Monthly Archives: July 2008

| Montreal, Movies

This is how to bring the two solitudes together

Something you don’t see that often: A Quebec film screening at Dollar Cinema.

Sci-fi parody flick Dans une galaxie près de chez vous 2 (not to be confused with Kung Fu Creatures on the Rampage 2) is playing there twice a day until Thursday. Here’s a review from when it first came out in April from The Gazette’s Brendan Kelly.

| In the news, Montreal

Finally some common sense at 911

The few times I’ve called 911, usually from my cellphone, I’ve been met with the usual 20 questions:

  • What’s the nature of the emergency?
  • What’s your telephone number?
  • Where are you?

After explaining that someone’s getting the ass kicked out of him, the 911 operator transfers me to police dispatch. There, the person asks me a few questions, like:

  • What’s the nature of the emergency?
  • What’s your telephone number?
  • Where are you?

Every time I do this, I’m shocked that the most important communications system we have, where time can literally mean life or death, is so inefficiently run that it requires me to spend vital seconds repeating all the information twice. I wonder why that information isn’t automatically shared, or if it’s not, why doesn’t the 911 operator transfer me quickly and skip the questions altogether?

Today comes word that the police department is upgrading its systems so 911 and police share information automatically. The move will shave 50 seconds on average from every 911 call requiring police intervention.

50 seconds.

The fire department will be upgraded next year. Urgences Santé already works on the new system.

| Media, Opinion

This isn’t just about one photo of missiles

from AFP

Media around the world (including The Gazette) got pwned by a photo that turns out was badly doctored by the Iranian government. The image shows four missiles firing when in fact there were only three.

USA Today is already moving to the analysis phase, asking: “Who can you trust?” The problem of doctored news photos is hardly new, as shown in this Chicago Tribune gallery, though in most cases it’s the photographer who is the one at fault.

One thing that the fakes shown in the Tribune gallery have in common is that they were all discovered after the fact because they were such obvious fakes. It forces you to wonder how many subtle fakes, done by the same people who alter celebrity photos for magazine covers, are still out there having never been discovered.

But even if a state-of-the-art auditing system was put in place to make sure that news agency photographers never even touched Photoshop, that still wouldn’t have prevented this problem. The photo in question was taken from a website and presented as-is. Captions (including the one The Gazette used) identified the photo as having originated at the Iran Revolutionary Guard website, but the fact that the news agencies feel betrayed suggests that they all took the photo at face value.

Was that wrong? Did the media err here? Did they implicitly trust that the photo showed something accurately? Did republishing it imply vouching for its integrity?

(This isn’t just a problem with photos. Non-political stories from China’s Xinhua news agency get copied by other agencies all the time, almost always with a mention that Xinhua is controlled by the government, in a take-it-with-a-grain-of-salt way that they wouldn’t say about, say, the CBC. But headlines over those stories don’t suggest any question as to their authenticity.)

As image editing software becomes more widespread and easy to use, more fake images will emerge and they will be harder to spot. Relying on someone noticing the atrocious Photoshop skills and ridiculously bad use of the clone tool hardly sounds like an appropriate way to ensure editorial integrity.

And what about those images that skirt the line between ethical and not? What about handouts from auto manufacturers, that are used without question even though they’ve obviously been severely altered in Photoshop to make them (and the backgrounds they’re set in) look as smooth and appealing as possible? What about movie stills that have been airbrushed to death? Or should they get less scrutiny because they’re not news photos?

Someone needs to have a debate here, and fast.

UPDATE (July 13): Lots and lots of people are having crazy Photoshop fun with this photo on the Flickr.

UPDATE (July 14): Regret the Error is, of course, all over this with correction highlights.

| Canadiens, Video

The young’uns come out to play

With Canadiens development camp open to the public, we’re getting our first taste of amateur video of some of these new prospects, including 6’8″ goaltender Jason Missiaen, seen above looking like King Kong in front of the net.

Some skater shooting drill highlights, courtesy of a very dedicated fan:

UPDATE (July 14): Some video of the team drills, showing how even the young unproven players can totally pwn the rest of us at hockey.

| Pop quiz, Video

Does it fly to the Klingon homeworld?

Spot the error in this marketing video for airlines about Kronos employee management systems, produced by Montreal-based marketing firm Definite Image.

