should be 'happened' obviously, above - had I stayed with CTV long though, I think I would have been tempted to take a nap.

If only that CTV chopper camera could have caught Carole James coming out of a shoe store with her new budget shoes. Carole James, sporting her new shoes, budget in hand, did not know what those shoes cost. Whether they were purchased with her own money or (more likely) taxpayer money doesn't matter, much. Here is a person running the BC economy and she claims not to know the cost of her brand new shoes. Shouldn't her memory be better than that? I would hope that she is more careful with our billions than she is with the dollars spent by her personally. And if she did know the cost of the shoes, why would she lie? Could it be that the price of the shoes would surpass what an HEU worker might expect to be able to spend on food for a month?

I saw the boy on the hill also and I, too, quickly changed the channel in disgust. Though he seemed to have some fear of heights, the boy looked physically safe. Now he has been further traumatized for having had his personal misfortune made to be everybody's business. Perhaps they can do a piece on the lasting effects of newspeople prying into people's personal problems.

SharingIsGood

Ummm! Carole "James", sharingisgood? Think you mean Carole Taylor.
Hey, no worries, the sentiment is right even if you got the names wrong.

Some flash but all gimmick!

Like CTV News Net showing ticker news stories at the bottom of the t.v. screen, but never actually reporting on them

like junk food; JUNK NEWS!

Well running a chopper will cost you about $2,000 per hour, so you can’t blame for trying to maximise it’s use. I sure it’s causing some accountant in their office to have a heart attack every month. The stabilized camera does give them some excellent footage.

Alcibiades, Whoops!

Thank you, I guess it is time for me to visit a neurologist about what is happening with my memory: now if only I could use that chopper to find one.

Colin:

Yeah, that camera is quite something.

They probably got great ratings last night.

Television is about style, not substance.

Sad, but true.

Hey the video made CNN, CTV has arrived!

good stuff, steve...i remember the first time i heard that hammer quip.it was my son's second birthday and gramps on mommy's side was a carpenter,he got junior one of those carpenter belts complete with tools.that hammer was his favourite toy for the next six months.

and it is true that when you have something nifty,like a chopper,you are going to use it.as colin pointed out,it aint cheap,but that camera is one hell of a tool/toy and i wouldn't think twice about using it...for anything...is that really,a guy thing ? from chopper nine,this is,haraldkann,the corn in chilliwack...is growing !

These copter stories have about as much relevance as a typical Steve Burgess-written piece.

So--based on your presence here grw, I'm guessing you watched that copter report all the way through.

I don't think the boy was tramatized in the least. He's now a minor celebrity. Woohoo! Already there's talk shows looking to buy the footage and get him on to talk about the experience. If he agrees to it, that pretty much suggests he'll be just fine.

(I hope my fifteen minutes of fame are for something remotely heroic or at least altruistic. OK, I'd settle for anything that doesn't have my friends laughing at me in minute sixteen)

"Perhaps they can do a piece on the lasting effects of newspeople prying into people's personal problems."

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people would watch that.

People love other people's personal problems. Even made-up people like Romeo and Juliet.

the only 6 o'clock news even worth considering is the cbc's. the rest are absolutely brutal and have been so for many many years. pedestrian, trivial, sensational, idiotic. that's why so many british columbians watch.

Here's a shiversome thought: the picture of the world and reality of many folks is made up of what they 'learn' from watching corporate 'news' broadcast and print media. Kinda like reading People magazine to learn about philosophy.

Great story Steve. I only watch CBC news. Can't stand the talking heads and phony looks of horror, sympathy, happy from the other networks. I've yet to figure out why nutrition advice, child care and travel destinations are news stories.

Steve...are you ever going to go back to CBC and do The End? I miss that show.

Hey, what's the problem with bagpipes?!! I could understand if you were talking about accordions...

So what do you do the rest of the time? Hover over the West End so that you can tell rush-hour listeners that the Stanley Park causeway has a lot of traffic. Stop the presses! The same information could be obtained using web cams, without the constant contribution of burning avaiation fuel and rotor noise that drowns out the music on my stereo when the windows are open. At one time it was illegal to buzz residential areas in aircraft. Now, it seems, it's encouraged. What's good for business is good for all!

I guess that wasn't the gist of the article, but I enjoyed the rant. Thanks!

