Interesting article today in the Edmonton Sun about an informal footage-sharing agreement between CBC Edmonton and Global Edmonton.
It’s nothing on paper, but both media outlets will share news footage after a certain time period - i.e., the day after a news event — with no need to identify the original source.
Very informal, says [CBC regional director Mike] Linder, no real arrangement, just “trying to serve the public interest.”
But shouldn’t the CBC, funded by yours and my tax dollars, have an all-or-nothing policy? Shouldn’t it either offer video-sharing with all local news broadcasters, i.e. Global, CTV and CityTV, or none at all? As for CTV, Linder just says the broadcaster “hasn’t contacted him.”
I’m not sure where I stand on this, though I can’t see what harm it does either party. What do you think?
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Bring it on! Share news. Both networks (or all networks) can not be at all places, all the time.
Consider too, cross-promotion of programs. Why not? If it’s a Canadian production then let’s work together for the bigger cause.
CBC Radio promotes other broadcaster’s programs and specials. It’s a cool and classy thing.
This happens in other parts of the country too…it’s even worse in Vancouver (or it was about two years ago, not sure if it’s still in place). The agreement there is a sharing of footage the same day. Pretty much everything except exclusive heavy hitting stuff. It allowed cbc to not have a camera after 6pm, and if there was a big fire, traffic accident then they could just get the tape from Global. Similarly if there was a news conference during the day and Global didn’t have a spare camera, they’d just get the footage off CBC. The deal (as I’ve been told) originated in the days before Global had a sat tuck, so they would use our facilities to feed and we’d get tape from them in return.
I personally think it’s way to let the CBC under staff it’s supper hour news programs. They scrape by with zero resources and why should they get more when we can just lean on Global? It doesn’t encourage original journalism, it’s just lazy. At very least everyone should be shamed into crediting where the footage came from.
You certainly could argue that it is in the public’s interest to have more news coverage more channels. But if that’s the case why don’t we just become a wire service. We’ll just shoot stuff and give it to everyone who wants to, and then the privates can make money off of it.
The reason Global does it is because we’re not a threat. It’s that simple. They get better footage to compete with CTV and who cares if their footage is on CBC because no one’s watching the CBC supper hour shows anyway.
If I had a say, my tax dollars wouldn’t fund the CBC. If anyone should be sharing their footage, it should be CTV to CBC.
Sharing is good but let’s have a formal agreement….to clear up rights & make MY work easier.
I have said this a thousand times before but I am still waiting for the publicly funded CBC to share it’s content with the public through non traditional means. I.E. pocasting, full streaming, etc.
I would love to be able to download the CBC Newfoundland evening news and watch it on my iPod while heading to work or traveling. Instead, right now I only get the POV and At Issue segments.
[...] At the very least, sharing the same media and news source can lead to hilarious fake stories that “news” agency will cover. Via Inside the CBC [...]
I share iNudes concerns: “I personally think it’s way to let the CBC under staff its supper hour news programs.”
Weekends in particular are under-staffed and that leads to more Global footage.
My fear is that Global will get us feeling safe and protected in certain cities, and then pull the rug out from under us, especially scary if you think it could happen after a big story.
I’m not sure about the solution, because I don’t know all the details. Nevertheless, I err on the side of getting rid of the sharing agreements, and dealing with things on a case-by-case basis.