UPDATE: As usual, my minions are nothing if not sleuths:

These images were rather obviously taken at Central Station, which is a train station and not an airport. (Notice the very recognizable schedule board at the top – which doesn’t list delays or cancellations, forcing them to superimpose actual flight schedule information – and the rather visual level crossing sign in the bottom one).

| Media, Montreal, Opinion

Média Sud and the government subsidy problem

The Gazette’s suburban reporter David Johnston has a piece on Média Sud, a “hyperlocal” (i.e. local) news website setup by community newspaper PointSud and community radio station 103.3FM that covers the south shore.

The article mainly focuses on an apparent controversy: the fact that Média Sud works off government grants while its competition (community newspapers run by megacorporations Transcontinental and Quebecor or by Les Hebdos Montérégiens) pay their own expenses.

In addition to being unfair to the competition (you’ll note it’s that competition that’s pointing this out), they also argue that it puts them in a conflict of interest: How can you criticize a government that’s paying your bills?

Of course, as the article points out, the corporate-owned weeklies also get assistance from the government in the form of postal rebates, not to mention all those ads for council meetings and whatnot.

Instead, the real threat is that Média Sud is run by motivated people who aren’t beholden to the megacorporations. Their goal is to present news, not suck up to the boss in the hope of getting a promotion to senior vice-president. And because what they have online isn’t crap, browsers are going to start flocking to them.

Sorry guys, that’s the thing about the Internet: You can’t just keep shovelling crap into people’s faces and expect them to take it forever.

But let’s get back to that government subsidy thing, because that still kind of bothers me.

I’ve always dreamed about creating my own little media empire, expanding Fagstein WorldMedia Ltd. into a true independent source for regional news. I’ve considered the costs of running a one-man newsgathering operation, and whether advertising alone would cover that with enough left over to pay me a proper salary.

But I’d never considered the idea of asking the government to just pay me outright.

I’m not a conservative wacko or anything, but when I hear that government grants pay the entire minimum-wage salaries of private employees (whose employers top them up to the tune of about $2 or $3 an hour), I’m shocked. Is this what we spend our tax money on? Does the media really need this much help to survive? Or is this just handouts for the sake of handouts?

Here’s hoping Média Sud grows up into a real local news source and grows out of its need for government funding.

| Navel-gazing, Opinion

Good designers think outside the court

Gazette sports section, Monday, July 7

My newspaper employs an entire department of people whose sole function is to make it look nice. Mainly, they focus their efforts on the front page of the paper, meticulously adjusting every headline, deck, skybox, label, photo and other element to make it most appealing to people passing by with a dollar to spare for the guy running the news stand. But they also design important internal pages, and usually have a hand in cover pages for feature sections.

Sports doesn’t usually get that kind of treatment because of how last-minute it is. Aside from the web pointers above the banner, the rest of the page is designed by the editor in charge, and usually consist of a large photo, a main story, a smaller story or column along the side and a feature with a small photo at the bottom.

But on Sunday, with one major story dominating the sports news, I had a problem in the section’s design. The photo I wanted to use, of tennis player Rafael Nadal collapsed on his back in exhaustion and celebration of having just won his first Wimbledon title and unseating five-time champion Roger Federer, was horizontal (mainly because Nadal was horizontal at the time), and the layout was vertical (since the paper is a broadsheet and it was the only story going on the page).

So I turned to the design desk for help, gave the design editor on duty a headline and she went to work. The page shown above is what came back, and is much better than anything I could have come up with on my own. The photo turned out very grainy (due to the fact that there was almost no light at Wimbledon when the game finally ended), but the message got across loud and clear.

And that’s what good design is all about.

| Montreal, Public transit

Billets à la carte, aux billets

The STM has discovered problems in the rollout of their new magnetic cards and have quietly pulled them out of service. The main problem, as anyone who has seen them in action can attest to, is the time it takes for the magnetic cards to be sucked into the machines, checked, stamped and ejected (though STM employees say there are other problems too).

This is especially problematic on buses, where it can take five seconds to go through the whole process. Multiply that by a dozen tourists (who are unfamiliar with the system) boarding, and you could be spending unnecessary minutes at a stop.

Aside from the time factor, the cards are also not intuitive. Having to take the card back is a dramatic enough departure from the current system that it serves to confuse people and slow the process down further. Plus there’s the issue of their disposal. Many find their way onto the floors of buses and metro stations since they’re only good for one or six uses.

