30 min read (5983 Words)
1 - 0:00:00
For years now we have run ourselves down as conventional broadcasters, as newspapers were hollowed out as advertising revenue plummeted because it doesn't matter anymore. Everybody told us. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. I expect on my news feeds on my Facebook and on my Twitter to have professionally shifted journalism an when I don't.
0:00:15
I know it and it can do great damage and it can do. It can be life and death.
2 - 0:00:30
The global pandemic has affected us all, but perhaps nowhere has it been more obvious than through the channel where the stories about the pandemic have been shared through broadcast news, but has the influence of this worldwide health crisis been a boom or a bust for television news, how crucial is local news in an era where seemingly larger stories dominate the headlines? Graham Richardson argues the pandemic has actually revealed the true value of local news stories in a career that is included time in local news throughout Alberta. And later, as the Ontario Bureau chief at Queens Park in Toronto for global news, Graham Richardson has since covered significant international stories that matter to Canadians while stationed in Los Angeles for CTV National News. And now as the chief anchor for CTV News, Ottawa, he has come full circle with a valuable perspective on how his audience receives and digests the news he delivers. Speaking of media, the podcast where communicators and the media come together to consider the world of mass storytelling.
0:01:26
I'm Keith Marnoch, former journalist turned corporate communicator, and I'm hoping that you, as someone who communicates on behalf of your organization, will join me for each episode to learn from industry experts about the tangible ways to share your stories and messages, and also how to avoid getting caught in a negative media storm. On this episode, our guest, Graham Richardson, makes the case for journalism as he outlines his approach to chasing down a story and getting it right in the age of social media and other worldwide distractions. We connected with Graham via Zoom from his broadcast studio between newscasts for Newstalk 580 CFR, a radio in Ottawa. So it's a great pleasure to welcome Graham Richardson.
3 - 0:02:15
You certainly have a significant and I would think you would agree you know a privileged position as a journalist commentator to operate in that company town of yours. Ottawa on the issues of the day. How do you approach your day? Local, regional, national and indeed international concerns come across your desk. Both the radio and television stations. So how do you approach that challenge everyday,
1 - 0:02:38
Graham? So it's great to be here. Thanks for this. So it's I could answer it pre pandemic or post pandemic. Because just like everything else it's changed everything. But I mean the flow of the day never really stops or ends with email and connection and texting with the senior group here. So something pandemic wise like this morning, for instance, J&J suspended in the United States can drive the rest of our day.
0:03:04
I just got off a briefing with provincial officials about the vaccine rollout for Ontario. The latest information on that. So I I guess my answer the question is, it's all of those things. Depending on what is the has the most impact for viewers here on Abashedly an unapologetic Lee See TV, particularly at the Supper Hour. We're interested in reaching the broadest audience possible.
0:03:30
We want the people in the mall. We want the people who are picking up their kids. We want as many people. As possible, watching our stories so that forces us every day, every moment to ask ourselves what has the most impact on people in Ottawa, Canada and around the world really like? What's what's the most important thing?
0:03:51
So I think that's the main driving thing and it can be international. It can be local, it can be national. You know the death of Prince Phillip is another good example where it's an international story with deep local connections here and everywhere around the country,
3 - 0:04:10
right? We first crossed paths when you were. At Queens Park, I feel like your long time ago politics is in your blood. I feel, I think that it's always been a driver for you. Yes, and. Is that, is that something that really got you into the business and then kept you going in terms of you know,
1 - 0:04:29
the commentary-based world that we live in when it comes to news? Yeah, I I. I tell people I wanted to do this job when I was 15 or a version of this job and literally, I was flipping between David Letterman at 15 years old and Ted Koppel as many nights as I could. Transfixed by the Baker scandal that Tammy Faye Baker and Jim Baker scandal, one of the first you know, religious sort of, I couldn't believe what I was watching, found myself watching a lot of morning political programs at a very young age, so I've always been very interested in. In politics, and the notion that you could be in the mix or outside looking in and covering it and actually getting paid to do that was always just an unbelievable thrill for you to be a part of it. So yes, that's always been I I consider myself still a political journalist. Although I do host a general news program in a political town.
0:05:23
But yeah, it's it's. It's a big part of my life and always has.
