news

There are a couple of shows that Global carries that we watch. They’ve been advertising the fact that their main evening news program (in Ontario at least) is moving from 5:30 to 6. The commercial shows how hard-hitting their news can be and how it’ll bring some really useful information to its viewers. The thing that I remember most about Global’s evening news is that they were so proud of how early they carried it. It used to start at 5 and bring you the news first compared to the other networks. “You’ll hear it here first” is what they used to say. Now with even their national broadcast pushed back to 6:30 in Ontario, how much of a lead are they really going to have anymore over the other networks? Also with the prevalence of news sources on cable and online, does it really matter which news program is first? If I have timeshifting I could watch the National very early in the evening from the East Coast. There is rarely any news that is that pressing that I can’t wait until later in the evening or the next morning to learn about. I just don’t understand the emphasis on being the first. I’d be more concerned about being the best newscast.

Update (Sunday February 5th @ 10:10 PM): I just read James Koole’s post about the new Global redesign and he mentions that First National will now be on at 5:30 instead of 6:30. I think my point still stands about the fact that no matter when your newscast is airing, we live in a news world that offers new information on a constant basis. You have to move beyond just being the first to bring the news in the evening to being the best newscast period.