Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda Published Convergys Comment

Some of my long-time readers might recall some eighteen months ago, when I broke the story (Will Convergys Close Kamloops Call Centre?) of comments from Convergys President and CEO David Dougherty that the company planned to move some of its Canadian operations to Asia, and questioned whether this would impact the Kamloops operations.

That post generated a lot of attention both in terms of traffic to this web site, and within the local media. The latter I found rather curious, given that I hadn't actually added any value other than to discover information that was already freely available in the company's public record.

Anyways, an anonymous comment left on a follow-up post, Convergys Relocation Statements Cause Anxiety Across Canada, stated that the Kamloops location would in fact shut down, and that Convergys would evacuate the country completely by the end of 2008:

I cant say who I am or what I know but Convergys Canada will be completely gone by December 2008. Kamloops and Ottawa will be closed 100% by September 2008, and the rest will follow in the coming months.

In subsequent posts (Ethics, Anon!) I troubled a bit over whether or one should publish anonymous comments, and invited the author of that comment to contact me off the record. Then, after speaking with Convergys' Vice President of Business Development for Canada, Igor Sarenac, who unequivocally refuted any intentions to shut down Kamloops operations, I ultimately I chose not to share the comment, either with my readers or with interested local journalists. Given recent events however, the point is now moot.

Yesterday, news broke that the Kamloops Call Centre would in fact close (Dave Eagles, I am again in awe of your nuanced photojournalism).

So, I'm looking for input... did I miss the boat, or did I get it right by not publishing the comment? It's very possible that the commenter was spot-on, but that shifting economic realities (like a Canadian dollar that plunged during the recent financial crisis) kept this call centre open when it otherwise would have closed back in December. Should a blogger care whether or not interesting information comes from a single, anonymous source?

Obviously there is value in verification, but I personlly engage greater skepticism when reading blogs by amateurs than when reading professional online media, and expect others to do the same. Does that render absent the need for any even a passing wave at journalistic practices? Believe me, bloggers like me typically struggle to simply post on a regular basis, let alone verify (or even consider following) reader-submitted leads.

I'm listening...

To share your thoughts about the Convergys, the local economy, journalism, blogging, anonymity, or anything else with readers of Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops, just click on "Comments" (below)

Movie, Interrupted

As discussed here in the past, my work takes me frequently on the road to various locations across Canada. I enjoy meeting with customers face-to-face, but dislike the time spent away from my young family.

A couple of years ago I would hit the theater at least once a week for a movie, but given how much time is currently spent on the road, when in town I prefer to just stay at home. These days, I catch far more movies in airplanes and hotel rooms than at actual theaters.

The frustrating part of catching movies on the road is how often one misses the second half or tail end when the plane starts to descend and the entertainment system shuts off. Maybe if I wasn't so greedy, if I didn't always push my luck and try for a second movie, I wouldn't be in that position. But the same quirk of personality that makes me perpetually late, the fact that I can't be content with what I've already accomplished, that I have to squeeze in just one more thing no matter what, does me in.

But tonight was different.

On Air Canada flight 115 from Toronto this evening (picture, at right), I finished not one, but two movies! Now when I say finished, that's exactly what is meant; I finally caught the second half of two movies; Traitor with Don Cheadle and Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais, Téa Leoni, and Greg Kinnear. While working until the charge on my laptop expired. And reading two newspapers. And switching seats to an exit row, with at least two more glorious inches of legroom. Sweet!

Finally, I am content. After an already long day of work, I squeezed a lot of things in, managed to accomplish some professional objectives, and resolve some unresolved leisure activities (like writing this post). Today was a good day. And I just had to share.

To share your thoughts about travel, Don Cheadle, Ricky Gervais, Air Canada, or anything else with readers of Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops, just click on "Comments" (below)

I, Tourist

It was unavoidable. At some point, I knew I would start making excuses. With my outside voice.

I've been writing - but not posting about - the upcoming civic election. Three separate and largely complete stories in the can... but in each case I've backed away from actual publication.

My apparent loss for words has prompted several readers and politicians/organizers to ask me, "What's up?" It hasn't been writer's block per se, more like an overactive sense of discretion. Imagine!

In any event, Sunday afternoon at the Canada Games Pool I ran into Michelle Young of the Kamloops News. As our respective families splashed, she teased me about my radio silence. And that's when it happened.

"I'm just too busy to write," I whimpered in response, "and of course, I'm not getting paid!"  But as my words fell flat into the hyper-chlorinated pool water, it suddenly occurred to me that my children may have come by their chore-avoidance whine honestly; apparently it's my legacy.

Publishing a blog becomes a chore at times, especially when my inexperience and lack of discipline as a writer/editor becomes an obstacle to, rather than a catalyst of, the expression of opinion and ideas that will stand on their own. Barry the editor and Barry the writer both want to cover the election, but the two can't agree on how to explore the subject. 

Truth be told, I've painted myself into a corner. I've said before that I'm not a journalist, but all the same in past years I attended forums, chased the issues, and even joined the occasional campaign; I was well-informed. This year I resolved to let the news - and the politicians who make it - find me. Not a journalist, remember? This time around, I'm a tourist.

The result? I'm experiencing a crisis of political faith. I've never been so bored outta my friggin' skull!

This has been the most plodding municipal election I've ever seen. None of the issues or candidates have really caught my attention, and I'm not sure I know many of them better than I did before the election started. Is it always like this?

Can't be... look at Salmon Arm.

In the Heart of the Shuswap, voters are fully engaged. Over the course of (count 'em) five nights of full-to-capacity public hearings, council voted down the SmartCentres (a.k.a. Wal-Mart) development on the flood plains west of the city. Since then however, pages of backlash in the Lakeshore News suggest that the every candidate for council will in some way be judged by his or her position on the issue.

In Salmon Arm, the SmartCentre has become a wedge issue; regardless of how councilors have voted in the past, this issue could realign and reassign their traditional support. Do we have a wedge issue in Kamloops?

Dale Bass has identified one of the key concerns of the election (and the dominant concern for the North Shore) as "ongoing social issues". But while social issues may be on people's minds, if that was the number one priority one would expect the food bank cupboards might be brimming, rather than bare. Here in Kamloops, we seem to be living a wedge-free existence.

Despite the lack of action, lack of wedge issues, and lack of informed bloggers (or maybe because of those things), I have an election gift for you. It's a special Uninformed 2008 Municipal Election Version of Baker Likes, with a focus on the positive. These are the people who got through to me during the course of this election, and in some cases, over the course of their previous terms on council:

Baker Likes:

• Ken McClelland - I know Ken personally a little, and have always been very impressed with his grasp of issues and willingness to listen. He is unashamedly pro-business, and given this city's history of folding up like a cheap tent when recession winds blow, that's exactly the kind of leadership I'm looking for.

• Peter Milobar - Peter has run a campaign that puts the capital "Buh" in "Boring." His ads in the newspaper led with... sewage? Can you imagine a bigger buzzkill? Maybe not, but it's tough to argue with capable leadership when it focuses on the real (rather than imagined) responsibilities of city hall. Believe me, I've tried.

• Murphy Kennedy - Murphy is a likable candidate who fell into the same trap as some others before him; he tried to create issues where none existed. In retrospect, maybe he should have made it about him and Peter, and turned it into a good old-fashioned likability/popularity contest; I'm pretty sure that approach has worked here before.

• Bill McQuarrie - While it hasn't commanded a lot of media coverage during the election, I still get the sense that a lot of Kamloops residents have unresolved feelings about the backyard burning issue. Given how boring the campaign has been, one wold think that most of the incumbents will be returned. But if the turnover is significant, this issue will be the culprit. Mr. McQuarrie doesn't appear to be a one-trick pony however; at the Media Candidate's Forum (I cheated, and watched it on Shaw cable) he also took a chance by reminding the crowd that the provincial and federal governments collect taxes to fund social issues, so the municipality should stick to its knitting; local infrastructure.