3 - 0:05:32
And for people who don't know, I mean you were CTV national, especially out West and so on. So you did the Michael Jackson trial, I believe, and I think that you also covered Hurricane Katrina. If I'm correct. Yeah, that's right. So yeah, those are. Those are big moments that people can kind of relate to.
0:05:45
How does that? How does that stack up in terms of,
1 - 0:05:51
you know, the stories and the kinds of stories that you've been exposed to and been a part of through your career. Those are big stories. We moved to Los Angeles for a year and a half. I was in Los Angeles for CTV National, which was, yeah, one of my first big stories was the Michael Jackson verdict and then the hurricane season was crazy and then back to Parliament Hill. So very busy, very busy time. I hear I always say that I I really I, I believe this it all starts.
0:06:19
It all starts locally the and I think the pandemic has taught us the biggest international story of our lives of this century. Is a local story. It's different where you are and it's different where I am, but it's the same story, so it has fundamentally reinforced my almost religious belief in what I do every day and what we do every day as a team, because in the early days of the pandemic we could not. Often we could not get away from our desks to get on the set because the phone was ringing off the hook because so many people were so afraid and I've never experienced anything like that. We've had tornadoes, we've had hurricanes, we've had. You know, we've had natural disasters.
0:07:06
You've had celebrations of Grey Cup wins. All these massive stories have come your way. I've never experienced that thirst for local information in the Internet age in the social media age at a conventional television station like I felt last March. And so it was in. It was a month or two months or three months, or now 13 months of an epiphany that in this world where you and I can look at the same things, can pull a million different stories about the same things knocking on the door, talking to accredited officials about what people should do is our bread and butter.
0:07:43
And it is life and death, literally the pandemic. Again is teaching us this: In this thirteenth month that is life and death so I don't mean to be too much on my high horse about that, but. For years now we have run ourselves down as conventional broadcasters, as newspapers were hollowed out as advertising revenue plummeted because it doesn't matter anymore. Everybody told us. Yes, it does.
0:08:16
Yes, it does. I expect on my news feeds on my Facebook and on my Twitter to have professionally shifted journalism an when I don't. I know it and it can do great damage and it can do. It can be life and death. And I don't even want to get into the political ramifications of it and how it can be manipulated.
0:08:34
But if we just unmoor ourselves from this profession, that for a variety of reasons people like to take the bats to, there are very serious consequences. And it's not just partisan political consequences, it is medical life and death consequences. If bad information continues to be filtered out and spewed out without a proper filter.
3 - 0:09:03
So the pandemic we were 13 months in, as you say, what have been the biggest changes for you? You're a radio news guy, so you do a lot of remote interviewing, but TV is gone that route as well. Are there things that would make your TV newscast better that you've been doing in the last 13 months that you weren't doing before? Is there anything that's coming out of this into a new normal where you might do things different moving forward,
1 - 0:09:28
even if the pandemic is not around? Yeah, So what happened to us here at City TV is just before the pandemic. We had switched to a model that for newsgathering that a lot of stations have had already gone to and now CFTO is going to it. It is multi-skilled journalist MSJ where reporters are out in the field on their own with the camera. Smaller camera, a laptop editing system that is on an iPad that as you will remember, completely changes how you gather television news. Luckily for us, we were completely trained up.
0:10:03
Months before the pandemic hit, the reason I say that is because these individual reporters in that at the height of the pandemic we were filing 8-9 ten local stories tonight in an hourlong broadcast under our old system where you had a shooter where you had a Reporter and a third person in editing it, we would not be able to produce nearly the amount of material and stories we did, so add on to that zoom thing that we're doing right now in a broadcast-quality HD broadcast. It has given us a tremendous amount of flexibility that if you compare the newscast of 2005 to the news cast of 2021, it's barely recognizable in terms of the amount of local content that is streaming into the broadcast. And everybody is so used to that, with social media now with HD cameras in their pockets, it's kind of a bit of a shrug. But I every night I am in awe of the amount of local, the number of local stories we're able to. Amplified trumpet and broadcast both conventionally an on our website and through our social media channels that just a few years ago would be cut by 75% simply because of that change.
