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strangeanimalclick here for the story or click the lj-cut below.
what a complete crock... can you say "backpedaling"? you would think they'd have better communication between people who probably sit three desks apart...
CHUM-AM denies banning war songs
By JOHN KRYK -- Toronto Sun
TORONTO -- Communication breakdown, it's always the same.
In a strange twist, CHUM-AM yesterday denied a story first reported by its sister Web site that it had banned 20 perceived pro-war or anti-war songs from its oldies playlist.
Representatives of the two CHUM Television-owned media outlets blamed the gaffe on a miscommunication.
The story was posted at about noon Thursday on the CHUM-owned Web site of all-news TV channel CP24, pulse24.com. It was subsequently re-reported by various other media, including The Sun yesterday.
No one from CHUM-AM complained to Pulse24.com about the story until yesterday morning. The story was not pulled until mid-day.
The original report claimed the banned songs included Give Peace A Chance by John Lennon, Soldier Boy by The Shirelles (a love song), Revolution by The Beatles and One Tin Soldier by The Original Caste.
"No songs have been banned on 1050 CHUM -- none," Brad Jones, the station's program director, said yesterday. The station yesterday even played at least two of the purported banned songs, including Give Peace A Chance.
Rob Farina, program director of 104.5 CHUM-FM, said his station also has not banned any war- or peace-themed songs.
Jones said pulse24.com's story was the result of a breakdown in communication during an interview between a pulse24.com reporter and CHUM-FM music director Barry Stewart. The reporter asked Stewart which war-themed songs were being pulled. Stewart thought the reporter meant pulled off the shelf for broadcast, whereas the reporter meant pulled from the playlist.
Stephen Hurlbut, VP and general manager of CP24 and its pulse24.com Web site, said his reporter's questions were clearly and properly worded but were misinterpreted by those she spoke to on the radio side.
"The report as written was completely accurate," Hurlbut said. "The phoneline was working properly at our end."
Jones told Canadian Press yesterday he could not believe how fast the story spread and how "misinterpreted" it got.
Jones, however, did not return calls placed early Thursday afternoon by The Sun's Bill Brioux seeking confirmation of the original story. Jones denies this.
"I called him at about quarter-to-five, and I was told by someone else that the deadline had passed," Jones said.
When told that Brioux had waited at his desk past 6:30 p.m. for Jones' call, and that only Brioux can pick up his direct line, Jones said, "You know something? I've talked to so many people about this now, I can't remember who (at The Sun) I talked to. I'm sorry."
A CHUM-AM marketing employee also did not return a message left Thursday by Brioux, but a CITY publicist assured Brioux that the pulse24.com story was accurate.
what a complete crock... can you say "backpedaling"? you would think they'd have better communication between people who probably sit three desks apart...
CHUM-AM denies banning war songs
By JOHN KRYK -- Toronto Sun
TORONTO -- Communication breakdown, it's always the same.
In a strange twist, CHUM-AM yesterday denied a story first reported by its sister Web site that it had banned 20 perceived pro-war or anti-war songs from its oldies playlist.
Representatives of the two CHUM Television-owned media outlets blamed the gaffe on a miscommunication.
The story was posted at about noon Thursday on the CHUM-owned Web site of all-news TV channel CP24, pulse24.com. It was subsequently re-reported by various other media, including The Sun yesterday.
No one from CHUM-AM complained to Pulse24.com about the story until yesterday morning. The story was not pulled until mid-day.
The original report claimed the banned songs included Give Peace A Chance by John Lennon, Soldier Boy by The Shirelles (a love song), Revolution by The Beatles and One Tin Soldier by The Original Caste.
"No songs have been banned on 1050 CHUM -- none," Brad Jones, the station's program director, said yesterday. The station yesterday even played at least two of the purported banned songs, including Give Peace A Chance.
Rob Farina, program director of 104.5 CHUM-FM, said his station also has not banned any war- or peace-themed songs.
Jones said pulse24.com's story was the result of a breakdown in communication during an interview between a pulse24.com reporter and CHUM-FM music director Barry Stewart. The reporter asked Stewart which war-themed songs were being pulled. Stewart thought the reporter meant pulled off the shelf for broadcast, whereas the reporter meant pulled from the playlist.
Stephen Hurlbut, VP and general manager of CP24 and its pulse24.com Web site, said his reporter's questions were clearly and properly worded but were misinterpreted by those she spoke to on the radio side.
"The report as written was completely accurate," Hurlbut said. "The phoneline was working properly at our end."
Jones told Canadian Press yesterday he could not believe how fast the story spread and how "misinterpreted" it got.
Jones, however, did not return calls placed early Thursday afternoon by The Sun's Bill Brioux seeking confirmation of the original story. Jones denies this.
"I called him at about quarter-to-five, and I was told by someone else that the deadline had passed," Jones said.
When told that Brioux had waited at his desk past 6:30 p.m. for Jones' call, and that only Brioux can pick up his direct line, Jones said, "You know something? I've talked to so many people about this now, I can't remember who (at The Sun) I talked to. I'm sorry."
A CHUM-AM marketing employee also did not return a message left Thursday by Brioux, but a CITY publicist assured Brioux that the pulse24.com story was accurate.
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jurnulizm...
Date: 2003-04-03 11:18 am (UTC)This whole incident seems less about censorship and corporate weasels, and more about sloppy work habits on the part of some of the reporters/writers.
What's the scandal here? That we believed the management of the CHUM group could be that pettyminded, or that writers/editors from the Toronto Sun are silly enough to run with an unconfirmed story off the internet?
And if the big outrage is that the Sun TV critic didn't get a call back to comment on an already dismissed non story,...well boo-friggin-hoo for him.