I had a chuckle, watching news reporters at CTV doing stories about RIM's major breakdown of its Blackberry network. Here's a device few of us can afford, and even fewer of us can justify owning, Sure, it's cool. You TYPE your message instead of just phoning to leave a message.
Hell, I have one, and I'm still not sure if I need it. More often than not I lend it to my son. As in, yes, message me from school if you'll be late, because I know it's uncool to call your parents in front of your friends.
But some professionals can't seem to do without it: stockbrokers and politicians. If the network breaks down, yes, it's a major inconvenience. Like the coffee machine running dry. It's painful, but it's not, like, the end of the friggin world!!! So why such wall-to-wall coverage for an elitist gadget facing problems?
Then it got to me: those hot-shot national reporters, working out of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, can't breath, think or write without one. So here it is, this is the ONLY reason why it's front-page news and to-of-the-hour breaking news.
It reminds me of another selfish coverage, when news reporters in Ottawa began our collective whinny-ass outrage after Stephen Harper decided to restrict media access to the House of Commons and his own office, and began to pick and choose reporters he liked.
Yes, Harper acted irresponsibly, and helped fuel suspicions between himself and the press, which continues to harm him to this day.
I thought it was not a news-worthy issue. At least not in the way we played it out. The problems and daily headaches of the press corp SHOULD NOT BE NEWS. It's internal business.
But we journalists felt our outrage deserved a spot on the news. Wrong. Just like this Blackberry issue. I just saw Fife do his report on it, and he treats the subject as if a nuclear bomb had just destroyed all communications lines.
Come on. It's just one of the gadgets we use. Now, if all our batteries were to go dead at once...
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1 comment:
You have a lot of common sense, AR. Between this, and the feminist post that is your most recent (as I write this post), you strike me as pretty down-to-Earth in a good way. :)
The media has struck me as whiney in their response to the Prime Minister's approach to them, I agree.
I don't know if I would characterize Stephen Harper's approach here as 'irresponsible'. That suggests that he has an innate responsibility to handle the media in a certain way. His approach may be questionable (and I'll even say it may be a sly manipulative plan on his part), but I don't think I'd call it irresponsible.
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