• Pat Wallace - I've heard other candidates and politicos complain that the only reason Ms. Wallace is a councilor is that she needs to supplement her pension. So what? Aren't we all motivated by something? She has a tonne of experience, and ends up on the right side of most issues. Pat Wallace rocks!

• John O'Fee - John has impressed a lot of people this last term with his ability to speak graciously about his old federal foe, Betty Hinton. I like his focus on neighbourhoods, which is a more appropriate and right-sized challenge for this municipality than "eliminating homelessness" as per Tina Lange (maybe we should cure cancer while we're at it). And he's been part of the airport solution to boot. I'm always impressed with John's willingness to reason and argue, even when I dislike his vote. He'll get mine.

• Nancy Bepple - I like Nancy's chances to make the short list this time around. She's an interesting combination of green, innovation, and fiscal savvy. Consider a recent entry on her blog, which states,

"Kamloops has among the highest water and sewer rates in the province. In fact, for every $1 in city taxes, the average homeowner in Kamloops pays an additional 61 cents for water and sewer.

The fact that Kamloops water and sewer rates are among the highest in the province is nearly impossible for the average taxpayer to know [...] Kamloops taxes are compared to other cities, but no equivalent comparison is done for the water and sewer charges. Transparency, the hallmark of good accounting practises (sic), is ignored. [...] we as taxpayers should demand equivalent accountability from local levels of government as at the provincial and federal levels."

I've heard lots of people bitch about how the real taxation we pay has been obscured by utilities, but this is the first time I've heard a call for a provincial auditor of BC municpailities. I Like It.

That's it! To share your thoughts about the Kamloops municipal election, Pat Wallace, Nancy Bepple, John O'Fee, Bill McQuarrie, Murphy Kennedy, Ken McClelland, Peter Milobar, or any other candidate present or past with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, just click on "Comments" (below).

Under My Skin

Things get so crazy in the fall, doesn't seem to matter what a person is involved in, how large or small their family... it's just the busy season. Even weekends that looked laid back until Friday afternoon end up looking more like a 2-day scavenger hunt than anything resembling restful relaxation.

Despite (or in part maybe because of) the two concurrent elections underway, I haven't got the brain power for big ideas.  This last week, it's been the little things that gotten under my skin, hence this lengthy installment of Baker Likes/Baker Doesn't:

Baker Likes:

• It's a booth time! - As predicted in this space a year ago (September 8, 2007 - Expect highway tolls to be in play for next BC election), the provincial Liberals today removed the toll from the Coquihalla highway. Premier Gordon Campbell announced the move this afternoon at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in Penticton.

Throughout the week, it appeared that the Premier had been on the ropes over his carbon tax, with mounting pressure to exempt the North, or cancel the tax entirely. On Wednesday he "blinked" by promising to refund the tax to communities that become carbon neutral by 2012. He looked weak, even Carol James was feeling the wind at her back, crowing that Campbell was "... not listening" to the province's community leaders. Little did she realize it was all a set-up.

By allowing an expression of popular opposition (as opposed to official opposition) to wring this toll from his hands, Gordon now looks like 1). the belle of the ball (long, hard-wraught pun intended), and; 2). a good listener who understands British Columbians.

But in addition to the gifts he bore for municipal leaders, Mr. Campbell also delivered a lump of coal to Jack Layton, who he criticized for promising to tear up the softwood lumber agreement.

“Rip it up? Give your head a shake,” Campbell said. “We won't rebuild the forest industry by ripping up the softwood lumber agreement . . . It’s what’s keeping our forest industry going through what is probably the most difficult period in its history.” - The Tyee

Whatever your stripe, it's hard not to be impressed with that kind of masterful political play. Mr. Campbell drove one through the heart of his own political opposition with a solid forehand, then immediately spread the love around for the federal Conservatives with a surprising backhand to Jack Layton's head. But then again, the anti-Layton sneer works in Mr. Campbell's favour too; does anybody really differentiate between shrill provincial and federal NDPers?

• Sex on the hustings - OK, well maybe not sex on the hustings, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, certainly a lot of chatter about sex, judgement, and one Conservative candidate. Sharon Smith, who represents the Conservatives in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, was captured in a full-monty portrait by her husband after capturing the Houston, BC mayor's office in 2002. The picture was soon after published on the Internet by person's unkown, and even made a splash across the pond in the U.K. press. But everything old is new again in a federal election, so Mrs. Smith is once defending her birthday suit celebration. Between Stephen Harper and Mrs. Smith, have the Tories ever looked so sexy?

• A different kind of sizzle is what caught my eye at CTV.ca, where the network is demonstrating a deft touch with some online tools which this voter found fun and informative. The first, a Canada-wide election heat map, helps one visualize where the leaders are currently and where they've been over the course of the election. It was a neat feature during my first visit, but lacked the depth to pull me back in during subsequent visits; now, if it had provided a link between the leader's stops (represented by push-pins on the map) and the stories that resulted from those whistle-stops, I'd go back again and again. The second tool was better executed, it's a "Pick Your Party" race (at right). Viewers are asked to select from a sequence of unattributed quotes to determine which leader aligns best with your views. It had me guessing to the end.

• No oil please, I'm gassy - Nice to see that legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens continues to put his money where his mouth is with respect to moving America away from its dependence on (foreign) oil. Mr. Pickens just bought Canadian innovator FuelMaker Inc., which produces a natural-gas refueling station for the home, called the Phill. The appliance taps into the natural gas lines already in one's home, to leverage a relatively inexpensive but previously inaccessible vehicle fuel source. Critics suggest his motivation is all profit. Is that a bad thing?
  

• EI option for Self-employed - Prime Minister Harper's pledge to introduce parental EI benefits for entrepreneurs is a fresh and welcome initiative. While the devil may very well be in the details, feedback on non-aligned sites seems largely positive. The move will give many married voters another reason to vote Conservative, while simultaneously appealing to the 15% of the Canadian workforce that is currently self-employed, and which . While I generally prefer governments to limit their roles rather than increase them, family-friendly initiatives that help children spend more time with their own parents represent a welcome departure from the groupthink that encourages parents to place children in the care of others. 

Baker Doesn't:

• Dion goes to the bench - It's about time. Stephen Dion has finally discovered that if he can't win this election by himself, at least least he can lose it with help. One of Jean Chrétien's most dependable tactics was the deployment of lieutenants as foils against his foes. It gave him an opportunity to deliver different messages, but without the responsibility of consolidating those messages into a single unified thread. It also provided a lot of leeway for Mr. Chrétien to attack other party leaders, without the risk of getting muddy himself (not that he ever shied away from that).

But Mr. Dion is only getting it half-right... he's stumping along with them. It's an obvious mistake; he looks a wan in comparison, and is giving many card-carrying Liberals reason for regret rather than enthusiasm. The Liberal leader should assign one of the more aggressive members of the Liberal pantheon to shadow Mr. Harper directly, maybe one of them has what it takes to step up and become "The Grate One" of Canadian politics, à la Esa Tikkanen. The Republicans did it very effectively in Denver; the Liberals should be attacking the Conservative strength here in Canada, and the only way to do that effectively is with a team, not a one-man show. Mr. Harper is in the zone; the Liberals need to get him off his game before he runs up the score.

• 2 legit 2 quit - Why is it that when traditional media is under pressure, bloggers get the blame? This week local journalists gathered at a forum to discuss the present and future of journalism for the benefit of TRU journalism students. The Daily News reported that some of the collected professionals expressed concern that blogs have intruded into the news that people consume locally, like it's an either-or proposition. But if traditional media has lost its appeal, and blogs may be the usual suspect, the actual culprits may actually reside a little closer to home.

