Rafe Mair, a British Columbia icon

Rafe Mair, a British Columbia icon, former provincial cabinet minister, and outspoken broadcaster, continues to tell it like it is as he approaches 80 years of age. At the very least, Rafe calls it the way he sees it. You don’t have to agree with him, but you do have to respect him and others who stand up, get involved and contribute to the democratic dialogue. He has always been there to be counted, which is more than I can say about most people (maybe even 85%).

To those who sit mightily behind their anonymous keyboards and take cynical swipes at people such as Rafe, I say: turn on the lights in your smelly basement, step away from the keyboard, find the door and stop hiding behind some faceless username. Stand up and be counted.

As for getting older, I can only hope for the levels of piss and vinegar mostly contained in the uncontrollable and undeniable, Rafe Mair.

Bob Garfield brings chaos to BC broadcasters’ conference

The famous Bob Garfield, former columnist of Advertising Age brought his Chaos Scenario to the BC broadcasters’ conference this week. It was not a pretty sight.

Garfield’s been a regular columnist and commentator on mass media for decades. Now he’s turned his witty talents to where the big money is: consulting. And, I guess, to being a keynote speaker at conferences and conventions, such as the one I attended this week in Victoria British Columbia.

The BC Association of Broadcasters (BCAB) invited me to join them for this annual two day conference. And of course, like most conferences it had a theme: “Stayin’ Alive!” The hotel ballroom was filled with executives and owners of radio and television station from across BC as well as several hangers-on. Like me.

These are challenging time for broadcasters, revenues are down and competition is coming at them from all sides. So the theme “Stayin’ Alive!” seemed appropriate.

After all, this is the five billion channel universe we’re living in. The competition for media audiences is coming from all the usual sources (Facebook, MP3, YouTube, MySpace, etc, etc.) and new ones are popping up every day. New portals, communities, alliances, networks, websites and aggregators are being created to satisfy the very specific media, news, entertainment, information and connectedness needs of the world’s population. Among these new media channels are millions of bloggers and countless corporate websites, such as Kraft.com, the giant food company that is now taking its recipes and coupons directly to the consumer and cutting out the traditional conduits such as magazines and TV. And then there are the sites like Pandora.com that stream un-regulated radio and TV programming into smartphones already.

Good old fashioned radio and TV are quickly dying. Bob Garfield not only told the broadcasters this, he rubbed their faces in the washed-up bloated carcases that have already come ashore in the perfect storm of changing media consumption habits, the proliferation of media channels and the economic recession.

Would the situation be better for the broadcasters if the recession wasn’t in the mix? Yes, of course, but that wouldn’t be enough to stop Garfield from casting his doomsday predictions. He’s been saying this for years. How long do the broadcasters have before they’re wiped off the media landscape, we asked? According to Garfield, next year’s conference will attract a much smaller crowd. The cull has begun.

Garfield is an excellent presenter and his remarks often crossed over into to more of a stand-up comedy routine. He was funny. But this room full of broadcasters should have realized that this was an onset of gallows humour that allowed them to laugh. Those not laughing were clearly put-off by this pundit whom they had paid to be their guest speaker. They wouldn’t have been surprised if they had read any of Garfield’s books including his most recent, The Chaos Scenario. All one has to do is to come within a few feet of this book to understand Garfield’s point of view on the future of television, radio and newspapers. They’re all doomed! They’ve past their Best-Before Date.

The room was polite to this purveyor of gloom, and in thanking the guest speaker, it was clear that Corus Radio’s JJ Johnston, was holding back his true feelings.

The fact is, media choices are now vast and global. Many Canadian broadcasters are embracing the new world of multiple platforms and their responding to their audiences’ demand for immediate, local, globally connected and interactive media experiences. Is it too late to stay alive in the chaotic five billion channel universe? For some the answer is yes, it’s too late. For those who are determined to prove Garfield wrong and do so by investing in the chaos that is the five billion channel universe and using the power of their broadcast, the answer is a determined NO. They will be Stayin’ Alive .

Tim Kane is not a broadcaster, but he is a channel in the five billion channel universe.

Spiking political attack ads as news generators

What has happened to the media coverage of so-called “attack ads” or political advertising?  Have they been “spiked” as not news worthy?

Two weeks ago when the Liberals launched their campaign accusing the Harper government of  closing down Parliament to avoid tough questions about Afghan detainees, unemployment and the environment, they must have noticed something had changed.  The media’s treatment and resulting news coverage of their radio, newspaper and web advertising campaign was likely far less than they had hoped for.

I’m certain they were counting on more coverage than I observed.