0:11:23
So there are limitations to it. You know you've only got one set of eyes on the ground. If you only send one MSJ multi skilled journalist, whereas a two person crew Reporter and photographer would have two sets of eyes. So you have to be aware of that, but. Given the timing of the pandemic and how that's changed our gathering process, it really helped us actually stay on the air and provide vital information to people all across the region.
0:11:47
I mean, we're in we're in Brockville we're in arm prior with people who live there. Where in Kingston with people who live there just a few years ago, we would not be able to staff up like that.
3 - 0:12:05
I guess the other reality in terms of the political spectrum as well, and this is seen in all jurisdictions, really. The incumbent governments having a bit of a larger or maybe more clear soapbox on a regular basis instead of having to try to get a clip out of a question. In a legislature or Parliament. There basically captivated, or they're able to sort of capture the attention of media in a one place. I know that you participate in the daily for the most part, daily briefings at the Ontario government does, for example. What is different about you being on the phone and being in room 283 or whatever at Queens Park?
1 - 0:12:44
Are you missing something there? Yeah, we're missing something because it's easier for like I can't as an anchor here in Ottawa. I couldn't go to obviously go to Queens Park and do a scrum so the advantage of being able to dial in and ask a question to premiere is is obvious. The disadvantage is one question one, follow up and you can't. They control it so you give up some control. To me, that's that's one of those arguments that happen in two places or 10 places.
0:13:07
Basically legislatures across the country and their press galleries and Parliament Hill. The average Canadian is not paying attention to that kind of to and fro, and I always believe that you have to just go around that process to get the stories anyway. There's plenty of sources, there's plenty of ways to do it without actually asking the head of the government on live television what he thinks about something. And if you don't get that question in somehow, your journalism is compromised. I don't accept that.
0:13:36
I don't accept that. You can check with that office. You can check with that Cabinet minister and if they're not going to come on and participate, that's their choice. You can still do the story.
3 - 0:13:48
And I'm wondering as I hear and I'm wondering if it's a frustration of not being in the room, but I'm hearing lately and I think it's a covid fatigue kind of thing that everybody is experiencing, whether their media or audience or those who are responsible and and you know, delivering the messages in the stories. But where do you draw the line? Because everybody is feeling the stress or the, you know, the angst that comes with covid? Where do you draw the line when you know when you're trying to ask a question that's relevant to your audience and. It comes down to sort of trying to stay objective, but has this been a story that's been more difficult to keep your viewpoint out of a news story? I I I don't, I don't first of all, I don't accept unbiased journalism.
0:14:36
Everybody has their biases. I must. I'm a father. I have biases about how children are going to be treated. That is not the test.
0:14:46
The test is fairness. So I think what you're asking is how do you not get branded too partisan, and being the opposition like the press Gallery is not the official opposition. I don't believe and never have delete believed that our job is to harangue the governing party into capitulating on a point ABC or D. You know, I like, I just like there are times when if they are misleading you and the public, they deserve to be called on that. And they're all beat, you know. But so so where? I think when I was younger at Queens Park, I had a different view.
0:15:26
I had this sort of crusading feel I was 30 years old. I was, I thought I had it all figured out right and I think as I grew older and as like covered Parliament Hill and became, I don't know I I think my perspective changed somewhat you can't do that every single day you're not the show. Journalists are there to hold the people in power to account, to ask questions on behalf of the public. But like you say, there is a line. Where you know I honestly do not believe we are all collectively there to harangue Dunford or Justin Trudeau to the point where partisans on Twitter are going to celebrate our questions and especially now, minute by minute, second by second, we're all humans and we see what's being said about our work, and I know that's influencing people.
0:16:15
I'm not criticizing anybody in particular. I'm not. I'm not calling out any journalist or anything like that. I do think you need to. And I remember when we were live you know your live after question.
0:16:26
On CP24 or somewhere else. It is a different kind of thing. You know more people are watching you get an email or you get a response. You get a text that you've asked something and I I do think with the live-tweeting and social media and everything collectively we need to set that aside. And think about what we're doing and asking why we're asking certain things.
0:16:47
So when people are dying in our ICU's are packed, is it difficult to maintain that posture with politicians who are clearly attempting to not cover-up, but to downplay their own culpability? Here in the mistakes they've made? But it's much harder to do that because there is no. There is no story that is more important in the world or in London or in Ottawa right now than the pandemic. And so when a politician of any stripe at any level is obfuscating, is not answering a direct question about decisions they made that may have led to more death. That's a very very serious thing on our side.