Take broadcast for example. Back in 2004, CNN reported on a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press study which revealed that "21 percent of people aged 18 to 29 cited "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live" as a place where they regularly learned presidential campaign news. By contrast, 23 percent of the young people mentioned ABC, CBS or NBC's nightly news broadcasts as a source." Then, in May 2008 Pew told us that John Stewart has become the 4th most admired journalist (tied with legitimate anchormen Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Anderson Cooper). What does it say about legitimate news media that news satire has become synonymous with news?

I personally have always been skeptical of what I read or hear on any news source. Rather, I read and listen to lots of news stories, editorials, and letters to the editor, then based upon my own experience of how the report of an event can differ from the actual event, I form my own perspective on an issue. Often the thing that drives me online to blogs (and other endpoints) is an on-going quest for more perspective, depth, or awareness of what others think. I do that, surely others do as well. In which case, the legitimate media should be adapting to the cause (evolving viewer/reader/listener/browser behaviour) rather than railing against the symptom (the growing popularity of blogs and other ultra-local/social media).

Despite the inclusive language of CFBX program co-ordinator Steve Marlow, I'm not convinced that blogging is journalism, although in the right hands it certainly can be journalism. But whatever it is, it doesn't require nor desire a nod from traditional media to be deemed legitimate; the consumer has already proclaimed this media 2 legit 2 quit reading. Hammertime!

To share your thoughts about the running man, Hammer, The Grate One, John Stewart, Colbert, Stephen Harper, Stephen Dion, Bob Rae, maternity benefits, the federal election, T. Boone Pickens, Gordon Campbell, the Coquihalla toll, politics,Sharon Smith, Kamloops media, or anything else about this post with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, just click on "Comments" (below).

No Grey Lady

On July 9, 1998, after an uninterrupted run of monochrome glory spanning more than a century and half, the Old Grey Lady of Canadian newspapers - The Globe and Mail - responded to competitive pressures by belatedly embracing full-colour editorial content.

Ten years later, stylistic decisions that handcuffed Canada's largest daily in the nineties seem pretty straightforward in retrospect. While the large-scale shift of advertising dollars from print to online media is crippling American newspapers, north of the 49th parallel newspaper revenues are pretty stable overall due in part to "robust growth in online ad sales".

Last week, on the anniversary of the Old Grey Lady's makeover, Kamloops This Week and its parent Black Press provided a local example of how some Canadian newspapers are meeting the Internet challenge, by unveiling a variety of stylistic and content changes to the newspaper's web site instead of its paper manifestation. In this case, rather than signaling a concession to the marketplace, these incremental and ongoing changes instead demonstrate a wholesale commitment to becoming a different kind of news delivery vehicle.

The previous format of the KamloopsThisWeek.com / BCLocalNews.com web site (pictured below), was first introduced about a year ago. That presentation was very similar to the newspaper, but unfortunately that strength was also a weakness, as it boxed the highly visual, highly interactive potential of the Internet within the confines of a more traditional and static display.

In addition to a new layout and colour scheme, a variety of menu options have been introduced or expanded upon within the new design (below), including ticker tape news headlines, a community calendar (currently empty, but with a crowd-pleasing RSS feed), weather (complete with a global warming blog), horoscopes, lotteries, comics, and a renewed focus on Blogs written by Black Press staff.

Visitors are now treated to a much more visually-oriented experience, including the very nice touch of pictures within local obituaries. The "Videos from Around BC" tile on the home page is quite tactile, practically inviting the viewer to click and view (in this case, a short unannounced recording of fire fighting efforts in Dallas over the weekend, shot by Editor Christopher Foulds). Getting visitors to click is the trick; news and media web sites have some of the highest bounce rates among industries, so retaining visitors for a couple more page views (and ad impressions) is a solid good outcome.

My favorite feature? I can start a video, then continue to click n' browse on the home page while the video news item plays uninterrupted. Very nice!

The Black Press Internet platform appears to be managed corporately, rather than by any Kamloops-based developers. I personally like the results; the KTW news team is acquiring new skills (video reporting, near-time news delivery, etc.) which remain focused on the existing core competency, news. Meanwhile, the mother ship manages critical, but non-core functions like the technology platform.

These changes will undoubtedly help Kamloops This Week and Black Press retain and grow online revenues. But in some markets critics have expressed the concern that centralized corporate control could displace local editorial independence.

What do you think?

To share your thoughts about Kamloops This Week, Black Press, traditional media, media convergence, or anything else about this post with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, just click on "Comments" (below).

What Colour The Pot?

Something interesting happened in the wake of the collapse last week of the Kamloop's RCMP's prostitution sting and diversion effort. As you may recall from the various accounts of local journalists, the RCMP pulled the plug on the sting after failing to receive assurances from some local media that they wouldn't publish news of initial arrests prior to the conclusion of the operation.

The manner in which the editors of our two Kamloops newspapers defended their respective and differing responses to the police request for silence is where the story really grabbed my attention. The broadcast media may have also addressed the issue, but alas my personal time lines seldom intersect with local TV and radio opinion pieces (note to self: write another post about media persistence, and poke all the local outlets that aren't Kamloops This Week in the eye for not employing it).

Mel Rothenburger of The Daily News quite rightly defended his decision to not make a decision in response to the police request. It seems that a little patience on the part of Inspector Yves Lacasse might have gone a long way toward achieving the successful execution of the operation.

Christopher Foulds of Kamloops This Week meanwhile took a different, but likewise reasonable approach. As he wrote in his May 25 column (and again here on his blog),

On the grand scale of things, delaying by a couple of days reporting on the arrests of a few prostitutes isn’t that great a deal.

...In more than a decade of covering the police beat, the paper for which I wrote was approached more than a few times with similar requests.

Far more often than not, we declined to take part.

...However, the Kamloops RCMP request spoke to a greater good and apparently made sense to every media outlet in Kamloops but one, for reasons to which I am not privy.

...What likely won’t be reported elsewhere is how a simple request by the police that made sense somehow became an issue of, perhaps, press freedom and other self-important nonsense that led to far fewer women getting a chance to join the ranks of normal society.

When the media engage in this kind of public self-awareness, it fascinates me. And it's not the first time Mr. Foulds has cast a disapproving eye upon another organization for not employing greater discretion in the execution of their craft.

In February Matt Drudge of The Drudge Report (that's right, the blog that brought you Monica Lewinski) took a shellacking from much of the mainstream media for running the story of Prince William's deployment to Afghanistan. After the story broke, Prince Harry was shipped back home to protect the lives of both he and his comrades from focused attacks.

Kamloops This Week joined a chorus of news organizations that criticized Drudge. On March 2, 2008 the paper published the following in the hot and not list for the week:

 NOT: Moronic bloggers like Matt Drudge...

Various news organizations knew Harry was in the danger zone, but agreed to not report the information, realizing that doing so could very well place the lives of the prince and his fellow soldiers in even greater danger.

But Drudge, late to the ball, published the information when he learned of it, for no apparent reason other than to illustrate that he has the information, thereby further widening the credibility trench that separates bloggers from journalists.

The Kamloops This Week editorial board probably wished it could take some of that back when more information became available. First, it turns out that Drudge's blog wasn't the initial news organization to break the story when it published its "World Exclusive" February 28. But nobody noticed when Australia's New Idea magazine beat Drudge to the punch by almost two months, running the story on its web site January 7.

The UK media were in the know all along, but agreed to keep quiet in return for special considerations, which incidentally neither New Idea nor the Drudge were offered. While New Idea subsequently apologized, Drudge's refusal to make nice drew scorn throughout the English-speaking world. With some exceptions.

The UK's own Channel 4 broadcaster Jon Snow criticized the media's self-censorship when he said, "thank God for Drudge" and asked, "... whether viewers, readers and listeners will ever want to trust the media again" for their role in covering up Harry's deployment.

The Washington Post also tacked counter to prevailing winds on February 29, the day after Drudge published the story:

The idea that Britain's diverse and highly competitive media outlets could keep a secret about anything struck many observers as remarkable -- particularly when that secret was England's favorite young hell-raising party boy.