 Several years ago when the Harper Conservatives attacked Liberal leader Stephane Dion, the television news coverage was huge, but so too was the television media purchase made by the party.  As the Conservatives rolled out that series of attack ads aimed at Dion the news coverage very significant.  This no-cost news exposure of the ads must have sent waves of glee throughout the PMO. The opposite must have been true at Liberal party headquarters and their leader’s office.  I recall that both my colleague Bernie Gauthier and I were doing double duty in commenting on these ads, every newscast carried the story for days and then refreshed their coverage with the release of each new ad in the series.

A year or so later when the Conservatives turned their attack-ad dog on Dion’s replacement Michael Ignatieff, the news coverage was similar.  The Conservatives once again extended their television advertising budget through the news coverage the ads generated.  Good strategy.

 But that was then.  Has something has changed?  The lack of news attention given to the Liberal’s recent campaign, begs the question:  Is there a relationship between ad budgets and news coverage?

One might speculate that the TV networks have concluded that they were not going to give valuable TV time to a campaign that didn’t have a TV budget.    The issue of proroguing Parliament was one that dominated news and political reporting for a week or so, but coverage of the Liberal ads was essentially a one-day wonder.  Maybe that one-day coverage was all it deserved? 

The Liberal ads were a step up from the earlier iteration with Ignatieff sitting in a forest talking about trade with China and India.  Who cares?  These latest ads have better impact.  But still I wouldn’t call the ads depicting a chain-link fence around Parliament Hill “attack ads.”  They could have at least used barbed-wire along the top of the chain-link.

In the end, I wonder if the Liberals did get it right?  Their poll numbers suggest that they are currently in a virtual tie with the Conservatives for voter support.  Although, I believe that it isn’t the Liberal advertising campaign that is working, but rather the risk the government took when thinking that Canadians don’t care about the work of their Parliament.

You’ve got to wonder …

You’ve got to wonder …

September 24, 2009 by timkanereporting

You’ve got to wonder …

The Liberals are on a roll. They had a good week. The TV ads aside, the Liberal leader’s live performances were a giant leap forward from some earlier outings and his disappearing act this summer. Now Ignatieff is out there and presenting himself like a real contender. The Liberals have finally come to understand that the Opposition opposes and the third party disposes in a minority government. The Liberals are now opposing and they are getting better at explaining themselves.

Mr. Ignatieff’s speech to the Toronto Board of Trade on Monday was a strong performance. He began that speech by speaking directly about the Conservative attack ads: ”I was watching a game on television the other night, and in the break I caught one of those Conservative attack ads, saying that I was only in it for myself and that I was going to create this scary coalition with the ‘socialists’ and the ‘separatists’.” Well, by the end of last week, those ‘socialists’ and ‘separatists’ were propping up Stephen Harper.”

He ended that intro by saying, “a week is a long time in politics.” No kidding.

Last week the Liberals continued to appear weak with the latest iteration of their no-news TV ads. The message in the latest on ‘Green Jobs’ TV spot are at least compatible with the forest setting, which appeared incongruous with the earlier ads on ‘Jobs’ and the Liberal ‘Worldview’. Maybe Ignatieff is finally leading them out of the woods.

But those ads, while still running on networks across the country are, in a sense, old news. The new Liberals are finally starting to act like an opposition party.

Starting with the Toronto Board of Trade speech on Monday and then on Thursday in Burlington where they launched their ‘Non Construction Site of Stephen Harper’ ‘Zero jobs created’ campaign, the Liberals are finally beginning to exercise their role as Official Opposition and at last offering up some tangible alternative policies to the government’s.

The Burlington event was a well orchestrated stand-up news conference with Michael Ignatieff and Gerard Kennedy the party’s infrastructure critic. It was a perfect day, blue skies, a bright yellow field in the background and in the distance the green horizon created by a cluster to trees. Ignatieff’s white shirt and Kennedy’s light blue, popped nicely making picture-perfect television. At least that’s how it appeared on CTV. Over at CBC, it was a very different picture altogether. The blue sky was grey, the yellow field was brown, the green trees pale and the bright faces of the two Liberals were covered in shadows. Why the difference in images? Both had professional camera crews, the latest in satellite technology to transmit the images and sound. Technical screw-up? The camera operator forgot to check for white balance?

Just asking … but you’ve got to wonder. There is too much at stake not to.

Whatever public relations is, it isn’t this.  I’m refering to the report below from Stars and Stripes.  These folks are not PR people, but I won’t suggest what they really are.

 

PR firm screening reporters

before Pentagon gives OK for embed

Many reporters seeking permission to embed with U.S. forces in Afghanistan are being screened by a Washington-based PR firm contracted by the Pentagon, according to Stars and Stripes. The reason: to determine if the reporters’ past coverage has portrayed the U.S. military in a positive light. “U.S. public affairs officials in Afghanistan acknowledged to Stars and Stripes that any reporter seeking to embed with U.S. forces is subject to a background profile by The Rendon Group, which gained notoriety in the run-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq for its work helping to create the Iraqi National Congress,” Stars and Stripes’ Charlie Reed wrote.

