Look—election numbers becoming other numbers!
By Scott Feschuk - Thursday, November 8, 2012 - 0 Comments
Photo illustration by Taylor Shute
Election night, U.S.A., 2012: Democracy? Check. Hyperbole? CHECK! But where, oh where, were the dazzling technological innovations in broadcast coverage?
Four years ago, the guy from the Black Eyed Peas appeared via hologram for an interview on CNN. Surely this election season would produce nothing less than a trio of Anderson Cooper clones being attended to by a robot butler. Surely by now the technology would exist to beam up an actual live person from a spaceship or, at minimum, make James Carville not look like he just wandered in from the set of The Walking Dead.
Or maybe CNN spent all its money this time around on a robust supply of exclamation marks for Wolf Blitzer: “We are about to make a really major projection! . . . These are ACTUAL numbers coming in! . . . WOW, THE NUMBERS JUST CHANGED AS WE! WERE! LOOKING! AT! THEM!!!!” Believe me, if Election Night 2012 proved nothing else, it proved that Wolf Blitzer is amazed by numbers suddenly becoming other numbers. “Wow,” he said, more than once. “WOW!” Continue…
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We had something real, Tiger and I
By Scott Feschuk - Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 8:55 AM - 9 Comments
But I missed the signs. Like when he called me Rachel, then Jamie, Jamie again, then Vijay
Thank you all for coming. Please, take a seat.I have a confession to make. It’s painful for me to reveal, but I’m a person of integrity and the truth must come out: I, Scott Feschuk, humble magazine columnist, was one of Tiger Woods’s mistresses.
With all we’ve learned these past couple of weeks, it’s demeaning to admit this. I feel so cheap and dirty when I read the tabloids, scan the Internet or use these Ken and Barbie dolls to depict for you the precise mechanics of our lovemaking.
Hang on, I need to bend Barbie all the way back to—there we go.
[A thud is heard near the back of the room.]
Could someone please tend to Mr. Blitzer? I believe he’s fainted.
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Michael Jackson: "The Greatest"
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 9:08 PM - 18 Comments
No one held our gaze like him
Live in the Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer addressed the nation. Michael Jackson, he said, was dead. Or at least that’s what other outlets were reporting. CNN was still working to confirm Jackson’s demise.Blitzer consulted with a reporter known for his coverage of Jackson. They debated the precise level of shock to assign this development. Another reporter, this one having been to Neverland, mentioned Princess Diana. Blitzer introduced a 30-second clip of Jackson performing as a boy, then CNN’s “chief medical correspondent” was brought in to explain what happens to the body when it goes into cardiac arrest. A discussion of Jackson’s weight ensued. Blitzer stressed the need for heart defibrillators to be more readily available to the public. Another correspondent was brought in to find some irony in Jackson’s death coming just as he was to relaunch his career. Continue…
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In other "news"
By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 2, 2009 at 1:51 AM - 8 Comments
Post, Star, CTV and CBC are all making prominent mention at this hour of the Prime Minister’s comments, broadcast on CNN today, that the Afghan insurgency cannot be defeated.
The significance of those comments aside, note that the Prime Minister was broadcast saying the exact same thing on the exact same American news network ten days ago.
(Granted, Ottawa was rather preoccupied that day. But then the Prime Minister’s observation was rebroadcast two days later as part of a full interview with Wolf Blitzer on Feb. 21.)
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Stephen Harper in the Situation Room
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 6:18 PM - 29 Comments
Video of this historic meeting, does not yet seem to be available, but Here’s the text of the Prime Minister’s interview with Wolf Blitzer today—noteworthy, if nothing else, for the fact that CNN feels the need to capitalize THE SITUATION ROOM in its transcripts. (Video is now here. Note that the Canadian flag is not positioned directly behind Mr. Harper.)
Blitzer promises more tomorrow.
One can only hope it turns out to be as exciting as Lou Dobbs v. Jack Layton.