... In return for their silence, the media would get access to a pre-deployment interview. They would also be allowed several "embeds" with Harry's unit. Pooled interviews, video footage and photographs of Harry in Afghanistan would be made available to all.

The media agreed not to publish those materials until after Harry's tour ended in April, the source said.

... British media critic Roy Greenslade called the Harry story "an incredible piece of self-censorship."

I personally don't have an opinion regarding how Drudge, Fleet Street, or others handled news of Prince Harry's deployment. Neither do I have an opinion about how the respective editors of Kamloops This Week and The Daily News handled police requests for silence. These and other similar cases make it pretty clear that reasonable journalists in similar situations can and do make completely different, reasonable decisions.

But I do have an opinion about the ease with which some professional journalists cast judgments against the blogging community, based upon criteria which they seem less eager to apply to their own kind. When a blogger chooses to damn the torpedoes and run with a story - like professional journalists oftentimes do - is it really evidence of a "credibility trench that separates bloggers from journalists"?

To share your thoughts about news media, bloggers, citizen journalists or any other subject with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

Ethics, Anon!

Back in December I took one upside the head from a reader who accused me of (among other things), engaging in pseudo-journalism in this space. The comment took me a little by surprise; although the media is a constant source of fascination, it had never occurred to me that my posts might come across as a wanna-be reporting. Rather, since about my kindergarten years I have felt a keen sense of responsibility to share  my opinions with people, even if that meant putting them in a head-lock to make sure they didn't miss anything. While it's tough to form such a intimate embrace with readers online, I do hope that the quantity of opinions here have somehow made up for the quality and lack of bias some readers may look for.

Since that dust-up in December I've been trying to pay more attention to the blogger/journalist relationship, however. A large body of commentary has already been dedicated to the evolving free press ecosystem over the last five or six years, so I've been making hay with the opportunity to engage in a brand new navel-gazing exercise.

All that research came into sharp focus this afternoon, when I received an anonymous comment from a Right Up Your Alley Reader reader about the status of a major Kamloops business operation.

The fact that this information was provided anonymously has created a quandary for me; should I publish, or not?

I bounced the idea off a couple of experienced journalists who generously heard me out, then advised against publication unless I can confirm the information independently. And so I guess it's back to this... am I a journalist? And even if I don't consider myself to be one, should I recognize and conform to the ethics of that profession?

In his 2006 column for the USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review, Time to get tough: Managing anonymous reader comments, Vin Crosbie wrote:

If you're going to let someone publish something in your publication, whether in print or online, know their identity and read their submission before its publication. If they truly are willing to stand behind their words, then they must be willing to withstand identification by the publisher who has legal responsibility for the publication of their words.

If they request that the publisher disguise or omit their identity in publication, let them first provide the publisher with a cogent reason. (The publisher should state somewhere on the page's boilerplate that a writer's name may be withheld for reasons but only after prior identification.)

But that's a different context, more oriented towards blogs on media web sites, rather than independent free-standing blogs like mine, although the question of legal responsibility is essentially identical. A response by Robin Baker to that column took a less intrusive approach to anonymous comments:

When you read a blog, understand it from the perspective that I do. Blogs are about the doughnut shop. Whether it be Tim Horton’s or Dunkin Donuts. It is not Blogs or Bloggers intruding on Journalism, it is about journalism listening in on the conversation going on between the donuts next door.

OK, so that whole doughnut thing kind of threw me, but that stuff about the conversation is pretty close to on-target. Requiring independent confirmation might satisfy journalists, but is that really relevant to a blogging community that is more about dialogue than one-way delivery of content?

There have been a variety of attempts over the last few years to develop code of ethics for bloggers, but these attempts have largely fallen by the wayside because: 1). bloggers are fiercely independent, so top-down concepts are essentially non-starters, and; 2). bloggers refused to adopt a code based upon the code of ethics for journalists.

Many bloggers would prefer that the community at large have the opportunity to vet comments and information (much like peers review research papers) to the withholding of information by publishers. One of the most promising (and recent) blogger codes was originally produced last year by Tim O'Rielly, a popular technology publisher, and is now being exercised further by the blogging community here at the Blogging Wikia.

Here again, there is a bias against purely anonymous comments, and part of the motivation for that seems to be that the publisher (read: the blogger) assumes responsibility for all comments, even (and especially) anonymous comments. Bloggers can look foolish (and do real harm, sometimes to themselves) if they publish anonymous comments that are untrue or unfair.

I don't know here I stand on the issue of anonymous comments (yet), but if you left an anonymous comment today, understand that I am doing my best to figure out what to do with your information. I can't provide you the same protection as a professional journalist (there isn't much in the way of Canadian case law that provides for a blogger to protect the identity of a source), but if you do confirm your identity with me I won't reveal it unless forced to do so, which I suspect is unlikely (although I am not a lawyer, and nothing here should be construed as legal advice). Just leave a comment below (your email information will not be published) or email me directly at barry@barrybaker.ca. Or, if you prefer, just look me up in the book and give me a call.

To share your thoughts on ethics for bloggers, the differences and similarities between bloggers and journalists, anonymous sources, or anything else about this post with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, just click on "Comments" (below).

Black Press Delivers Video to BC Newspapers

Black Press unveiled the latest stage of its Internet strategy this month when it introduced streaming video news stories, which are now accessible to visitors of all Black Press newspaper web sites in BC via the company's consolidated web platform, www.BCLocalNews.com.

As reported here in January, the BC Black Press BC web property already compares quite favourably to other media web sites in the Interior. Now, with the introduction of video news stories, Canada's largest independent newspaper chain is flexing its muscle while much of the competition - especially here in Kamloops - appears rather flat-footed in comparison.

The first video news story, a Chilliwack Progress story published February 8, covered the deaths of two pedestrians in traffic on the Trans Canada Highway under the Lickman Road overpass. The story primarily consists of drivers recounting their experience and responding to questions asked by an off-camera reporter, while the camera captures flashing police lights and cars crawling by on the #1.  For those of us who are accustomed to broadcast reporters who often interpret events as much as cover them, it looks pretty sparse. But if you want your news update now, in both written and video format, and like the option of being able to go back and view 3 weeks later, there's a lot here to like.

Since that first story, The Saanich News, The Langley Times, The Abbotsford News, The Richmond Review, have all published stories with integrated media, including both newspaper-style written coverage and audio-video reports. Even BC Local News itself published a brief 28-second clip, shot inside he Surrey Leader newsroom, of staff donning pink "Bullying Stops Here" t-shirts.

Aside from the fact that Black Press has taken the video plunge, what I love about its approach is that it is threading the needle by incorporating video one newspaper at a time and one story at a time, rather than attempting to launch the initiative simultaneously across the entire newspaper group. This how projects get done, rather than undone.

Congratulations Black Press. When can we expect video stories from Kamloops This Week?

To share your thoughts about Black Press, local media properties, or media convergence in Kamloops or elsewhere with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

 

Convergys Relocation Statements Cause Anxiety Across Canada

This blog has experienced substantial and sustained traffic since last weekend's post, Will Convergys Close Kamloops Call Centre?

Based upon the search strings that visitors have been typing in to Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. (which are then reported to me, the author of this site to which some of those searchers are directed), residents of communities all across Canada are anxious to find out what is happening with their local Convergys call centre.

For those of you who arrived here looking specifically for that information, welcome; despite the lack of a definitive announcement regarding which call centres will be affected, I'll do my best to point you to where you can find more information.

The back story is that Convergys President and CEO David Dougherty recently indicated that the company plans to move at least a portion of its Canadian operations to Asia. In his January 29 conference call with analysts (which is available for you to listen right now, online from the Convergys web site), Dougherty explained that currency pressures (namely, a Canadian dollar that has risen substantially since many of the company's Canadian operations were first opened) are forcing the re-location of some operations to other countries, such as the Philippines.

