News and Media – Page 2 – OfficiallyScrewed.com

Is CBC Gunning For The Tories Already?

September 27, 2009Mulder

Below is an email sent from CBC Radio Ottawa to community associations all over the area. The bias is quite clear when you read the sections I have bolded below.

Hi everyone,
I’m an associate producer with the CBC here in Ottawa.

We are doing some research in anticipation of a possible federal election this fall.

The reason I am contacting community organizations is to find people with real life issues and stories that may be directly affected by whatever changes occur after a federal election.

To give you an example: if you know of someone in your neighbourhood or community who is struggling to find work, who is living off employment insurance or someone who didn’t qualify under the existing rules. Maybe you have a friend or relative who is dealing with legal issues and wanting or needing something to change under federal law. Perhaps you know of someone who is trying to bring family members into Canada from their home country and having trouble making their way through the refugee and immigration system. Or maybe you know of someone who is hoping to make a new life here but is running into obstacles such as having credentials recognized by Canadian institutions.

There are often stories like these that happen in our very own neighbourhoods.

We are interested in hearing these stories – maybe it’s even something that you yourself are dealing with, living through right now…

If so, please reply to this email and tell me about it.

We are striving to make election coverage about more than polls and percentages.

Community-minded people like you can help us do that.

I look forward to speaking (or emailing) with you!

Best
(Name Removed)
Associate Producer
CBC Radio Ottawa

In every one of the sections bolded above, the request is for issues that are currently negative but might be discussion points or election issues. The implicit but clear point is that they are looking for situations that are negative under the current (Conservative) government. No where does it ask for issues that are currently positive and might be in jeopardy should the current (Conservative) government fall.

Some may say this is inadvertent, but I think the bias is pretty clear.

Michael Ignatieff Ads Add Up To A Subtle Insult

September 6, 2009Mulder

Michael Ignatieff has new ads out. Let’s do some math.

FROM THE AD

Hi, I’m Michael Ignatieff. Wherever I have worked, I have met Canadians that are the best the world has to offer.

plus

FACT: Michael Ignatieff worked outside of Canada for 34 straight years.

equals

Michael Ignatieff thinks the best Canadians that the world has to offer live outside of Canada.

What does that make those of us who live in Canada? Chopped Liver?

h/t “A Step To The Right” (on hiatus)

John Stossel's Healthcare Piece – Postponed…Again

July 25, 2009Mulder

If I was a REALLY paranoid right wing extremist I might think that ABC’s decision to postpone John Stossel’s piece on the Canadian healthcare system until July 31st was because they did not want to run it when President Obama was getting pounded on his already failed attempt to push through healthcare reform before the summer break.

But I turned my PVR on this morning towatch the special because I was out last night and noted that Charlie Gibson had taken up the full hour on 20/20 with an oil/gas industry piece. Considering many Americans have a high interest in the oil/gas industry and the reasons behind the highly fluctiating prices, I will give ABC the benefit of the doubt. But one more delay and we won’t be so kind to the station that has regular love ins with Barry O.

If you want to read John Stossel’s view on the delay, as well as the views of his fans, you can check out his blog.

Where The Hell Are Our Priorities When It Comes To Cable?

July 22, 2009Mulder

Last week it was announced that the Rogers Cable subscribers in Ottawa would no longer get their PBS from rinky dink Watertown, NY anymore and would instead get it from Detroit, where most of our other major network feeds come from. I have two words for people.

WHO CARES?

Tell me the last time you actually watched PBS? It is Bill Moyer’s liberal playpen. Moyer should crawl back into the communist red hole that spawned him and hide his face in shame for what he has done to that network.

I am even more upset that I am hearing right wing or center right talk radio pick up the banner and wave it high that we need to support local TV stations. How about we support choice instead?

I am a Roger’s subscriber and I wanted Fox News Channel (181 on your Roger’s dial) and I had to subscribe to their “News” package which includes 5 other stations that I had no intention of ever watching and haven’t watched since I got them. Yet I have to pay the $4.99 for this one station. Today I inspected Roger’s pick and pay station options and all 5 of these stations are offered individually for $2.79 per channel if I just want the one. Guess which station in the “News” package was not available individually? You guessed right. The Fox News Channel.