Celebrate World Press Freedom Day?

This week we observed World Press Freedom Day in Canada.  I’m not sure if we can actually celebrate this annual day in any jurisdiction in Canada or around the globe.  Sure we can mark the day, observe the day, mourn the loss of some 87 international media workers who died last year;  but celebrate may be a stretch for those who follow the challenges journalists face everyday in Canada and throughout the world. 

 As a member of the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom, I thought that the luncheon we organized today was able to raise the issue, but then again we were only speaking with the converted, like minded people, journalists and communications types who already get it.

 Sure, many in Canada think that we enjoy a society where the press operate without hindrances and threats of the type that we envision in other less developed countries.  In those places we see the tight grip of totalitarian dictators, police forces or military juntas out of control.  In Canada, the greatest threat to press freedom in not from these, but from the judiciary and the litigious class.  Canadian journalists surely face stonewalling governments, secretive corporations and lying criminals.  And these are serious threats to a free press, but today these are superseded by an aggressive judiciary that at times appears out of control. 

 Today at our annual luncheon our committee presented Daniel Leblanc of The Globe and Mail with the 11th annual Press Freedom Award.  Daniel was nominated by his newspaper for his willingness to risk judicial censure for protecting a confidential source in Canada’s notorious sponsorship scandal.  He may go to jail over this.  Another court action against Leblanc now prevents him or any news outlet from reporting on the involvement of the company Group Polygon and their possible role in the scandal that even a full public inquiry and a decade-long investigation by the RCMP have failed to really get to the bottom of.

 Our committee also wanted to acknowledge two lawyers Brian Macleod Rogers and Paul Schabas for their outstanding contributions to press freedom in Canada in this past year and over the course of their careers.  These guys do great work on behalf of press freedoms and often are not paid for their important work.

 Another one of our nominees was the Montreal Gazette’s reporter William Marsden, who was nominated for his investigative work that uncovered a land deal involving the husband of Pauline Marois the powerful leader of the Parti Québécois.  Marsden’s work has also been stifled by court actions that prevent him or his paper from reporting on this case.

 Maybe next year as we observe this important day we should invite some judges to the luncheon.

Our friend Alan White died today

Alan Lorne White

On January 24, 2009, age 50 years, after a courageous battle with diabetes. Beloved son of Lois (Honey) and John (deceased); devoted brother of Gary (Claire), Bill (Romaine) and Jim; proud uncle of Neil, David and Sophia.

Alan spent his boyhood years on the NATO base in Ramstein, West Germany. By the time he graduated as co-president of Laurentian High School in Ottawa, he’d visited virtually every cathedral and museum in Europe, seen the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, been to the top of the Eiffel Tower, walked the trenches at Vimy and the beaches at Normandy, faced the cliffs at Dieppe and covered his ears at Formula One races in Silverstone, England and Spa, Belgium.

Fresh from Algonquin College’s broadcasting program in 1979, Alan scooped his first industry job with CKO Radio in Toronto. Within nine months he’d risen from the network’s lowest position to one of its most senior. He returned to Ottawa to pursue his dream of producing television programs, first at the community level with Ottawa Cablevision and then nationally and internationally as co-founder of Corvideocom Limited and General Assembly Production Centre.

Alan was an outspoken creative force in the Ottawa video production community for more than 25 years. A master storyteller and passionate educator, he mentored a generation of local production talent and earned dozens of national and international awards.

In the 1980s, Alan was the pioneering producer of some of Canada’s first music videos and, as president of Apprentice Records, he was instrumental in launching the international recording career of the popular Ottawa rock band Eight Seconds.

Alan was founding chair of both the Algonquin College Screenwriting and Drama Advisory Board and New Media North, not to mention the Ottawa Chapter of House of Guitars.

Irreverent, controversial and outrageously funny, Alan was no choirboy. He demonstrated humbling levels of courage, spirit and grace in confronting his many physical ailments, but never suffered fools with much tact. He was usually brilliant and exasperatingly stubborn in equal measure—one of those larger-than-life people about whom everything is big: his keen sense of honour and loyalty, profound kindness, commanding presence, unflagging generosity, infectious love of life and charmingly chivalrous nature.

His family and friends want to express their deep affection for Al’s network of caregivers, including his homecare providers, staff at the Rehabilitation Centre, Riverside Hospital dialysis unit, Jack Purcell Community Centre, the palliative team and fifth-floor medical staff at the Ottawa Heart Institute—with special kudos to Guillermo and nurses Eileen, Hélène, Lianne and Anne.