I provided a little more information the other day in a comment to the original post, but it doesn't appear that many visitors have found it buried in the comments, so here it is again (for the most part) below.

More bad news for Canada's call center communities, as a Datamonitor report released today (February 19, 2008), via TMCnet indicates that while Convergys may have been the first major call centre company to start pulling out of Canada, it certainly won't be the last to do move operations to the U.S. and other jurisdictions with favourable exchange rates and labour costs. According to the report, some of the strikes against Canadian call centre operations include:

1. The Canadian dollar has appreciated over 30 per cent, "which has effectively eroded profit margins and operating cost savings that many U.S. outsourcers had come to rely upon from their Canadian operations"
2. A tight and highly mobile labour market, which is pitting call centre employers against high-paying jobs in the oil sands, driving up wages and benefits
3. The absence of a significant Spanish-speaking labour force. Fully a third of American consumers now speak Spanish, and so American call center companies are increasingly turning towards "near-shore" opportunities in Latin America.

This bleak outlook confirms a trend described earlier this month when the Site Selection Group, a location advisory firm, released its annual Call Center Absorption Report February 1. Highlights from the report include:

1. "Canada and India saw a significant drop in job creation due to key issues such poor English proficiency in India and increasing currency valuation in Canada."
2. "Canada will continue to see slow growth due to currency exchange valuation which have made operating a center in Canada more expensive than the United States in most markets. Entry level wages have adjusted to US$10.00 to US$12.00 per hour due to exchange rates."
3. "The Philippines has clearly become the dominant, offshore location for English speaking call center services due to the Americanized culture. Wage rates have increased to US$2.50 to US$3.50 per hour."

According the Convergys web site, the company also runs Canadian call centres in Edmonton, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Brandon, Winnipeg, St. John's, Digby, Halifax, New Glasgow, Truro, Ottawa, Welland, and Windsor. Canadian operations employ over 12,000 people.

In his call with analysts Mr. Dougherty also mentioned that Convergys had hired a business development officer to round up new Canadian business, a strategy that might help the company insulate itself from a rising loonie which has thus far generated primarily negative impact. In fact, Igor Sarenac was named as Vice President, Business Development for Canada on January 16.

In a side note, it became apparent today that very few (if any) of the people I know in Kamloops are aware of the cloud hanging over Convergys' Canadian operations. Here I thought I had simply overlooked mention of it in the local Kamloops papers, but now it seems that the story simply hasn't been picked up locally.

Considering the number of Canadian communities in which Convergys operates, the story hasn't received much coverage (online , at least) elsewhere either. The first mention of it I've managed to identify in the Canadian press appeared in the Ottawa Citizen's Execs share scary thoughts for scary times on February 13. Then earlier today (Friday) in Welland, ON, the Tribune published Convergys shutting down in Canada?; Company closing unprofitable sites. Since the original Ottawa Citizen's article, a couple of bloggers (here and here, etc.) have made reference to it, but that's about it. Is our economy really so strong that this is not a story?

Wherever you are, if you have heard further reports about - or from - your local call centre, please click "Comments" below to share the news with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers.

Will Convergys Close Kamloops Call Centre?

It looks like the booming economy and high Canadian dollar could team up to deliver a body blow to several communities across the country, as Convergys President and CEO David Dougherty recently indicated that the company plans to move at least a portion of its Canadian operations to Asia.

Mr. Dougherty explained during Convergys' 2007 fourth quarter conference call on January 29 that when the economy is strong the company experiences a variety of staff hiring pressures. Despite the fact that the company's stock price is down almost 44% since this time last year, Mr. Dougherty is coming off a solid operational year as revenue grew to over $2.8 billion dollars in 2007. He expects to grow operating income in 2008, as the company anticipates increased profitability via revenue growth, productivity improvements, and cost reductions.

During his prepared statements, Mr. Dougherty indicated that Convergys plans to shift some business from Canada to the Philippines. Employment in Asia has grown considerably; more than a third of Convergys employees are now employed there. Then, in response to a question later during the same call, Mr. Dougherty said that the company is responding aggressively to "currency challenges" and that, "we've got to take some pretty aggressive action to redeploy and move our business to reduce our exposure in some of the key areas where we're being hurt. Most notably we're being hurt today in Canada and we are taking action to close centres there and move work to other geographies".

It's not surprising to learn that the high Canadian dollar and tight labour market have increased the cost of operations in Canada, possibly past the point of continued commitment. One of the reasons the company opened a location in Kamloops back in 2000 was the high unemployment rate, which provided a large pool of potential workers. In 2001 the unemployment in Kamloops was 13.8%. Today it is much lower; the average unemployment rate in 2007 was 5.0%.

While Convergys has not announced which Canadian operations will be affected, if the Kamloops call centre did close it would certainly have a major impact on the local economy. The Venture Kamloops web site indicates that Convergys is this community's largest private sector employer, with over 1,200 staff working at the Valleyview call centre.

According the Convergys web site, the company also runs Canadian call centres in Edmonton, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Brandon, Winnipeg, St. John's, Digby, Halifax, New Glasgow, Truro, Ottawa, Welland, and Windsor.

To share your thoughts about Convergys, the high Canadian dollar, the past, present, or future of the local and national economies, call centres, call centers, or anything else with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

Media Spotlight on Kamloops Blogs? It Ain't Nothin' But a Zen Thing

If bloggers crave attention, Daily News editor Mel Rothenburger dished up a round on the house this past Saturday with his Armchair Mayor column, in which he provided readers with an introduction to, and brief assessment of, the Kamloops blogging scene. The column, Beware mainstream media: the bloggers are here provides a timely counterpoint to my own recent examinations of Kamloops' major media web properties.

<<< OK, if you made it through that last sentence without snickering, go back and read it again to the tune of Carly Simon's You're So Vain. >>>

The former Kamloops mayor gave top marks to media professionals who blog, a number of whom are employed by his newspaper. Amateur bloggers (including yours truly) received a little more scrutiny, which oddly enough is exactly the thing that many amateur bloggers both desire and fear.

For the most part Mr. Rothenburger is right on the money about blogger sensitivity; discussions about real and perceived slights can often take on a life of their own. Case in point is the story about the Tournament Capital Centre's basketball hoops over at www.KamloopsInsideOut.ca, and the subsequent coverage of the same story in the Daily News. When one considers the parallel discussions of the issue at ProBlogger.net and WritingForward.com, the combined thread now includes more than 80 posts and comments!

While Mr. Rothenburger stops at referring to the lot of us bloggers as, "sensitive" and "self-absorbed", others aren't nearly so restrained in their criticism. Author, broadcaster, and silicon value entrepreneur Andrew Keen, for example, wrote the book on us. In Cult of the Amateur: How today's Internet is killing our culture, Mr. Keen argues that, “what the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment.” Damn... if it hadn't been for Mr. Keen and his big mouth, we would have pinned the death of culture on that guy who makes antler lamps years ago!

Anyways, all this online dialogue is something that newspapers can and should be putting to good use. Some Canadian and US newspapers are responding to the blogging phenomenon by selecting amateur political commentary posted on their own newspaper web sites, and incorporating it into ongoing election coverage. Why? Well, because a lot of people are opinionated and self-absorbed!

By selecting and printing just a single column-inch of amateur commentary per day, these newspapers attract repeated online visits by more people who hope to see their own names and opinions in print. And by growing the reader/writer relationship from two dimensions on paper into something that includes an intimate and interactive online experience, newspapers have an opportunity to convert dwindling print subscribers into committed online participants. And of course, more eyeball$ for advertisers.

So, in counter-counterpoint Mr. Rothenburger, mainstream media needn't beware the blogger. Rather, if you don't mind shouldering some of the responsibility for the death of culture, instead consider becoming one with the blogger. Ommmmm...