This "copter footage makes news more important" phenomenon is an extension of the "any dramatic footage makes news more important" phenomenon, which is made worse when you can more easily get footage from another part of the world than from your own. As in, when a snowstorm ploughs up the eastern seabord, hitting New Brunswick hardest, and we get to see the footage from New York or Massachusetts, where cheaper/more dramatic images make the effects of the storm more important to report to Canadians than the effects in New Brunswick...

Kurt, I have no personal problem with bagpipes. Love them in fact. It's the damned aphorism that is at fault.

Aalborg, glad you enjoyed @the end. It was fun to do. Gone, alas, and no plans to revive it. Send donations to The Tyee.

Andrew, your point is underscored by the fact that CNN ran footage of this incident, so that Americans could be kept up to date on the important kid-on-a-Canadian-hill news they need. And now Ellen Degeneres is asking the kid to come on her show. Which I suppose vindicates the decision of CTV News to air it--ratings-wise anyway. News-wise, it is to weep.

News? That bilge on the commercial networks isn't what I consider News. Even the talking heads on these programs no longer consider themselves even the least kind of journalist. Have you noticed how they refer to their programs now as "shows" as, for example, "...later on in the show..."

These programs are big money makers for local stations and cheesy action shots from helicopters, with even cheesier voice overs, seems to be what draws viewers.

Journalism? What a joke.

Last Night, I turned on the TV. When flicking past the American channels, what should I see but more chopper footage of the stranded boy. They had meticulously edited the 10-15 seconds to make it look absolutely horrific. The pictures were joined with dramatic reading of dramatic text. They might even make money on the chopper footage if enough stations pick it up and broadcast it.

Did you see the CTV footage on CNN?

And, when we booked the young man for a radio show...he put us on hold while he finished talking to Ellen Degeneris.

huh.

The dumbing of our society is not something I ever expected in Canada. It is a great disappointment. I don't know why I was so naive. When CNN and FauxNews show up with their wild-eyed excitement about a kid on a cliff, we know it is the end of times. I did not see one second of that 'story' and will be eternally grateful. Ellen Degeneres? Give me a break. She'll probably want to know if the kid could dance in his little space on the cliff. Cuz dancing, like, you know, is sooooo good for the soul.

I dunno I thought it was exciting TV. In that I was absolutely gobsmacked at how long it took the firefighters to do anything. They were farting around forever. What the hell was their problem? You've got a bunch of big guys, a rope, let's go. Ever sat on your haunches for two hours on a windy cliff-face? Me neither but unlike some posters here, I think that would be rather difficult to take.

I've climbed a lot of mountains and have been on the edge of many a precipice more fear inducing than that. The poor lad, though scared, was not in emminent danger. Were he getting cold, they could have lowered him a blanket. 2 hours was a long time for him to have had to wait considering the relative ease with which he could be rescued. As some one earlier relayed: 3-5 good men/women and a good rope would have been more than enough.

If we want to view true horror, what about the needless millions dying yearly from famine, war, and treatable/curable diseases? What about the Liberals building a toll-free road to chalets in Whistler while designing a toll-bridge for the working people of Vancouver? Why is there a toll on the Coquihalla, and none to Whistler? Does the Legislature consider people beyond Hope, beyond Hope, so they may as well be taxed for coming to the Lower Mainland? They also upgraded the Island Highway considerably in the last 10 years, why no toll for those people? Surely there are much more newsworthy stories for the international viewer.

out of bounds signs,keep out signs,use your common sense ,these are some signs that show the next generation is dumbing down,especially when they are lying on the stretcher asking ...WHUT HAPPEN MAN ?

but i guess when you have BRAIN DEAD PARENTS,sh!t happens.

I was watching the news the other day and the three storys they reported on were meth labs,child porn and car crashes and then i thought why the hell am i watching this crap.

Stump says

(I hope my fifteen minutes of fame are for something remotely heroic or at least altruistic. OK, I'd settle for anything that doesn't have my friends laughing at me in minute sixteen)
Friends, now really stumpy,what a stretch, all one of them eh.

c'mon woody,you know stump has problems with singular and plural...

he adds that s onto everything to be safe...ha...ha...ha...lol

Is anyone aware of the fact that the boy landed up on the ledge going after the dog who had wandered away and that the guy standing around at the top was his "Big Brother" from the organization of the same name.

It was an accident, pure and simple and if these kinds of stories bother you, don't watch or read about them. Stay with your "elitist" holier than thou views of the world as you think it should be.

Yep, an unfortunate 'accident' over which an enormous amount of falderal was made - that's the whole point. When such 'news' pushes aside stories like the Israeli election, there's nothing elitist about it and certainly nothing holier than thou either.