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the listener’s customs, traditions, and governmental, social and cultural
institutions. They try to highlight obvious links between Canada and
the broadcast area, without ever being perceived as criticizing,
condescending or patronising their listeners.
New production values
From the production side, RCI information programs, traditionally
clearly split between news and current affairs, have been transformed,
during the last few months, into blended formats. Until recently, the
conventional news bulletin produced by the newsroom, read by an
announcer, interspersed with correspondent news reports and clips,
filled a predetermined length of time at the beginning of each
broadcast. The entire broadcast has now become a live dialogue
between the host, journalists, correspondents, reporters and experts,
with the news waving in and out of the mix, according to the
importance and relevance of each story.
The process of change started with programming in Canada’s two official
languages, English and French and was facilitated by three factors.
First, a re-deployment of staff two years ago which grouped together
all people involved in the daily production, i.e. journalists, hosts,
announcers-producers etc. within a large bilingual daily team, under
the direction of a team leader. The second important factor facilitating
the make-over of information programmes, was the recent merger of
several trade unions active within the CBC into a single union of on-air
personnel. The traditional boundaries and jurisdictions progressively
weakened and started to be perceived as unnecessary barriers to
innovative programming and best professional practices. A third factor
conducive to change was provided by last year’s integration of RCI
with Radio-Canada and the end of uncertainty about RCI financing.
Against this background of readiness for novel initiatives, what started
out as an experimental programme development, putting only in
temporary abeyance the traditional format, was rapidly recognized
as a creative and dynamic way of dealing with each day’s news
situation, using full input of all members of the team and allowing
them to take ownership of the broadcasts. The war with Iraq broke
when the experimental format or rather the lack of prescribed
programme recipe was a familiar and accepted framework. The
requirements of such special coverage served to highlight the great
programming potential inherent in the newly acquired flexibility.
War coverage
At the outset of the Iraq war, the five daily half-hour programmes in
French and in English followed by half-hour documentaries, were
transformed into special hour-long broadcasts. The daily team was
reinforced by staff normally assigned to the production of weekly
documentaries and by a few casuals. However, the new daily team had
to work very long hours to produce five entirely live one-hour programs
and was unable to sustain the pace for longer than five days. Starting
Tuesday, March 25, RCI returned to the half-hour daily programmes,
followed by war related documentaries. During the following weekend,
March 29-30, the standard weekend selection of documentaries, with
six-minute newscasts at the top of the hour, was replaced by a mix of
live 15-minute newscasts and 15-minute recorded current affairs
segments, followed by the usual half-hour documentaries, still on war
related topics. Such special schedule will be maintained, until the
situation in Iraq justifies a return to normal programming.
Last year’s integration with Radio-Canada gave RCI easy access to
the national network’s foreign correspondents and other journalists
sent to the Middle East to cover the conflict. Their contributions
enhance RCI’s news and information programs, just as RCI’s Arabic
Section not only produce their own three daily broadcasts for listeners
in the Arab world but also provide their considerable expertise to
Radio-Canada and are daily heard and seen on the national
broadcaster’s radio and TV networks.
RCI’s Arabic team doubled their live programming at the beginning of
the Iraq war, broadcasting on shortwave, satellite, on the web and via
two main partner stations, Radio Monte-Carlo Middle East and the Voice
of Lebanon. All RCI’s production teams, naturally, share the same news
philosophy and the same journalistic standards and practices. RCI’s
Arabic team broadcast
news important to Canadians,
including all war
related stories, with a special emphasis on Canadian relations with the
Arab world, Canadian perspective on the war, Canadian initiatives, public
opinion, government position, expertise and, Arab communities in
Canada. A typical half-hour live programme is composed of news
integrated with news analysis, interviews with correspondents abroad
and in Canada. A daily cyberjournal produced in Arabic, as well as in all
the other RCI’s broadcast languages, offering subscribers in the Middle
East and elsewhere a complete newscast distributed by e-mail, adds
another dimension to RCI’s programming spectrum.
It is times like these, of spiralling stress and heightened responsibility
to the listeners, that really bring home the value of a clear news
philosophy, an indispensable tool for broadcasters faced with the
daunting task of making sense out of often confused reality. Taking
up the challenge greatly energised RCI production teams and provided
an extraordinary team building exercise.
CNBC Europe
This AIB member is a TV channel that specialises in financial news and
is seen by influential business leaders across Europe. How does such a
broadcaster blend the impact of the war into its programme schedule?
Vice President of CNBC Europe’s News and Programming
Jeremy Pink
.
There’s an old adage that kicks around among news and programme
directors the world over: if the audience is talking about the weather,
then you better lead your newscast with stories about the weather.
The message is simple but powerful: know what the audience wants
at any given moment and programme specifically to meet those needs.
In the case of CNBC Europe, our audience clearly is talking about the
war these days, and we do tend to lead most of our newscasts with
coverage related to the events in Iraq. However, our audience of
affluent, savvy business leaders, CEOs, financial market professionals
and high net worth investors looks at the war differently than most
mainstream, 24-hour newschannel viewers.
Our audience views the war
through the prism of how it
affects their businesses, the
global economy and their
investments. While neither CNBC
Europe nor our audience can ever
ignore the human toll of war, our
story, our forte and our coverage
is unique compared with every
other broadcaster: we put the war
in context for our influential and
affluent audience by delivering
the financial and economic
implications of the conflict.
In early April as coalition forces advanced on central Baghdad, general
newschannels breathlessly delivered information to viewers about
how close forces were getting to the center of the city. One network
said forces were within 30 miles. Another said 20 miles. It was
comprehensive, play-by-play coverage of the latest events. Images of
soldiers, tanks, explosions and bombers filled the screen.
But had you watched CNBC Europe’s output at the same time, you
would have seen coverage that was very, very different. We reported
on a major stock market rally that was occurring around Europe —
