leaving his fancy house with his girlfriend in southwest Vancouver April 4th. For 8 days there was no sign of him and no contact with the kidnappers. But for that entire 8 days, intense media coverage Canada-wide. Even more intense in the Vancouver area. The days after he was rescued it was ridiculous.

Honestly, I don't think this story would have been covered if it had been anyone but the son of a millionaire. (Would it have been insensitive to say "rich, spoiled son of a millionaire?") People go missing in Vancouver's Downtown East Side (Canada's poorest neighbourhood) everyday and you rarely hear about it until their remains have been discovered on a pig farm.

For over a week, TV and newspaper photographers camped out on the sidewalk in front of the McMynn mansion with their lenses zoomed into the windows of the house. This is justified legally by saying they're on a public street. But the lens is still zoomed in to the private residence of a citizen. Still a lack privacy for the family, really.

What makes matters worse is that the media (and our station was not alone here) went digging for a motive and started broadcasting whatever personal financial details on the McMynn's they could get. All newspapers, TV stations and radio stations were saying he was in debt and had legal problems in the bus companies that Robert McMynn (the father) owned. Luckily the kidnappers were a bunch of bumbling idiots or else Graham McMynn would probably be dead. How would you like the media to broadcast your personal financial information?

April 12, 2006 was the day Graham McMynn was rescued during a raid on a house in Surrey (a Vancouver suburb). Every station went live with the "Breaking News." Then at 10:30am the following day, every media outlet in Canada went live to the press conference with the victim himself. I happened to work the live coverage on our station. That went to about 11:00am. By the time 5pm rolled around, for some reason, our news desk and that of many others in the city proclaimed that 'this is the only story today.' The first 14 minutes of our 5 o'clock news was basically running long chunks of the press conference! They could have basically re-run the entire 30 minute press conference. What a waste of time!

Honestly, there are more important things going on in the world to cover than to hear EVERY WORD said by the 23 year-old son of a millionaire. We went to international news and came back with MORE from the press conference. It was total overkill in my opinion. Sure if you're going to cover that story so intensely you have to wrap it up with some words from the victim. But to spend THAT much time was too much. Complete tunnel vision on the part of our newsroom as far as I'm concerned.

The problem with media today, especially that of private outlets, is that there is only the drive of trying to out-do your competition without getting left behind. These days, responsibility seems to get thrown out the window because editors, producers, journalists/reporters and news directors are completely clouded by the narrow-minded pursuit of the eyes and ears of the general public. Just because your competition does it a certain way doesn't mean you HAVE to do it just like them.

Are people honestly interested in this? I suppose stories have always been about someone else's struggles. For many millennia humans have been entertained by hearing about the plight of someone other than themselves. We are sick we humans are.

I suppose this is why I am not a journalist and merely a button-pushing-monkey-peon who just does what he is told.

(p.s. Please don't fire me!)