0:17:34
We can't assume they're always doing that, and I guess that's what I'm getting at. We cannot assume like I think if you've spent any time inside stuff happens, mistakes happen and it's not perfect. Look at my own organization, you look at CTV News. You look at Bell Media and you think they? They're kind of a slick operation.
0:17:56
They've got it together and you take a look inside and we're kind of barely holding it together some days too. So I think in many ways government exposed to the public. We need to remember that that that mistakes are made. Sometimes there are within the best intentions. But Anne Anne, while acknowledging other times it is the worst possible scenario where not only have they made a mistake, they've attempted to, you know, obfuscate how they've made that mistake for their own political gain.
0:18:23
But it it just, I guess. My point is, it doesn't happen every time an A younger me would say it happened way more than I believe it does now. Maybe a little bit of a devil's advocate,
3 - 0:18:38
or on the back on the other side, just for me to kind of play that role. And I don't think I don't think I've heard this from you, but. I wonder about some others playing the. Hindsight card shouldn't have done this, better shouldn't have happened faster and maybe that's a fair question, but how do you have your approach been to kind of hold people account in a world where it's difficult to quantifiably say one approach or another was right, and trying to fix themselves along the way.
1 - 0:19:08
Yes and no. I mean, the science table told them we'd be here in April and here we are. Personally, when the science table said that, I said to myself, well, there's another projection of worst-case scenario that might not happen. But I'm not the government, so I do think I do think they all deserve a certain amount of. Grace, in terms of the ever-changing nature of this pandemic, they're all human and they're trying to balance many, many things. And the epidemiological doctors on Twitter are doing one thing and the Premier of the province has to do many things and the best of those doctors acknowledge that. But you cannot escape from the truth that they were warned weeks ago that if they did not do a B&C, we would be right here and they did a B&C but they didn't do D or whatever it is.
0:19:56
And here we are. So they that's just. That's just the fact. Now do they deserve to be thrown out of office because of that? That's for the voters to decide.
0:20:10
But it certainly I don't think this particular situation, which I think you're referring to. It's not even a gotcha because it's their own science table and many, many doctors outside of government was saying all of the trends in Europe are pointing to this particular point for Ontario and the real fair question. Tough, fair question is, could you have done more to avoid this? And the answer seems to be, well, look. They changed over the weekend.
0:20:40
You can't? You can't look backwards, yeah? Actually yes you can. Yes you can on this one. Yes you can.
3 - 0:20:50
So beyond the politicians, you have people that you regularly reach out to be at University experts or spokespeople for companies. Again, our audience here really is made up of people who are thinking about how to communicate messages and stories and so on. Have you been able? You talked a little bit off the top about how you can kind of be more productive. Have you let people kind of get into a more comfortable connection with you? I wonder if you calling up someone on a zoom or other connection instead of, you know, going out, talking with you get 2 clips and making them do the two-shot walk.
0:21:16
Is that what are the factory? What's the difference when you're not doing that are you? Are you being able to connect with people better? Are they able to hide more as we're talking with the politicians? What's the reality of you?
0:21:32
Kind of having to do this remotely,
1 - 0:21:35
at least for the time being. Yeah Jen. Generally speaking, I think that generally speaking, I think that people are more comfortable being on camera in the last 13 months because they've done it so much. It's like baseball. You have to do it every day. The one. The one thing that I would I would.
0:21:52
Really caution people against doing is just because you're in your office or in your home, on on your own phone around your own computer. Please don't read notes, please don't read points when you're back and forth with an anchor it I can tell from a mile away and it makes you look fake. It makes you look and and it doesn't make if there's one thing. All of the social media and everything else is teaching us you must be authentic. You cannot be the spokesperson for XYZ Company that is touting the company line.
0:22:24
You can have messages, but do not memorize sentences and paragraphs because it stands out like a sore thumb. You need to learn how to communicate conversationally an when you don't. I just give you one example, like a friend of mine and organization here, said listen, we're doing this. We're doing that you think you could come up. We could have you could you could we come on the noon show and talk about it's a worthy thing I said.