So I guess it should be unsurprising when I went to get my bus pass this month that the young lady in front of me refused to get the new smart card with her monthly pass (the smart card, which is contact-less, is not affected by these problems) saying that not all the buses are properly equipped to handle them.

My refusal to get the smart card and instead opt for the magnetic monthly pass was for the simple reason that it cost less. The smart card required a $3.50 one-time fee in addition to the cost of the pass. When the STM starts incorporating the cost of the card into the cost of the pass, then I’ll consider buying it.

| Opinion, TV

CRTC roundup: CTV wants everything in HD

Some interesting developments at the CRTC concerning TV specialty channels:

The CRTC held a hearing yesterday on applications for new specialty channels, though no questions were asked and the meeting lasted 10 minutes. The following are being considered:

  • CBC SportsPlus, an “amateur sports” network. This one has proved controversial since rumours first started about it in January, since amateur sports would comprise only 25% of programming. The rest would seem to be for overflow from Olympic and other sports coverage where CBC television and the Bold channel would be insufficient. CTV and Rogers have already complained about competition with their sports networks, while the Canadian Olympic Committee argues its 100% amateur sports channel proposal should be approved instead. (The Globe argues both channels should be approved) (UPDATE: The Tea Makers has some analysis of this proposed channel)
  • AfroGlobal Television, a general interest network about Africa and African culture
  • Diversion HD, an HD movie network for the post-PPV sloppy seconds
  • Diversion SD, the same thing in standard definition
  • Canada HD Network, a general interest HD channel which seems to want to compete with U.S. based HDNet (to the point where it actually refused to have 15% limitations on music, movies and other categories that would compete with existing services). Its suggested programming grid includes an unusually large amount of Fresh Prince of Bel Air and McMillan & Wife reruns, especially for an HD channel
  • EqualiTV, a disability issues network which sounds a lot like the Accessible Channel
  • YTV OneWorld, a youth network with emphasis on foreign programming (let’s hope “foreign” doesn’t mean “American”). The channel had already been approved in 2000, but never made it off the ground.
  • YTV POW!, a comic book/action youth network with foreign programming, which was also initially approved in 2000
  • Sportsnet 2, a soccer/cricket/rugby sports channel that has been approved in principle but had not met certain legal requirements for a license

Expect Diversion and Canada HD to get denied unless they become more specific about their programming, and EqualiTV to explain how it differs from the Accessible Chanel.

Meanwhile, CTV has applied to the CRTC for HD versions of the following cable channels:

  • RIS Info Sports (RDS’s sister station)
  • The Discovery Channel*
  • CTV Newsnet
  • Business News Network
  • MTV Canada
  • The Comedy Network
  • travel+escape
  • Outdoor Life Network

*The Discovery Channel already has an HD version, which was approved on a temporary basis before the CRTC had a proper framework for such channels. This application is to have an HD channel under the new framework, which would require 95% of all programming to be the same between the SD and HD versions of the same channel (and the remaining 5% to be all-HD on the HD network).

CTV also wants to expand the programming of two of its channels, ESPN Classic Canada and Book Television, to include “general entertainment and human interest”. They cite as examples profiles of Hall of Fame athletes and Giller Prize awards coverage, respectively. The paranoid part of me thinks the likelihood of anyone complaining of these types of shows is extremely small, and that adding this category may be more about other kinds of shows they’d like to air that have less to do with the channels’ core mission.

| Media, Opinion, TV

Gazette’s thinner TV Times

Gazette editor-in-chief Andrew Phillips explains the paper’s decision to cut the size of its weekly TV Times insert almost in half, from 36 to 20 pages, on his blog. (This, by the way, is a perfect example of what editors should be doing on their blogs: explaining situations that affect readers honestly and opening a dialogue with them.)

The post is long, with plenty of points about how people on digital cable or satellite use on-screen guides instead of paper ones (this also led to the demise of the paper TV Guide), and the increasing price of paper forced management to make a decision. The newer format eliminates listings between midnight and 9am and cuts most of its “editorial” content (which I’m pretty sure nobody read anyway).

The post even includes the necessary dig at the competition, which doesn’t have nearly as comprehensive TV listings (both weekly and daily schedules).

As the number of channels grows, and the number of people using basic cable or over-the-air reception shrinks, it’s inevitable that some day these TV listings will be eliminated entirely, and demand for a searchable online version grows (much like TV Guide’s online offering, which has unfortunately been assimilated into the Sympatico empire).