Throughout his prolonged battle he has rallied his community of friends, brought together many who had drifted apart and shown us all how death is in fact all about life. Though English is rich with adjectives appropriate to this magnificent and unforgettable soul, words fail the sadness and loss felt by all his many relatives, friends and colleagues.

A private memorial service will be held for immediate family only. Alan’s legion of friends will celebrate his life at an event in early February. Donations toward the creation of a scholarship in his name will be welcomed at that time.

Anyone interested in learning more about the event may send an email to celebratealw@gmail.com

Alan: it gets better

For the rest of us, we’ll miss you.

DELTA MEDIA NAMES BERNARD GAUTHIER CEO

                                                                  

OTTAWA, January 6, 2008 – The Board of Directors of Delta Media Inc. today announced that Bernard J.M. Gauthier has been appointed the company’s Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2009.  Gauthier succeeds well-known public relations executive Tim Kane, who will remain active as Chairman.  Gauthier most recently held the title of Managing Partner. 

 The appointment comes as part of the company’s long-term strategic plan that will see Kane heading west to open a new Delta Media office in Victoria, BC, at the end of 2009.

 “Much of Delta Media’s success can be credited to Bernie, whose energy, insight and strategic thinking have made the firm one of Canada’s leading public relations agencies,” said Sheena Pennie, President, Delta Media.

 Gauthier is a well-known media commentator whose perspective is regularly asked for by news organizations across the country.  He joined the Ottawa-based public relations firm in 1994. 

 Gauthier graduated from Concordia University with a BA in Communications in 1986.  He earned his MA in Mass Communications from Carleton University in 1996, where he is currently working toward a PhD in Mass Communications.  He also serves as a sessional professor at Carleton University where he teaches fourth-year courses in public relations and the history of advertising.  He is married with two children.

 Delta Media was founded in 1991 and currently employs 14 persons in Ottawa.  The company and its wholly-owned and affiliated companies provide a full range of bilingual services in public relations, public affairs, research and marketing/communications under the brands, Delta Media Inc., Public Affairs Strategy Group Inc. and Vision Research Inc.  In 1997, Delta Media was chosen as the Ottawa partner of the Worldcom Public Relations Group.  Worldcom Public Relations Group is one of the world’s largest and most successful public relations operations with 2,000 employees and combined revenues of more than US$227 million in 2007.

I’m not going to write about Obama …

 

It’s difficult to resist writing about this monumental change in the world.  It reminds me of 1989 when much of the world welcomed the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

 The ascendency of Barak Obama to the Presidency of the United States is of equal importance and may be greater import to the world than the call by Ronald Reagan to “tear down the wall!”

 But I’m not going to write about Obama.   Instead I want to muse on the changes in my life both, business and personal, and about my friend Bernie Gauthier.

 At Delta Media where I had been Chairman and CEO since 1998 the torch has now been passed to Bernie Gauthier.  Bernie had been Delta Media’s Managing Partner since 1998 and President of our research division, Vision Research, since that same time as well.

 I will head west to Victoria and along with my wife and business partner and Delta Media’s president, Sheena Pennie, will open a Delta Media office in that wonderful city on the Pacific.

 Victoria is perfect for me personally since I have two children on the west coast and a new grandchild born only this week.  I’m glad he was born this week in time for the Obama swearing in.  But I’m not going to write about Obama.

 This period in history is much like the new era that was brought to Europe with the fall of the Soviet empire in 1989.  When Sheena and I founded Delta Media, in 1991, we were buoyed by the changes in the world and a bit nervous about the recessionary economy that eventually dragged on for several years.

 Today, as we change the guard at Delta Media, I am reminded of those early days and our promise to deliver better value to our clients and prospective clients than they’d ever experienced before.  Our strategy for “Growth in a Recession” was successful and it allowed us to build a foundation for our future that continues to deliver on good value, accountability, reliability, and creative solutions to serious problems and emerging opportunities.

 So to President Obama and Chief Executive Bernie Gauthier I say your success is guaranteed if you adhere to the values of honesty, accountability, integrity, hard work and concern for others.  These are the qualities that elevated you to the top and these are the values that will keep you there.

Ethical procurement? I think not.

They try their best at PWGSC to get procurement right in every sense of the word.  The problem arises when the forest get in the way of the proverbial trees.  Yes, they want good reliable, honest suppliers.  Instead their procurement process produces liars and cheaters.  The lowest price is not always the best value.  The best value comes when the qualified suppliers are selected on the basis of honest pricing.  Anyone can provide the lowest price per hour if they plan to double or triple the hours on the final invoice.  This is what is happening in the government of Canada’s procurement process.  Wake up Public Works and smell the results of your naive or politically expedient procurement policies.