Comments for Lisa Johnson

Comment on Food prices, visualized by Kenji Fuse

Kenji Fuse — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:10:18 +0000

Vegetable cooking/salad oils have gone up over 50% in the past three years. Must be partially due to biofuel production. All the more reason to put resources into developing viable algal oil-based biofuel production.
The BC Liberal government, incidentally, has given petroluem fuels a 5% REDUCTION while imposing the full tax on almost-carbon NEUTRAL biodiesel. This, along with the sudden imposition of the full road tax, has almost destroyed the BC biodiesel industry. But because there is a mandate to include 5% renewables in petroleum road fuels (gasoline and diesel oil), BC must now not only import its petroleum fuels (from Alberta) but its renewable fuels as well!
The point of the digression above is that transportation, fuel and food production are all intertwined.

Comment on Food prices, visualized by Kim Nelson

Kim Nelson — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:39:57 +0000

How are those of us who are on Disability benefits supposed to cope when we barely get by as it is?

Comment on Is TV News Salvageable? A response. by lisa

lisa — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:31:46 +0000

Thanks for the comments, guys. @Mike – I agree with you I wish there were more beats; I was lucky when I had one.

@George – I think a lot about shooting my own stuff. There’s a clear advantage for pitching out of town trips, but even in town I think it would allow some more of the go-out-and-see practice I remember from radio, without knowing what you’re going to get before leaving the building. More serendipity. I don’t have it in me to VJ with official cameragear – I’d hurt myself – but there are so many more nimble alternatives now. 5D comes to mind, or I’ve even shot a standup with my current home camera, from the Canon G series.

Comment on Is TV News Salvageable? A response. by Mike C.

Mike C. — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:56:28 +0000

Lisa,
I find it sad that the organizers of the event could not find a TV news person to attend the panel. Obviously they didn’t spend much time looking. I could have found and recommended at least a dozen well spoken and knowledgeable people in Vancouver.
On the matter of whether or not TV news is salvageable, I disagree with the question. It should be “Can TV news be improved?”. Rumours of the death of TV are greatly exaggerated, usually by a vocal crowd of online-addicts or disgruntled ex-TV news journalists. TV news can, and should be improved. Less emphasis on stories driven by “minute-by-minute ratings” and more emphasis on enterprise reporting (as CBC is attempting.) More “back-to-basics” such as beat reporting and contact development. More emphasis on the reporters, not just the on-air presenters, more stories from BC’s ethnic communities and more collaboration with news producers (of which I am one). Journalism is a craft. It takes work to build credibility, solid contacts and critical thinking skills. Once managers realize that this will create better TV news shows, then the sooner TV news will be recognized as a legitimate and genuine source for daily news.

Comment on Is TV News Salvageable? A response. by George Orr

George Orr — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:35:12 +0000

TV News ain’t dead. But it can be deadening on the people who practice it, over time. Cures to that include deciding that the daily news agenda will not blinker your thinking, and that common wisdom stunts insight. Cures also include shooting one’s own material.

A MAJOR shortcoming in the process is The Desk. Assignment Editors need to be senior journalists with years in the market who can bring context, depth, and currency to every decision. Sorry, but i don’t know what the ‘today’ fix for that might be…

Note: Every story should be important.

Comment on Is TV News Salvageable? A response. by lisa

lisa — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 05:09:26 +0000

I agree with you about the tone of voice – though I hear this in men and women. I remember when I started at CBC, a smart colleague coached me to stop the way I was “voicing” my story. I’m not sure it was a half-shout I was definitely committing the rookie mistake of trying to be “Captain Radio”; some caricature of what you think a reporter sounds like. Not good.

Now, I try to sound as human/natural as possible on a story. There aren’t any editors telling us to sound one way or another – certainly a description of a murder should sound different than a happy cat rescue.

I don’t agree on the opinion piece; I think there is a role for reporters who are not columnists and don’t share their opinion. But I do think it’s incumbent on us to offer some analysis when we can, of what the story means, why it matters, or (in a dispute) on which side the balance of evidence lies.

Comment on Is TV News Salvageable? A response. by joel.

joel. — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:41:58 +0000

It seems to me that a lot of reporters, especially guys, talk in a loud half-shout kind of voice. They use the same voice when talking about a murder as they do when talking about a cat being rescued from a tree. This may be superficial. But I think there’s a case to be made that reporters should be afforded the ability to put a little more of their personalities and opinions into a story.

Comment on Squid surveillance, in several ways by The Naked Truth on Friday, May 13, 2011 « FrogHeart

The Naked Truth on Friday, May 13, 2011 « FrogHeart — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:30:18 +0000

[...] in science and environment stories. She also has her own blog where her Oct. 14, 2009 posting, Squid surveillance, in several ways proves sadly [...]

Comment on Canada’s beef-is-safe campaign, circa 2003 by Tweets that mention Canada’s beef-is-safe campaign, circa 2003 | Lisa Johnson -- Topsy.com

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 02:46:19 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lisa Johnson, Kyrsten Jensen. Kyrsten Jensen said: When a disease gets past initial shock to society, who talks to the media? Scientists? Or policy workers? by @lisasj http://j.mp/fS3XTI #fb [...]

Comment on What if the middle man disappeared? (Or picked his battles) by Darren

Darren — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:07:55 +0000

Amen on the ‘hard stuff’. That’s where journalists can best differentiate themselves from the rest of the online riffraff. I call myself a writer, and you can also call me “an online writer”, but I’d never claim to be a reporter, or even a “citizen journalist”.

I’m no expert, but I’d love to see newspapers and other media outlets become funded in a foundation model, where we’d have fewer of them, but also less bias, and more emphasis on substantive reporting that matters.