0:22:50
Of course we've got a spot for you there. Good local organization. And the person came on and I could tell we were live and they were at home and they were reading off their screen, their talking points and they ignored my questions. And so I told my friend. Afterward I said it made your person look really really rude.
0:23:12
I was asking fair not difficult questions. This was a softball kind of a community thing and she was ignoring my questions and it makes the audience uncomfortable now. This person may be totally focused on their own performance, thinking that this is how you do television or how you do a zoom interview with a journalist and it made them look awful because I kept asking the same question and it got to a point where I felt badly 'cause I could feel the discomfort in the audience. So I just moved on and cut it off. Yeah, so anyway, I you know and answer your question.
0:23:50
People are in a different environment. There isn't a photographer there with that. With a big camera in a light and a microphone, so perhaps they're less intimidated by all of this, I still think the same rules apply. Speak conversation. We have a clear defined message, simplicity and repetition all of that so that people can understand what you're saying.
0:24:10
That's great, those are. Those are factors and principles I always pushed,
3 - 0:24:20
and so on. Authenticity more often than anything else in the social media world where we live, being able to relate to your audience through you by being authentic. And as you say, you know authentically and openly answering questions as opposed to thinking that you can work your way through from a technical point of view. Having messages, I guess the other thing for my communicator audiences that you are still covering other news during this. You cannot be doing this all the time. So and we ask this of a lot of people that we have on the showgram.
0:24:47
What is your most comfortable or best routine in terms of you know receiving pitches from people? I know that we've talked a little bit on this show about, you know, evolving away from media releases, but really kind of presenting stories in a more. Pros, or in a more fulsome way to media having already put them out, maybe on your own channels, but you know our media releases what you look at, what catches your attention and your interest.
1 - 0:25:15
I think I think all of it catches our attention, less so on the release front. Like something can develop organically. Like you know, some kind of a go fund me page or some kind of. But no matter what it is or how it's delivered, you have to have a character and you have to have a. You have to have an individual story. Michael Warner Doctor Michael Warner is one of the ICU docs and how many of us have been fatigued by charts, graphs, percentages? The R level, you know, per 100,000 bloody, you know, like it's just, it's all too much what he started doing is tweeting out videos of himself, describing with his patients permission, who was in the ICU.
0:25:58
And it went bonkers. Like people were. Just like, you know, a 35 year old essential worker, married to an essential worker. He worked in a factory and he wasn't allowed to take time off. He infected his entire family.
0:26:10
His wife is now 35 years old and in my ICU. So. It doesn't matter how many cases there are in Ontario, it doesn't matter where he is. People gravitate to that. So whether you're pitching or whether you're trying to get the attention of people organically on social media and then, hopefully, mainstream media, pick it up, you gotta have the individual stories. You can't just have. You know.
0:26:35
This study suggests this. To get attention these days it has to be the personal cells, much more that people can relate to it. It cuts through the personal cut through even more so now because of the volume of stories and information that's out there.
3 - 0:26:54
And just one final thing Graham. I know I don't like to speak to this specifically, but there have been further large-scale cuts in terms of journalism, broadcast, and otherwise across the country in the last number of months. You know, again, without commenting on you know specifically on particular ones. But how does that affect what you're able to produce? And you know, are you feeling like that seen by your audience? And what can people do again, who are looking to kind of, you know, kind of use or find you as a channel to get messages or stories out?
1 - 0:27:24
How does that affect what you're able to actually do from a capacity point of view? Well, it's it's interesting. Yes, there have been high publicized cuts at my company and we've been going through this for years, but I do come not to be Mr Company man. I do come back to my discussion about the MSJ. Is the multi-skilled journalists. You know, doing a headcount at CTV Ottawa?
0:27:47
We have more now than we've ever had. If you do a headcount of our actual people gathering journalism local we are. On our, you know we're like 15 non anchor people out there. That's a big newsroom, you know. And previously we would have the same number, but they would have different jobs.
0:28:08
So the cameraman and the Reporter and photographer and Reporter or would have work on one story. Now they're working on 2. The purists out there, and I understand this quality is not the same in certain circumstances. They are getting much, much better, both in terms of performance and in terms of camera work. But yes, we had some struggles with we do have some struggles or did have some struggles with quality, so I returned to that anecdote to say that that is a fundamental change in how we gather driven by technology.