P.S. - To Mr. Rothenburger's point about my run-on Blog Disclaimer and Comments Policy, in retrospect I did incorporate pretty well everything I could think of or copy that might C.M.A. (a not-so-insignificant task in Canada), other than of course the option of keeping my mouth closed. While it may not be the most elegant, sound, or effective blog policy around, at almost 500 words surely it must be one of the longest!

To share your thoughts about free speech, blogging, antler lamps, the media, or the death of culture with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

 

Online Media Properties in Kamloops: Newspaper

In this continuing series of posts about online media properties in Kamloops, today's installment provides an assessment and comparison of local newspaper web sites.

As with the television assessment (posted here), the small number of major newspapers in Kamloops made a straight-up comparison difficult. As a result, I also evaluated the web site of the Prince George Citizen. The Internet is a pretty dynamic place, so I expect that some of the things described below may be obsolete in short order, however as of today this information is as accurate as I can make it.

As indicated back in December when I assessed the online presence of Kamloops radio stations, last spring Borrell Associates reported that newspapers are actually selling more local online video advertising than TV stations, accounting for 50% of total online video ad revenue whereas TV generated just 20%. It's difficult to sell advertising when you can't deliver eyeballs however, so this finding suggests that by and large, newspapers are embracing the Internet as a fundamental element of their revenue and content distribution strategies.

Not surprisingly, what I found is that two of the three newspaper web sites reviewed - Kamloops This Week and Prince George Citizen - did in fact present a much more compelling experience than the broadcaster web sites based in Kamloops. The web site for the Kamloops Daily News meanwhile, appears to be about even with local broadcaster web sites. The most fascinating aspect of the Kamloops News site is that it publishes web traffic statistics, which indicate that the site draws about 5,000 unique visitors per day and about 50,000 unique visitors per month. The busiest time of day is between 3:00 and 3:30 in the afternoon. Most of the traffic is coming from search engines, but while this means the site is drawing in many new visitors it also indicates that page views (and ad views, hence revenues) would likely be much higher if the paper implemented a strategy to draw visitors back to the site on a regular and direct basis rather than simply relying upon ad hoc search engine referrals.

Kamloops This Week

• KTW executed a wholesale change to its web site a several months back, which has now pulled its independent site (www.kamloopsthisweek.com) under Black Press' unified www.bclocalnews.com property. The new site is very clean, elegant, and easy to navigate. Using a common web domain also means that more eyeballs come to the single site (representing, for example, visitors from every community served by every Black Press newspaper publication in BC), and so it receives a *lot* of visitors and page views, which in turn are very attractive to advertisers (read: more revenue).
• I do miss the strong just-Kamloops local flavour of the old site. However, the new site now functions as a gateway - not just to national and international news, as is often the case with newspaper chain web sites - but rather as a gateway to the smaller stories that occur in the many medium-to-small communities Black Press services. I find this very attractive; there are few things more interesting to me than the tiny ultra-local stories that typically only get airtime within a specific community. Black Press' www.bclocalnews.com web site now airs all those stories out to the entire distribution network. Facinating.
• Both the old and new web sites delivered some manner of breaking stories (i.e. stories that have not yet appeared in the newspaper, may evolve before they are published, or may simply never actually appear in the newspaper itself). The first time I saw this was during summer 2007 when Kamloops This Week published minutes-old breaking news of the Kamloops Blazer General Meeting (at which the club was sold) online; I read it from Salmon Arm while on vacation there.
• The newspaper is integrating its on- and off-line news strategies, as has been made evident by stories in the newspaper, which occasionally include an "On The Web" ad that directs readers to "Go online to www.kamloopsthisweek.com for more information... ". Leveraging the web site this way makes a lot of sense, as there are no space limitations on the web (meaning one can publish a veritable never-ending story, kind of like this post) online whereas the print version is constrained by the physical dimensions of the pages, but also because readers who do go online might see completely different advertisements there, meaning the publisher can maximize the revenue potential of a single story.
• The web site includes an impressive array of online photo galleries (Dave Eagles), all available for purchase as framed or unframed hard copies.
• Integrated with other Black Press properties/networks for careers, automotive, etc.
  Is currently utilizing ads from both Yahoo Google ad networks; I suspect the intent here may be a side-by-side test to determine which service generates the most click-thrus, and hence, the most revenue for the site
• In a related feature, the www.bclocalnews.com web site also features blogs written by Black Press staff, including this post by Editor Bill Phillips of the Prince George Free Press in which he discusses how that paper now reports news as it happens, including video on the web site, rather than simply focusing on print distribution.
• Black Press is obviously growing capacity and skills within its New Media division, given recent advertisements for a variety of online and "New Media" positions including Regional Online Consultant, On-line Producer,  etc.
• I will credit Kamloops This Week for the initiative shown by two of its most visible personalities - Dale Bass and Christopher Foulds - each of whom run blogs at http://dalebass.blogspot.com and http://chrisfoulds.blogspot.com respectively. The blogs  contribute to their employer's overall web presence in a variety of ways, including:
  
  1. The blogging process helps both of writers personally acquire know-how about the online community from the perspectives of both of consumers and publishers. This is a good thing, as I believe that there is opportunity for traditional media outlets to leverage and exploit the activities of bloggers and other online citizens to drive more eyeballs (and hence more revenue) toward their own media organizations.
  2. Blogs are often perceived to be much more personal and interactive than commercial media web sites, so these blogs promote more buy-in from readers who might not otherwise develop similar emotional connections to the personalities and columns when they appear in the newspaper.

Prince George Citizen

• Blogging service for readers - important because it may keep novices from starting their own (competitive) blog, but also encourages bloggers of all stripes to post their own comments, including links back to their own blogs
• Photo galleries back to November 2006, includes viewing stats and viewer votes, ability to purchases
• Not all newspaper stories are published online, although online content subscriptions are being considered for the future. Not all online stories are published in newspaper.
• Is now incorporating video reports into some stories, which is significantly blurring the line between this newspaper enterprise broadcast media. In fact, both the Prince George Citizen and the Prince       George Free Press (a Black Press publication, as above) have begun to deliver video news on their web sites, so PG is apparently leading the way within the BC Interior towards an increasingly popular and rewarding media convergence.

Kamloops Daily News

• The Prince George Citizen (which has been included in this comparison) is one of the Kamloops Daily News' sister web sites, and it appears that the Citizen's Internet department is also hosting at least a portion of the Daily News' web site. This is a positive for the Kamloops Daily News, as it
  suggest to me that the Kamloops Daily News may adopt a cookie-cutter copy of the Citizen's web site at some point. This would allow the Daily News to fast forward towards a more competitive online presence, as the Prince George Citizen has a lot of great content and great features. Unfortunately the visual presentation of the Citizen's web site somewhat overwhelming; a little design simplicity would go a long way to streamlining the user experience, encouraging longer visits, and consequently increasing the page views, ad views and revenues.
• It is interesting to see that The News has also incorporated a Fundata investment fund search and reporting feature. Fundata is 50% owned by Kamloops Daily News parent company, Glacier Ventures.
• Here again, I will credit the Kamloops Daily News for a blog written by one of that paper's senior staff members - Sports Editor Greg Drinnan - who publishes his Taking Note sports blog at http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Mr. Drinnan also publishes traffic statistics on his blog; the metrics used are a little different between the two sites, but if I am accurately drawing a parallel between between "page views" and "Visits incl. Reloads", these stats indicate he is drawing nearly 1/4 as much traffic as the main Kamloops Daily News web site.

