Locked-Out Journalists Turn To Podcasting

An anonymous reader writes "An Interesting Canadian Press article is up on the Macleans website discussing locked out union journalists podcasting to stay on the air. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation locked out 5,500 unionized employees Aug. 15 over a contract dispute. Most of those walking the picket line are radio, TV and internet journalists and technicians. In the last few days, they've been cranking out podcasts - locked out folks in Fredericton, New Brunswick; Regina, Saskatchewan; Vancouver, British Columbia and other cities have all participated. Some have 'real news', music and interviews. Others are more propaganda-like. A whole batch of them are at www.cbcunplugged.com."

Comments

Bush says..

[peculiarmethod]

I suggest we go in there, drop a few EMP bombs, throw a few ICBMs (to remind the world we still have 'em), and go in there and LIBERATE THOSE JOURNALISTS!

I hear there's oil, too. LET'S ROLL!!

Re:Critical Mass?

[grazzy]

Or.. show the world how useless it is, and realize absolutely nobody is going to give a sh*t.. much like blogs.

Re:Two drink minimum

[techno-vampire]

Although I admire the locked out reporters resourcefulness at getting their message out, I can hardly sympathize with this bunch of elitist, narrow minded idiots.

I take it, then, that you'd have more sympathy with a bunch of elitist, narrow minded idiots who's politics you agree with?

Re:Critical Mass?

[Seumas]

Only if we give it a different, less stupid, name.

I love it.

A frequently updated website is called "blogging" and considered a whole new revolution again after over a decade.

Streaming/downloadable MP3s are called "podcasting" and considered a whole new revolution again after almost a decade.

What's next? Calling online gaming "active fantasy excercise" and claiming it's a new, revolutionary fad, too?

*eyeroll*

Speaking of which, I have yet to find a podcast that is worthwhile. I've tried listening to quite a few and they honestly just flat out suck. And every dipshit has one. Look, I can check my RSS feed in two seconds and see your Engadget news. I don't also need a stupid regularly scheduled podcast from a fricking gadget meme site just so they can jump on the "we're cool and hip" bandwagon.

If podcasting quality stays the same, I hope it fails just like videologging... or... videoblogging... or... vlogging... or blideovlogging.. or whatever the fuck this is called... is going to fail.

Inept website

[OpenGLFan]

They need to totally redo that website. Right now it's definitely got a "we're mad, and we're podcasting" feel to it. I thought, hey, let's see what the journalists are reporting about! Maybe they're some creative people who've been locked out! Let's listen to them. And the message I got was "We're mad, and we're podcasting."

They've missed the important point: you have to podcast about something. You can't just podcast. Look at the links on the right -- do you see all the journalists? All listed right there. Hey! They're podcasting! Yes, but what the frack are you podcasting about? It's like looking at a TV guide that says:

7pm: Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping
8pm: Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett
9pm: Edward James Olmos, Katee Sackhoff

which, if you're not already fans of Stargate and Battlestar Galactica, gives you no information and doesn't compel you to watch the show.

Re:Inept website

[mcc]

They've missed the important point: you have to podcast about something. You can't just podcast.

See, and that's where you're wrong. It's like "blogs". You'd think they'd have to "blog" about something? Nope, it turns out "I'm blogging!" and "blogs are important!" are both perfectly sufficient messages to sustain a blog.

Your insistence that you need content to broadcast is outmoded thinking. Blogs and podcasts, and with them the internet, have moved beyond that. "New Journalism" doesn't need content, or quality, or accuracy, or informative value, or entertainment value; it just needs to be there. What we are observing here is a revolution, and its goal is to revolutionize. It's not revolutionizing anything in particular, mind you. It's just revolutionizing.

Re:Hate the term "podcasting"

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

It is not "streaming audio"... A Podcast is downloaded and saved to the subscriber's disk for playback at a later time.

Which makes it even stupider to give it a new name like podcasting.

It's the original evil sourge of the internet known as "file downloading" - the progenitor of "file sharing!"

Re:Hate the term "podcasting"

[Xarius]

A Podcast is downloaded and saved to the subscriber's disk for playback at a later time.

So, in fact, it's downloading files, another term that existed long before the bloggers got hold of it...

Where exactly does the casting come into it?

Re:Two drink minimum

[IgnoramusMaximus]

They are funded by ALL Canadian taxpayers, but have a nasty habit of advocating left wing liberal causes.

Damn those darn facts which have "left wing liberal" bias. And damn the CBC for reporting them! How dare they!

If they acted more like the BBC (yeah, they aren't perfect either)when it came to programming maybe they would have a larger viewing base

BBC also has a nasty habit of sticking to facts thus "yeah, they aren't perfect either" but it can be brown beaten by rigged "inquiries" and its executives made to resign for reporting them darn inconvenient facts, thus you like it more. And if you want "viewing base" then CBC should be showing "Survivor" 24/7, execpt that is not its mission.