0:28:41
Yes by cost, but it is allowed us to actually. Spread out in a way that. In the 1980s they weren't even staffed that way, you know so. It has compromised our ability to get to every we don't have the same amount of coverage on beats around entertainment or the rural reporting specifically, but we do have more people out there now. It's kind of like a mini CP model that we've done in this region where we've got three reporters in the regions we've got.
0:29:17
You know, more traditional broadcasters we've got. Reporters who are. You are on their own and will flood the zone with the big story, which is what we've done with the pandemic. So I'm I'm somewhat optimistic. But the days, yeah, the days of unlimited travel budgets.
0:29:43
And you know, sending people everywhere to cover things all over the region. I mean those have come to an end for economic reasons and I just, you know, I'm hopeful that when the things finally get back up and running again, you know journalism survives because we need it. Do you still encourage people to go to Carleton or Ryerson or Western for their journalism training? I I can I incur, I check myself because back in 1993 at Kings College in Halifax? An older guy came into the journalism class and told us all you know, there aren't that many jobs anymore.
0:30:25
It was 1993 and the Internet hadn't been created. So I I don't wanna be that guy. You must have a passion for this and you have to do everything all the time and constantly be blasting out on all of your channels. We have people in our in their 20s who have been hired here in the last two to three years who are making six figures with overtime and every day. They're covering journalism in Ottawa, so there's hope. Right, and that's a good point.
0:30:55
So it it it is because we you know, like if the pandemic has taught us nothing, it's taught us one thing. It's. You know it's different in Renfrew. That's 45 minutes away from here. Then it is downtown, I'm mark.
0:31:11
And no matter what the business model is, you're gonna need people to knock on doors and figure out what's going on up there. And so that's not going to change. And I'm not naive if it doesn't come back advertising-wise and we get squeezed more, there's going to be fewer people to do that. I understand that, but I don't buy this notion that you know we're all gonna disappear like what's? I I just I don't buy it, I don't buy it. I've been hearing that.
0:31:39
I've been hearing that since I started in this business. Even in journalism school people have said I started a CBC in Calgary and I came and looked at me, says how long can they afford to do? Local news at the CDC. That was 30 years ago, you know, and I believed it. I'm like, yeah, I better get outta here.
0:31:53
I got out of there for years. You know, I I, I went and I wanted to get out for good reasons. Not for bad reasons. But as soon as I got out of that woo, I mean that things that the Clock is ticking on that thing. Well, there's still there, you know.
0:32:05
Anyway. Well, I like in a tip of the hat to Kings College.
3 - 0:32:12
Sorry in the in the off. Oh that's OK schools but I listen, Graham, I really really appreciate your time. I appreciate and I'm so happy that you know you hold the seat that you do. I know you was a tough and fair journalist and bottom line or respected guy on both sides of the microphone. And I know that my audience is really going to benefit from having heard this perspective in this time. I really appreciate your views and hearing them from you is.
0:32:35
Like I say, so valuable to my audience,
1 - 0:32:41
so I really, really appreciate taking time out of your very busy schedule on a weekday, and all the very best moving forward. Same here anytime I really enjoyed it. Thanks so much and so that was amongst the most positive takes that we've heard recently from any frontline guest.
2 - 0:32:56
For those of us still aspiring to careers in journalism, it is interesting to hear that a model like multi-skilled journalism MSJ offers agility and capacity for local TV stations, but it also requires journalists who can in fact deliver at a high degree with regards to skills and abilities to make various platforms work and that that has a benefit to local news coverage significantly. For the communicators among us, it's also important to hear that yes, once again, authenticity is what the media craves and what might distinguish your spokesperson from others in a very, very good way. It was great to feel Graham's passion for his journalism. And in fact, his authenticity towards the work that he does and how he is figured out. How to keep his standard so very high in this current pandemic age.
0:33:40
We hope to keep bringing you the best in the business, just like Graham Richardson from both sides of the media microphone. Who will help you better develop and deliver your messages and stories for now? Thanks for connecting. Speaking of Media is available on all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, as well as You Tube where you just have to ask for us by name. You'll also find me at my website keithmarnoch.com as well as on social media on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn under my profile, and on Twitter at Media speaking.
0:34:18
I'm Keith Marnoch and through other episodes. I look forward to our next time together when we will be Speaking of media.