Newspaper	Kamloops This Week	Kamloops Daily News	Prince George Citizen
Link	www.kamloopsthisweek.com	www.kamloopsnews.ca	www.princegeorgecitizen.com
News
News	Yes Includes breaking news stories Available regional and BC news stories.	Yes "Updated weekday afternoons and Friday evenings" Occasional "Saturday Update" Links out to Canada.com	Yes Includes breaking news stories 7 days a week Available BC and world national news stories (Canadian Press, Associated Press)
Sports &  Schedules	Sports news No schedules	Sports news No schedules	Sports news Sports events calendar No schedules
Roads	No	Link to Ministry of Transport	No
Weather	Interactive weather Link to Ministry web site	Link to Environment Canada	Integrated weather
Playlist	- n/a -	- n/a -	- n/a -
Listen Live	No	No	No
Display Current Song	- n/a -	- n/a -	- n/a -
Information
Music Charts	- n/a -	- n/a -	- n/a -
Program Schedule	- n/a -	- n/a -	- n/a -
Program Archive	News archives to last week's stories	Link to archives at Thompson-Nicola Regional District Library System	Searchable announcements to 2002. Content to at least 2007
Online Contests	No	No	No
Loyalty Program	No	No	Yes Must be member to comment
Privacy Policy	No	No	No
Advertising
Ads	Local graphical ads Google AdSense Yahoo AdWords Online and offline classifieds appear to be integrated	Google AdSense Online and offline classifieds appear to be integrated	Local graphical ads Online and offline classifieds appear to be integrated
Video Ads	Yes	No	No
Real Estate	Yes	Link to guide broken (404 Not Found error)	Complete Real Estate Guide in PDF format
Offline Advertiser Directory	Coordinated online/offline classifieds<	Small "Internet Directory"	No
Convergence & Consumer Engagement
Video	Some integrated video reporting on stories from other communities (not Kamloops)	No	Current and breaking news stories on video
Syndication (Feeds)	RSS content feed	No	RSS content feed Available comment feed subscription (currently broken)
Consumer Content	No	No	Blogging service for readers Readers can vote for/against comments
Comments	Yes	No	Yes
Save/Share	Share stories via email and Facebook	No	Share stories via email and various blog and social networking services
Interactive	Submit Letter to the Editor on specific stories Interactive horoscope Integrated searches for BC-wide automotive, career, classified networks	No	Blogging service for members
eCommerce	Purchase photo gallery images	No	Purchase photo gallery images
Other	Photo galleries Online job network Obituaries section Indicates "most read" stories Partially implemented comics	Obituaries and Classified ads hosted by Prince George Citizen Publishes web site traffic statistics Integrated FUNDATA mutual fund searches and reports	Photo galleries Hit counter on all stories Comprehensive Staff Directory FAQ Request for site feedback

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No Place for Human Rights in Kamloops' China Initiatives

Wei Wenhua died January 7 2008 at the the hands of municipal law enforcement officers in Tianmen, China. The construction company executive and citizen journalist had stopped to video municipal law enforcement officers who were beating local villagers protesting non-permitted garbage dumping by government officials. When the officers realized that Mr. Wenhua (at right) was recording the clash with his cell phone, dozens of them descended upon him and beat him to death.

Human rights is not just a federal issue. As this case illustrates, human rights are widely ignored in China at every level of government. Click on the YouTube video below to watch a brief Sky News report about some commonplace human rights violations in China:

Kamloops city council already juggles concurrent and potentially competing priorities like industry and environmentalism. If trade with China can become a priority of Kamloops city council, surely mayor and council can make human rights in China a concurrent theme of that relationship. If human rights violations occur at the municipal level China, surely pressure for change in China can occur at our municipal level as well. 

To share your thoughts about politics, trade with China, or human rights with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

Online Media Properties in Kamloops: TV

In this continuing series about online media properties in Kamloops, today's post provides an assessment of what local TV stations are doing online.

Comparing Kamloops TV stations isn't as straightforward as comparing radio stations, given there is really only a single TV station with scheduled broadcasts (sorry, Shaw). As a result, I compared our local station - CFJC-TV - with the CanWest station in Kelowna, CHBC News. Both stations dropped their CBC affiliation in 2006, and continue to collaborate on sales and share programming schedules.

Now, when I personally am looking for an update on a local story, the first place I typically look online is either at the CFJC-TV web site or at the Radio NL web site. Neither location provides a lot of information, often just a couple of sentences, but sometimes it's enough to at least temporarily satisfy the news jones.

Nevertheless, it is obvious that a CHBC priority is to develop a comprehensive online strategy, and this is no doubt a result of CanWest's Internet focus, as per that company's 2006 Annual Information Form (emphasis my own):

Our online and new media strategy is to continue to build our strong internet presence in order to leverage our editorial content across multiple media, provide integrated solutions to our advertisers and to cross-promote our publications, broadcasting and internet operations. We intend to capitalize upon the promotional and editorial capabilities of our integrated newspaper and video production in order to create Canada’s leading network of local content websites. The internet is complementary to our existing businesses and a significant potential source of new revenue.

In fact, CanWest's 2007 Annual Report claims that the company has managed to increase the volume of unique visitors to its online web sites by 30% over the previous year. That kind of growth doesn't happen by accident.

The elements of the CHBC web site that most interest me include:

1. The widespread use of video news stories. Many of the video news stories appear to have been lifted straight off the station's news broadcasts (which seems like a no-brainer), but for some reason many local TV stations have difficulty pulling the trigger when it comes to streaming their own video content online.
2. Once you've found a video story of interest, you can actually send a link to the story to a friend. This is a great feature that delivers real value to the media consumer, but it also generates more traffic to www.chbcnews.ca site when friends follow links back to stories at the web site. Unfortunately the "Send Story" function is paired up with a "Print Story" feature, which is at odds with video streaming both conceptually and in practice.
3. CHBC provides a virtual tour of the station, including 360° images of every room. Essential? No. Cool? Absolutely!
4. The volume of information available. Visitors really have an opportunity to hang out and get lost. Thank goodness for the virtual tour map so we can find our way out again!

Now, while CHBC has developed an engaging online presence for media consumers, much like CFJC-TV it doesn't appear the station is doing much with respect standalone banner or video advertising online. I suspect that for the moment CHBC is content to draw a growing online to its web site, but at some point it will need to exploit all those eyeballs; it's one thing to build a great web site, but something else again to make that web site profitable.

So, here is the comparison. As you can see the display format differs somewhat from the Radio comparison, it will probably change again when I publish the newspaper comparison (coming soon). 

Station	CFJC TV-7 Kamloops	CHBC Kelowna
Link	www.cfjctv.com	www.chbcnews.ca
News
News	Yes	Yes
Sports &  Schedules	Yes	No
Roads	Integrated road reports	Basic road reports Link to William R. Bennett bridge construction update
Weather	Yes	Integrated weather forecasts                Weather forecasts for all the communities in the CHBC broadcast area
Playlist	- n/a -	- n/a -
Listen Live	No	No
Display Current Song	- n/a -	- n/a -
Information
Music Charts	- n/a -	- n/a -
Program Schedule	Yes	Yes
Program Archive	Recipe archive	News archives with search
Online Contests	No	No
Loyalty Program	No	No
Privacy Policy	No	Yes
Advertising
Standalone Ads	No	Yes
Video Ads	No	No
Real Estate	No	No
Offline Advertiser Directory	No	No
Convergence & Consumer Engagement
Video	Icetime (Blazers)	Current and breaking news stories on video Roberts on the Roads (local events and people) CHBC Bridge Cam
Syndication (Feeds)	No	No
Consumer Content	No	Send us your pics (scenic still pictures) NewsHawks - contribute news videos (tips, etc.)
Comments	No	No
Save/Share Items of Interest	No	Yes
Interactive	Question of the Week	News tips Submit events Virtual station tour
Other	Custom URL icon	Lots & lots of info Community elevations Contact info for regional golf courses, ski hills

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Online Media Properties in Kamloops: Radio

Like the media in many other cities across North America, some of the newspapers and broadcasters in Kamloops are evolving their online presence in an attempt to attract eyeballs (retain and grow their customer base) and hopefully exploit a combination of media channels to better achieve their organizational goals.

