my love, at last

Filed in well I think it's cool

It's true. I'm in love. Hopelessly really.

It all began back when we met in childhood. It was my introduction to Mr Dressup and Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock, later the Beachcombers and Danger Bay. Sunday mornings back then were filled with the sounds of Gilmour's Albums ... today, it's often the Vinyl Cafe. Saturday mornings I picked up the odd science tidbit on Quirks and Quarks and Saturday evenings I was wooed with jazz harmonies. Long drives during the weekday dusk, I met the world on As it happens.

And this has been my world. I am in love with the CBC. Whether TV or radio or now Radio3, a web exclusive ... the attraction has its hold. The voices and theme songs are home. I suppose I even trust these people I've never met.

And now, in the era of the short and snappy, blog infiltrated, information seeking society, CBC has provided a news segment that fits this mold. Georgie Porgie (George Stroumboulopoulos) is now hosting The Hour. It's a slightly irreverent yet extremely relevant look at the world. George asks the questions you come up with while sitting around over a late night cup of coffee with your friends. The segments are perfect office cooler conversation starters for the next day. The Hour doesn't just present the news to you, it engages you in the news. And that's what makes it so attractive. (Hey, George isn't hard on the eyes either.)

Comments

Yeah CBC is pretty crazy. I love watching the Mercer Report. He does some pretty crazy stuff on that show. His political satire is pretty funny too.

:: Posted by Rob (May 7, 2006 6:10 PM)

Rick is great. I'm sorry I left him out of my ramble.

:: Posted by Jenn (May 8, 2006 7:21 AM)

The CBC's great and all... until you remember that it has a history of having to remove its journalists from stories because they've "gone native" - Terry Milewski and Neil McDonald are two that come to mind. Milewski's case is more venial - his reporting was activist and biased, not false. McDonald on the other hand made up stories to flatter one side over the other in the Middle East conflict.


"The Hour" suffers from this same sort of bias. There's no balance in the stories. It's George Stromboulopoulos' pop culture 'cool' opinions flashed up as the right-thinking angle on 'news'. This wouldn't bother me if the CBC had more balance elsewhere in its news coverage, or if the CBC gave up its pretense of being a fair and impartial observer of current events.


The reality is, you'll sometimes find more news on the Rick Mercer Report. However, I'll admit that I do regularly watch the CBC nightly newscast - I like to see the worst possible spin on a story to see how badly people are going to say the sky is falling the next day. I also support the value of a public broadcaster - I just think they can and should do better.

:: Posted by Marc (May 14, 2006 10:10 PM)

I agree with you Marc ... I'm not sure if I have a terribly good "unbiased" news source and, as such, tend to prescribe to a variety of sources. However, having been reared on CBC, it maintains a hold on my heart.
What "The Hour" lacks in unbiased journalism (that is to say a lot), it partially makes up for in presentation. And, I dare say, it has come up with a slightly avant garde style. However, what I left out of my professed love ramble was the parallel that could be drawn between The Hour’s comparative change in format and the popularity of the post-modern emergent church. Too often society is wooed by new formatting and avoids a critical examination of the content.
And by that, I mean that I am wooed by new formatting and should certainly make a more critical examination of my sources. But, I still enjoy George's entertaining look at current events.

:: Posted by Jenn (May 14, 2006 11:03 PM)

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