I’m sure other people will have more on this soon, and I’m equally sure they’ll be making valid points about responsibility and the fascination with getting stuff first as opposed to right, so i want to thank the good people at Global National for not jumping the gun.
They waited approximately eight seconds before predicting a Conservative government, and their careful deliberations are, as always, a beacon for us all.
See, I wrote the MediaScout this morning, so I was flipping frantically between CBC and CTV. I missed the Global call, but luckily the Post ran a hard-hitting news story on it (the emphasis is mine).
“Global Television was the first network to call a Conservative government at exactly 7:30 p.m. ET to Maritime audiences. Global National’s Kevin Newman anchored the joint national and regional live election broadcast from the network’s election headquarters in Toronto. Correspondents reported from more than 17 areas across the country, including at the headquarters of each of the major leaders. Global National reaches Canadians coast-to-coast. The multi award-winning half-hour newscast is broadcast live seven days a week from its national news centre in Vancouver. Mr. Newman’s reporting won him a 2005 Gemini Award for best news anchor.”
Before the bold text is a shaky news story at best, but the stuff after is just priceless. Yes, we know Global and the Post share an owner, but wow. Just freakin’ wow.
For the record, CTV called it at exactly 10 pm, while CBC waited until 10:08. Take THAT B.C. voters!
I was going to write a piece on the television coverage of the election results, but I couldn’t handle watching all three networks. Instead, I switched frantically between Global and CBC. Perhaps if Joe and I compare notes, we can up with something.
What I noticed about the Global coverage compared to the CBC coverage was, mostly, that Global sucked (to put it mildly).
Not only did Global call the election a bit early (you know, 2.5 hours…), but their in-studio panel was less than insightful.
Kudos to the CBC for getting Hugh Segal, Ed Broadbent and John Manley to comment on the results. They offered insightful commentary and provided valuable information to viewers. Segal explained how the transition of power would work. Broadbent and Segal talked about how the NDP and Conservatives could work together. Manley talked about what’s next for the Liberal party. Insightful.
On the other hand, Ezra Levant and a couple cronies I didn’t recognize screamed at each other about how the Conservatives/Liberals/NDP were just BETTER than one another. Kevin Newman brought up a scenario (attributed to “rumours,” though those are largely circulating amongst the voices inside Newman’s head) about a formal NDP/Liberal coalition (no one from either party has brought that up). Another correspondant claimed that the Conservatives are the “party of Canada” and that the Liberals “are the party of Ontario. All their seats are in that province.”
A casual observer would have noted that this was, in fact, er, wrong.
So far – Global 0 CBC 1