CBC and bad aviation "stories"

[Donald]

In the past couple weeks it seems that CBC is increasingly putting out aviation news "stories" that are anything but informed or even news. Is this because of the recent rise of reality-based flying shows, or is there someone new at the news desk who wants to push this stuff?

Recently:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/sto ... ports.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/sto ... craft.html

And of course (embedded video):

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/s ... eanup.html

Since my tax payer dollars pay for this crap, I think we should see some accountability!

[Donald]

Oh yeah, forgot this "gem":

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-ed ... d-584.html

[raven54]

"The plane, carrying 93 passengers and five crew, immediately went into shutdown mode."
good ol' shutdown mode....

[KAG]

Yeah that and air pockets... You really gotta watch yourself out there.

[bverwegen]

"The plane, carrying 93 passengers and five crew, immediately went into shutdown mode."
good ol' shutdown mode....

Hahahaha

[Rockie]

Well let's see...

One of those stories is about the lack of facilities in northern airports including RNAV approaches which are dirt cheap to produce and require no ground equipment. That's a good story in my mind and one that pilots should be cheering for.

One is about the demise of two snowy owls getting killed up north. Slow news day for sure but nothing to get your snot in an anti-CBC knot over.

One is strictly about the recent wind storm in Calgary that has almost nothing to do with aviation. Most people actually consider that news especially in Calgary.

And the last is about a diversion caused by engine failure. That is news, so again why the anger at the CBC?

[short bus]

can you imagine going into shutdown mode in an air pocket?

catastrophic for sure...

[Old fella]

"The plane, carrying 93 passengers and five crew, immediately went into shutdown mode."

Two Newfs were on this flight, concerned that they were going to be up there all day if everything was shutdown!!

[Darkwing Duck]

In today's day and age you would think there would be something to detect air pockets.

But no really, Donald does have a point as far as the CBC misinterpreting the story. Years and years ago when I worked the ramp we had a horrible stretch of cold weather for about a month. CBC Radio came to the FBO to do an interview on how we cope with the cold. The interview took about 20 mins. One question the reporter was about "boosting" airplanes like we do with cars when it is cold. I explained GPUs and how they work but also added that it is a year round thing and a lot of types always require a GPU.

Well listening to the story the next morning you would think I knew absolutely nothing about aviation. Everything I said was misconstrued. In the 2min or so clip I was quoted once. Everything else was taken out of context. They guy should of just stayed in his nice warm office and wrote the story instead of making the jaunt out to the airport. Oh wait, he did get some great background "jet noise" effects of a Lear taxiing in.

[Rockie]

The CBC is no better or worse than any other mainstream news organization when it comes to accuracy in aviation reporting. However they have made an effort to shine a light on the problems of fatigue and SMS. I haven't seen any of the others doing that.

[Siddley Hawker]

The CBC is no better or worse than any other mainstream news organization when it comes to accuracy in aviation reporting.

True, but when you're living on the public teat you should be the gold standard by which ever other news organization is judged.

[yycflyguy]

The CBC is no better or worse than any other mainstream news organization when it comes to accuracy in aviation reporting.

True, but when you're living on the public teat you should be the gold standard by which ever other news organization is judged.

I don't understand this logic. So because CBC is a Crown corporation their journalism standards must be higher than others? Accurate and unbiased reporting should be the standard in ALL forms of media.

[BTyyj]

Reporters don't really know anything about aviation above what the average person would know. To them, a lot of this stuff is very interesting. An "insane" crosswind landing and a single engine failure sounds really cool and a good story. They report on what the general public would find interesting, and I'd say they do a great job.

I don't understand why you guys expect them to always be accurate. I know many people who work at CBC news Calgary, and they have to pump out stories extremely quickly, mangage what they are going to follow, edit, and complete many other tasks, all in one day. It is impossible to expect them to understand aviation to the level a pilot would, or always be completely accurate. To the general public though, it looks very interesting, at they wouldn't actually know how accurate the CBC was in reporting the story. To the untrained eye, it would like disaster was averted my mere meters, and they played on that.

I wouldn't get too worried about this either. All these stories seem to promote commercial pilots and their professionalism, rather than anything negative. It is good to see non-pilot types showing this video to each other and commenting on how 'awesome' these pilots are

[Beefitarian]

I don't understand why you guys expect them to always be accurate.

I'm just weird. I think if you're called a reporter you should report information. I have nothing against an entertainer giving their opinion on things they don't understand. I just don't like it when they make it look like the show is news then try to make everything scary.

I don't know if the CBC that more or less.

[bmc]

Reporters don't really know anything about aviation above what the average person would know. To them, a lot of this stuff is very interesting.

Enough said.

Why do we not see the critics on this thread pick apart the accuracy of other stories on the CBC? Could it be because they are not experts in other fields?

Lack of subject matter expertise is not unique to the CBC.

[gulfan]

When CBC talked to me she said that she had no time to gain specifics about the video as there was a deadline. When Metro Calgary approached me they were really interested in it, interested in knowing more about the process, as well as the video.

I think it's a fair write-up - http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/a ... goes-viral

It's number two on YouTube right now - why? I don't know. Media sensationalization I suppose.

[BTyyj]

I don't understand why you guys expect them to always be accurate.

I'm just weird. I think if you're called a reporter you should report information. I have nothing against an entertainer giving their opinion on things they don't understand. I just don't like it when they make it look like the show is news then try to make everything scary.

I don't know if the CBC that more or less.

Yes.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you. Everyone I know at CBC said they wouldn't have posted a story "close to disaster" unless they actually had facts to prove it. I don't think everyone working at CBC tries to sensationalize the news. There is probably a specific few people who made the decision to use that title, and they probably got to their position at CBC by doing similar sensationalized titles in order to get CBC more views.

That being said, I do agree with you and that CBC went too far with this one in terms of the scare-factor. Knowing people who work there though, I don't think what they do is as straightforward as it may seem.

[Colonel Sanders]

Reporters don't really know anything about aviation

Nor do they know anything about anything else. Keep that in mind
when you are watching a non-aviation story - an expert in that field
is probably laughing his @ss off at the inaccuracies in it.

The media (especially an animal as political as the CBC) does not
inform. It entertains, and tries to educate you with their opinions.

[BTyyj]

To be fair, pilots know nothing about journalism either.

If someone were to bring a journalist in here, they would probably laugh their @ss off at all the misconceptions and misinformation being put on here about their profession.

This thread is just contradicting itself.

[C-FABH]

Another nugget of gold. C'mon, this is supposed to be a news story CBC? WTF!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/s ... lane-.html

[Rockie]

The media (especially an animal as political as the CBC) does notinform. It entertains, and tries to educate you with their opinions.

You mean as opposed to the National Post, Sun Newspapers and SunTV?

The CBC is the least political of them all because they recieve public funding. Their audience is the whole country, not just right/left wingers.

[yycflyguy]

The media (especially an animal as political as the CBC) does notinform. It entertains, and tries to educate you with their opinions.

You mean as opposed to the National Post, Sun Newspapers and SunTV?

The CBC is the least political of them all because they recieve public funding. Their audience is the whole country, not just right/left wingers.

The goalies, centermen and defensemen are under-represented in Canada.

TV media is the worst for trying to make the "news" into tragedy entertainment.

[Colonel Sanders]

EDITED - Off topic

[Rockie]

EDITED - Off topic

[YOWFLYER]

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