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Media Thread

China is super good at bullying corporations to toe their lines. ESPN is having the same fun time.
 
Zee said:
Nik Bethune said:
It's passing on pro-regime viewpoints uncritically and unsourced. You can't just put "people say..." in front of propaganda and get to claim it's "just reporting".
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It was just a crappy article nothing more nefarious than that. I think people are making too much out of it.  The Athletic staff have already responded to criticism on it and will improve in the future when handling sensitive topics like this.
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If this were the first instance of them having a pretty large ethical blindspot at the intermingling of ethics and money interests I might buy that but it's not.
 
https://theathletic.com/1438259/2019/12/06/with-former-leafs-defenceman-carlo-colaiacovo-aboard-tsn-1050-sees-radio-ratings-gains-in-toronto/

This article updates on the ratings situation between FAN590 and TSN1050. I am surprised that The FAN still lead in both the morning and afternoon ratings. The article does not touch on it, but perhaps that is due to the fact that their signal is much better and reaches a much wider area. I listen to TSN1050 via streaming on the iHeart app on my drive home because the signal for the radio is garbage north of Toronto.

 
In Ian Tullock's regular "Leafs Report Cards" review in The Athletic (paywall) of last night's game he include this paragraph in the 1-star section:

Ian Tulloch said:
Greg Millen ? I never like calling out commentators ? their job isn?t easy ? but I think it?s time to admit that Millen isn?t very good at his role between the benches. When you compare the quality of analysts TSN is putting out there on a nightly basis, whether it?s Ray Ferraro, Mike Johnson or Jamie ?Noodles? McLennan, it?s pretty obvious that Sportsnet is lagging behind in that department. The biggest hockey market in Canada deserves better analysis for these games.
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I have to agree with him. I shudder any time that Sportsnet is the broadcaster and throw up a little if Millen is on the crew. There are very few people on SN's shows that I can tollerate: Friedman is about the only "content" guy I like, and both Amber and Marek are decent hosts, but I'm not really a fan of any of their play by play or colour commentators or most of their other intermission/pre-game/post-game staff (and that includes the HNIC folks). Most of them are incompetent or marginal-at-best communicators. I suppose Colby Armstrong has his moments, but everyone else...meh.
 
I wonder to what extent Sportsnet's money troubles are impacting their ability to improve the on-air talent. Because like we went over re: Cherry, while good commentators definitely add to the experience, replacing Millen with someone better probably wouldn't drive ratings to any real degree.
 
Hobbes said:
In Ian Tullock's regular "Leafs Report Cards" review in The Athletic (paywall) of last night's game he include this paragraph in the 1-star section:

Ian Tulloch said:
Greg Millen ? I never like calling out commentators ? their job isn?t easy ? but I think it?s time to admit that Millen isn?t very good at his role between the benches. When you compare the quality of analysts TSN is putting out there on a nightly basis, whether it?s Ray Ferraro, Mike Johnson or Jamie ?Noodles? McLennan, it?s pretty obvious that Sportsnet is lagging behind in that department. The biggest hockey market in Canada deserves better analysis for these games.
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I have to agree with him. I shudder any time that Sportsnet is the broadcaster and throw up a little if Millen is on the crew. There are very few people on SN's shows that I can tollerate: Friedman is about the only "content" guy I like, and both Amber and Marek are decent hosts, but I'm not really a fan of any of their play by play or colour commentators or most of their other intermission/pre-game/post-game staff (and that includes the HNIC folks). Most of them are incompetent or marginal-at-best communicators. I suppose Colby Armstrong has his moments, but everyone else...meh.
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You wouldn't have any problems if you just watched the spreadsheets.
 
Nik Bethune said:
I wonder to what extent Sportsnet's money troubles are impacting their ability to improve the on-air talent. Because like we went over re: Cherry, while good commentators definitely add to the experience, replacing Millen with someone better probably wouldn't drive ratings to any real degree.
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Hard to say. They have a captive audience and the ratings are probably 99.9% driven by it being a Leafs game...they'll draw pretty much the same audience no matter what. I'm sure that impacts their willingness to invest in any talent upgrades.
 
Bob McKenzie announced his "soft retirement" where he will step back from the day-to-day hockey world and now only contribute once in a while on special occasions (World Juniors, Trade Deadline Day, etc). The end of an era...I may not always have agreed with him but I've always respected his dedication to the craft. Certainly one of the very best of his generation.
 
I like the guy and think he's a hard worker and good prospect evaluator but I think the "Hockey Insider" thing is probably the worst thing to happen to hockey coverage in the last 30 years.
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/thnkencampbell/status/1293660339989618695
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Nothing like being quiet when the bs was actually going on and then running in at the end and yelling "I told you so".....

Steve Simmons didn't ask a question. He reported something he wasn't supposed to and then when he was called on it, he threw a temper tantrum.
 
To be clear, Ken Campbell's tweet seems to be in reference to Dubas giving a one word response to this question from Simmons yesterday: "You referenced numerous times that the team didn?t meet its potential. Is it possible that you and Brendan and the staff have misread the potential of this group?"
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/thnkencampbell/status/1293660339989618695
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I finally dropped my sub to THN after they got rid of essentially everyone except this clown.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
herman said:
https://twitter.com/thnkencampbell/status/1293660339989618695
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I finally dropped my sub to THN after they got rid of essentially everyone except this clown.
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You're missing out on great takes like... if a player shot 25% he'd be a superstar!

https://twitter.com/THNKenCampbell/status/1293268807230935043
 
CarltonTheBear said:
To be clear, Ken Campbell's tweet seems to be in reference to Dubas giving a one word response to this question from Simmons yesterday: "You referenced numerous times that the team didn?t meet its potential. Is it possible that you and Brendan and the staff have misread the potential of this group?"
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I don't have an issue with the question at all.  I also don't have a problem with the answer.
 
Frank E said:
CarltonTheBear said:
To be clear, Ken Campbell's tweet seems to be in reference to Dubas giving a one word response to this question from Simmons yesterday: "You referenced numerous times that the team didn?t meet its potential. Is it possible that you and Brendan and the staff have misread the potential of this group?"
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I don't have an issue with the question at all.  I also don't have a problem with the answer.
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I actually think the question only left Dubas with one option. That was to answer with a resounding "No". How else does he answer that?
 
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