So I surfed over to the Bell ExpressVu website and after a few minutes I noticed that the Fox News Channel was not available as a standalone either. It comes as part of their “News and Learning 2” theme package which includes 7 other stations and costs $8.00 per month. I found the Bell Pick and Pay options for single channel subscriptions and I could order every network in the “News and Learning 2” package individually for $2.50 each. All but ONE that is. Guess which one? Wow, you’re good. 2 for 2. It is the Fox News Channel.

This network is the number one rated cable news channel kicking CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and HLN to the ground. In fact, Fox regularly has the top ten individual ratings for shows in the Cable News World. Look at some of these numbers.

From April 2009, the top 11 shows were all Fox News Channel.

1. “The O’Reilly Factor” (Fox News): 3,498,000 total viewers
2. “Hannity” (Fox News): 2,566,000 total viewers
3. “Glenn Beck” (Fox News): 2,230,000 total viewers
4. “On the Record with Greta van Susteren” (Fox News): 2,173,000 total viewers
5. “Special Report with Bret Baier” (Fox News): 2,047,000 total viewers
6. “The Fox Report with Shepard Smith” (Fox News): 1,915,000 total viewers
7. “The O’Reilly Factor” (Fox News, repeat): 1,723,000 total viewers
8. “Your World with Neil Cavuto” (Fox News): 1,520,000 total viewers
9. “America’s Newsroom” (Fox News): 1,505,000 total viewers
10. “Studio B with Shepard Smith” (Fox News): 1,314,000 total viewers
11. “Happening Now” (Fox News): 1,247,000 total viewers
12. “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” (MSNBC): 1,237,000 total viewers
13. “The Live Desk” (Fox News): 1,210,000 total viewers
14. “Larry King Live” (CNN): 1,093,000 total viewers
15. “Anderson Cooper 360″ (CNN): 1,058,000 total viewers
16. “The Rachel Maddow Show” (MSNBC): 1,042,000 total viewers
17. “Situation Room” (CNN): 898,000 total viewers
18. “Lou Dobbs Tonight” (CNN): 826,000 total viewers
19. “Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull” (CNN): 786,000 total viewers
20. “CNN Newsroom” (CNN): 725,000 total viewers

When it comes to analyzing timeslots, to the right is a graphic taken from the Hot Air Pundit indicating ratings by timeslot. Note Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly (twice) kick some serious ass in their timeslots. Additionally, Fox News wins every slot from 5pm to Midnight by a significantly large margin, in most cases over all other news networks combined. How can Rogers and Bell include CNN in their premium cable packages, yet they continue to ignore Fox? This is a travesty in my opinion and it is another example of the viewing public getting Officially Screwed.

Forget PBS. I want my Fox News Channel!!

Blackberry Alert – Nobex Picks Up CFRA

July 20, 2009Mulder

For those conservative “Crackberry” addicts out there like me, I thought I should point out that Nobex Radio Companion has added Ottawa’s 580 CFRA to its’ list of stations a mere three months after I suggested they add the station.

For those who do not know, Nobex is a streaming radio player for your Blackberry and is available in the new “App World” or you can download it from the Nobex website. It is a fantastic way to get radio wherever you can take your cell phone.

CFRA is the radio station that many feel is the reason Eastern Ontario has elected so many Conservative MPs. With voices like Lowell Green, Steve Madely, Rob Snow, Nick Vandergragt, and John Counsell, I highly suggest people give it a listen either online at cfra.com or via Nobex on their Blackberry.

Be Careful. The Language Police are Coming.

May 25, 2008Mulder

I got sent this video clip by a friend. It is SO officiallyscrewed, I had to put it up on the OS Youtube Channel.

Click the video below ONCE to begin watching.

If the video above did not start playing for you, you can try clicking the link below instead to view in a new window.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrKwI77Whwk

MUST READ: Justice for Mahmoud Jaballah

February 28, 2008Mulder

Below is a snippit from Darcey’s first piece on the five Security Certificate detainees. The MSM has not covered these new stories with any great detail and this is truly an injustice. I highly urge everyone to go read the whole thing. Darcey has done a great job on this and deserves full credit and full exposure.

