Proposal: Canadian Military News Network
- Thread starter DualCore
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DualCore said:
I would argue that anyone in "the west" who is ignorant of any position but the MSM point of view is willfully so. The Canadian public is not nearly ignorant or stupid enough to not understand where they can get information. What they may be is lazy, or more than likely, content with the message that they are being fed.
You're tilting at windmills, fighting a battle that most Canadians see no need to fight . One of the of the great things about the internet is that it is the one (only?) place where truly liberal policy toward information exists. Canadians know it.
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DualCore said:
Have to agree with Reccesoldier and the others - there's no shortage of info out there, and if someone is not accessing it, it's not because it's not available.
Part of the problem of "educating" is related to what a teacher once told me (sort of like advertising): Bear in mind that only, maybe, 25% of what you throw at people will stick, but the problem is that you never know which 25% is going to stick, which is why you have to press as hard as you can with the message, no matter what.
I have a different question to Army-News-Guy: How widely does Army News distribute its video? Yes, I know it's available on the internet, but does the video get sent out, say, to cable TV stations who have an awfully big goat to feed for programming? I know it's not the same as getting the uncut stuff on CBC (which I doubt will ever happen in any major way, lest the spectre of "bought news" come up), but it's another way to get the message out. Or has this kind of option been considered and rejected because of lack of efficiency?
Also, do you folks generate enough content to fill up a satellite channel, the same way as the Pentagon Channel is pumped up to the bird?
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I have seen Army News broadcast on one of the local channels in either Edmonton or Calgary (that trip has all blurred together) - so the work is being distributed and broadcast in some markets.
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dapaterson said:
In Pet too, Channel 12.
A small criticism if I may. Army News has that hokey "we're trying to be CNN" feel about it when what it realy needs to do is be exactly what it is. A bunch of soldiers sailors and airmen talking about military stuff to military pers for a predominately military audience.
I'd love to see one of the army news soldiers embedded on a real op in Afghanistan, not just the training phase. By the very nature of their real profession (soldier) they would be able to go and do things that those panty waists from CBC and CTV wouldn't even dream of. Now that would be well worth the watch.
NB: This is in no way intended as a slam against the good job thses soldier/reporters are doing.
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To answer a few questions (I hope), as stated by few other posters we are broadcasting on some local cable stations across the country. But our main viewing audience is still the members on the big Army Bases. I believe there are many technical reasons that prevent us from giving our products out to mainstream newstations, I think ,and this is just me speculating that it is hoped that one day we will have our own channel of some sorts.
At the moment we are now shooting 3 episodes per week, it is hoped that soon we will be shooting a daily episode. I think we have to reach that point before we can go much farther for trying to get more exposure, again this is just my thoughts.
We do have the capability of delivering our episodes on DVD, if your unit does not have the tv coverage let me know and I can see if I can arrange DVD's for you.
We are trying to get interesting content out to our viewers, we have had some excellent work come out of Afghanistan and of course across Canada. Very soon I shall be going to Europe to check in on the new tanks and see how training is progressing and also hope to get a bunch of stories from many other locations in Europe. ;D
And to Reccesoldier maybe you could give me a few examples of what you mean by trying the hokey CNN thing?
Thanks
Armynewsguy
At the moment we are now shooting 3 episodes per week, it is hoped that soon we will be shooting a daily episode. I think we have to reach that point before we can go much farther for trying to get more exposure, again this is just my thoughts.
We do have the capability of delivering our episodes on DVD, if your unit does not have the tv coverage let me know and I can see if I can arrange DVD's for you.
We are trying to get interesting content out to our viewers, we have had some excellent work come out of Afghanistan and of course across Canada. Very soon I shall be going to Europe to check in on the new tanks and see how training is progressing and also hope to get a bunch of stories from many other locations in Europe. ;D
And to Reccesoldier maybe you could give me a few examples of what you mean by trying the hokey CNN thing?
Thanks
Armynewsguy
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I often hear others bemoan the indifference of the Canadian public to our efforts. It is not that Canadians do not care; anyone who has seen a repatriation of a soldier from CFB Trenton to post-mortem in Toronto, and the hordes of people who crowd the side of the road and the overpasses would quickly be dissuaded from thinking that. Some who have posted here earlier have hinted at the problem. I will digress a bit here in an attempt to make a point.
In the 90's there was one event that catalyzed more Canadians to act in concert than any other. Care to guess what it was. Not Oka, not the 95 referendum. Indeed, it was when Rogers Cable announced that they were about to unilaterally raise their customers bills by $1.80 per month, unsolicited. In return, customers would get three "new" channels. It was referred to as "negative billing."
Rogers woefully underestimated the response; hundreds of thousands of customers flooded their 1-800 lines(which actually had real operators then) to the point where the switchboards crashed. Rogers, to their credit, realized the error of their ways, and at a hastily arranged news conference indicated they would reverse their decision.
The point to take away here is that we (the CF) don't have this everyday impact on the life of the average Canadian, and as such, shouldn't expect the undivided attention of the populace. We do however, have a tremendously high approval rating, and when merited, capture the attention of the public. I would add that the profile of the CF amongst the populace is likely at its highest level in a significant period of time. Adding another channel to the thousand channel universe that alreasy exists would not significantly change that profile.
In the 90's there was one event that catalyzed more Canadians to act in concert than any other. Care to guess what it was. Not Oka, not the 95 referendum. Indeed, it was when Rogers Cable announced that they were about to unilaterally raise their customers bills by $1.80 per month, unsolicited. In return, customers would get three "new" channels. It was referred to as "negative billing."
Rogers woefully underestimated the response; hundreds of thousands of customers flooded their 1-800 lines(which actually had real operators then) to the point where the switchboards crashed. Rogers, to their credit, realized the error of their ways, and at a hastily arranged news conference indicated they would reverse their decision.
The point to take away here is that we (the CF) don't have this everyday impact on the life of the average Canadian, and as such, shouldn't expect the undivided attention of the populace. We do however, have a tremendously high approval rating, and when merited, capture the attention of the public. I would add that the profile of the CF amongst the populace is likely at its highest level in a significant period of time. Adding another channel to the thousand channel universe that alreasy exists would not significantly change that profile.
The Military Channel, while a US production about US equipment, covers a whole host of subjects akin to the equipment, etc of the CF. It is a slick, expensive operation, but there is generally some nuggets each time I watch it.
I follow the MSM pretty closely, especially about Afghanistan, and I follow most stories about the CF, but I would have difficulty generating enough interest to more than graze through this channel until I found something interesting. Unfortunately, I think this will similar to the average person's attitude.
I follow the MSM pretty closely, especially about Afghanistan, and I follow most stories about the CF, but I would have difficulty generating enough interest to more than graze through this channel until I found something interesting. Unfortunately, I think this will similar to the average person's attitude.
Armynewsguy said:
Armynewsguy,
Besides Sgt Power, who else from Army News has done actual news reporting from the front lines in Afghanistan? Now I'm rather curious after looking further into your site? I don't see too many, and we've been there since 2002 (2001 if you count the secret-squirrels)? How many people do you employ as a DND organization? It would seem that's what the Combat Arms troops want to see more of (front-line stuff), not some fluff Podcasts of young 20-something civilians interviewing military generals. Podcasts, WTF???
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