Egyptian-born Mahmoud Jaballah came to Canada in 1996 on a false Saudi passport and claimed refugee status. Along with is wife Husnah Al-Mashtoul they founded and ran the Um Al-Qura Islamic school located in Scarborough, Ontario which still remains open and is apparently approved by the Ontario Ministry of Education as a private school.

He was detained in February 2001 under charges from the federal government that he was a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad under Ayman al Zawahiri and was alleged to have been the communications person for the 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 213 people. In two days Mahmoud Jaballah made 20 calls to the United Kingdom, Yemen, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan and Mahmoud continues to evade explanation.

He was released seven months later but was arrested again under a new security certificate because it was found that his fingerprints matched those of Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Mahmoud Said that were released by Interpol . Jaballah’s middle name is Said and it is assumed that he was using an alias while in Egypt.

And it goes on and on with full text from CSIS on what this man is tied to and what he has done. Do NOT let “human rights” activists persuade you that these men should be set free within the borders of Canada…EVER.

CBC Bias Rears It's Ugly Head … Again

February 17, 2008Mulder

I just finished watching Marketplace on CBC this Sunday afternoon. That’s what happens when CTV cancels this weeks edition of Question Period.

The last 10 minutes of Marketplace was dedicated to seeing if consumers were really seeing the GST cut that the Tories have brought in.

They start off with a Tim Horton’s coffee and confirm that Tim’s is, indeed, passing on the GST cut by cutting the cost of coffee. I can confirm this because the price of an XL coffee used to be $1.59 and after the 2 point cut it is now $1.56. Yay Timmy’s!!!

But every other price they looked at was for a set price item. i.e. prices that have traditionally been rounded to a dollar (or half dollar).

They start off with a Saturday Toronto Star. $2.00 before and $2.00 after. Since a large portion of newspaper sales are via the box on the street corner, this one is a given as an item that would not change in price. Who the heck is going to want to put $1.98 into a newspaper box slot?

They then proceeded with Parking machines, parking meters, Live Theatre tickets, taxi cab fares and movie tickets. All of which have stayed the same with the base rate of the product going up meaning no cost savings to the consumer.

I don’t know about you, but I have noticed the tax saving on restaurant food, where the tax is added in AFTER the cost of the meal. I have noticed the tax savings in my grocery bill which far outweighs any money I put into movies, cabs, or parking. I have also noticed it anywhere the price of the item is set with the tax being added after the fact. Store owners did NOT go around the store bumping that $3.99 box of cereal to $4.03.

This was simply a poor reporting job by the CBC. The sad part about something like this is that most of the items they looked at were items that lower income Canadians do not typically use.

Lower income earners ride the bus over taking a taxi or paying for parking. The Conservatives put in a tax credit for the bus riders. Lower income earners might go to the movies occasionally, but more often than not they do not go see a $120 show at the Royal Alex in Toronto as the Marketplace segment showed. In fact, video rentals add tax AFTER the fact so that $3.99 rental that cost $4.59 after tax is now only $4.51. Thank you for my 8 cents!!!

Chalk this one up to that left wing bias our publicly funded network is known for.

Problem Solved : Just Get Everyone Voting At The Same Time

March 16, 2007Mulder

So the Supreme Court Ruled that a publication ban was acceptable in order to ensure west coast voters were not influenced by the east coast results before the western polls close.

This whole situation is ridiculous. We all know that with the internet, American bloggers like Captain’s Quarters kept us all in the loop on Gomery despite a publication ban.

How does the Supreme Court suggest we monitor for those breaking the law? In a day and age of instant information, live, up front, and in your face, there is no way they can lock up every blogger that posts results. Heck, there are people who live blog this kind of stuff on the minute.

This problem does not affect most smaller nations in Europe or Africa because they only have one time zone. But Canada has four. So what are we to do?

My suggestion? Open up the BC polls at 6 am, the Mountain time zone polls at 7am, the Central time zone polls at 8am, the Eastern time zone polls at 9am and the Newfoundland time zone polls at 9:30am. Run them for 12 or 13 hours each and close them all up at the same time. either 9:30pm or 10:30pm.

If society can’t adhere to the rules, then simply adjust the rules so that it doesn’t matter.