In many markets (and to a limited degree here in Kamloops), media convergence is transpiring online. Why? Because the Internet is an equalizer. It potentially empowers radio and newspapers with audio and video capabilities, provides TV stations the opportunity to produce in-depth background, enables every kind of media with the opportunity to publish breaking or developing news stories, engages media consumers with an opportunity to provide feedback and maybe develop brand loyalty, and is ultimately accessed through a powerful but unpredictable mix of endpoints including mobile, anchored (like desktops at the office or in the den), and virtual (as in feed aggregators). This combination of characteristics represents a great opportunity for traditional media to re-engage customers and advertisers, but at times also seems to handcuff some organizations.

Consider the fascinating observation from Borrell Associates, who told us earlier this year that newspapers are actually selling more local online video advertising than TV stations. Somehow, TV has managed to turn an obvious core competency (video advertising) into a glaring weakness.

I've been tracking local media outlets for several months now, and during that time some of them have made some major changes to their online presence. Over the next few days I will publish the remainder of this information, but for now please consider the table below, which compares local radio broadcasters.

None of the radio broadcasters in Kamloops have really made a serious effort to get out in front of the pack with respect to advertising or breaking down the traditional boundaries that constrain this medium. CIFM scores on this un-scientific comparison according to the data points I was tracking, but to be honest my personal favorite online radio web sites in Kamloops are Radio NL and CFBX. I frequently  turn to Radio NL to read the station's brief updates about local news stories when I can't wait to read the morning paper. CFBX on the other hand was a complete surprise; as a college radio station I wasn't actually expecting much, but in fact I discovered that Brant Zwicker and company have constructed a web presence that compares quite favorably to its corporate cousins.

My least favorite discovery was that while both The River and Country 103 provide online visitors with the ability to listen live to streaming real-time broadcasts, both stations first require interested online listeners to sign up  for their loyalty programs. So, rather than encourage an infrequent listener like me to stick around, bookmark the site, come back again later, and maybe develop some loyalty to these stations, instead I just felt like closing the window. As it was I did sign up, but certainly would not have done this had I not been conducting this personal research project.

Anyways, here's the data with more to come over the next few days:

	Radio NL AM 610	The River 97.5 FM	Country 103 FM CJKC-FM 103.1	98.3 FM CIFM	B 100 FM CKBX 100.1	The X 92.5 FM - CFBX
Core Competencies
News	●Breaking news highlights	●Music news, movie reviews	○	○	●Link to CFJC news highlights	○
Sports Schedule & Scores	●	○	○	●Link to Kamloops Storm	○	○
Roads	●Link to DriveBC	○	○	●Link to DriveBC	●Link to DriveBC	○
Weather	●Link to Weather Office	●Link to Weather Office	●Link to Weather Office	●Link to Weather Office	●Link to Weather Office	○
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To share your thoughts about local media properties, or media convergence in Kamloops or elsewhere with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

Mayor verbose on China, but human rights verboten

Kamloops Mayor Terry Lake has taken pains recently to educate us on how necessary politicians are to the establishment of trade with China. Mayor Lake led a delegation to China recently, and returned with news that it will actually be some time before Kamloops council will be able to step away from what has been largely billed as a business initiative. It seems that without the presence of Canadian political figures, it's difficult to gain or hold the attention of the Chinese officials who can facilitate or impede commerce. Indeed the Chinese politicos have themselves very effectively secured the attention of our own representatives with the prospect of bringing Ming Tomb artifact to Kamloops.

As discussed on these pages prior to the Mayor's trip (Will Mayor Lake Think Global, Act Local on Human Rights?), the development of trade with China at this local level presents the Mayor with a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate true leadership at home and abroad by promoting human rights in China concurrent to his efforts on behalf of our business community. Rather, our political leadership is apparently preparing to recommit itself to promoting the interests of business alone.

If Kamloops City Council determines that it should continue to lead these delegations because it satisfies the cultural requirements of our international partners, fair enough. But if council does need to be involved, it should bring to bear political leadership on a spectrum broader than just business promotion and museum artifacts that put stars in your eyes.

Political leadership is about finding a way to do right thing, and the right thing in this case is for the Mayor to put human rights on the table, rather than making excuses about how that just isn't his place. If these trips really won't support any dialogue more substantive than what has already transpired, then it's time for our municipal politicians to pass the torch to Kamloops business leaders, who I am sure if given the opportunity will impress our counterparts in China with the skill, innovation, and opportunities they bring to the table.

To share your thoughts about politics, trade with China, or human rights with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

Conservatives take their turn salting the Earth

This evening federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty dusted off an old Liberal trick, when he announced a broad package of tax cuts contained within his fall fiscal update. The cuts - valued at a jaw-dropping $60 billion over the next 5 years - will make it very difficult for any other party to change fiscal course without paying a punishing political price.

Mr. Flaherty - who playfully evoked the ghost of Prime Minister Lester Pearson to illustrate how far the current motley crew of Liberals have strayed since that Nobel laureate ran his own minority governments in the sixties - increased the basic personal exemption by 13.5% over the next 14 months, including a $700 increase retroactive to the beginning of this year. He further proposed reductions in the GST rate (to 5%) effective January 1 2008, and in the corporate tax rate to 15% by 2012. The finance minister also proposed to pay down the debt by $10 billion, but the key element of course is Mr. Flaherty's populist and fiscally responsible initiative to start putting taxpayer dollars back into our pockets.

Liberal leader Stéphane Dion says he won't bring the government down over the proposals, which in my opinion reflects quite well on the man. By embracing political discomfort now in the hopes of experiencing more favourable political conditions in the future, Dion  is demonstrating the fundamental political skill; timing. However, his support of the mini-budget will also force Dion to accept delivery of a populist time-bomb that will surely make his spring no less disagreeable than the current fall session.

To kick off 2008, the GST cut will put Canadians in a good mood just as Christmas bills start showing up. Next,the retroactive change to the basic personal exemption will most likely result in richer tax refund cheques when Canadians submit their 2007 tax returns. Once average Canadians have actually experienced these relatively immediate and very visible rewards, the Conservatives will be able to communicate more aggressively and persuasively regarding the benefits of small vs. big government without coming across as having a "hidden agenda".

Much like the Liberal's own commitment to Kyoto a couple of years ago, the Conservatives are now salting the earth for the official opposition, albeit with tax cuts rather than green rhetoric. But while the Conservatives weathered the fuss over Kyoto with surprising ease, it won't be so easy for the Liberals to to talk about new spending programs once Canadians receive that spring refund cheque and start developing expectations for more of the same in the future. Now the question on Canadians' minds will be, "If Harper can afford to give us back that much dough, what the hell were the Liberals doing with it in the first place". If Messrs. Harper and Flaherty can shift the focus that far, Mr. Dion and company will find it increasingly difficult to justify an approach via which the Liberals have grown government and exerted their will not only in the lives of citizens, but also in areas of provincial constitutional authority, through spending and henceforth, taxation.

To share your thoughts with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers about the fiscal update specifically or politics generally, click on "Comments" (below).

Will Mayor Lake Think Global, Act Local on Human Rights?

Kamloops Councilor Arjun Singh floats a lot of ideas. Some of them are stinkers, but he tees up real issues with enough frequency to earn a lot of voter respect. Case in point his suggestion this week that Mayor Terry Lake raise human rights while leading a city delegation to China later this month.

Mayor Terry Lake pushed back on the idea, stating that the purpose of the trip was to promote business, not human rights. However, he went on to state that if the Kamloops delegation did raise human rights issues, it might be subject to similar queries from the Chinese regarding our record of dealing with First Nations.

So what? While a municipal delegation isn't necessarily the typical vehicle for pressing human rights, I'm perplexed by Mayor Lake's apparent fear of raising the issue and having to possibly defend Canada's human rights record against China's. Granted, our history of native relations is marred with mistakes like residential schools, but nevertheless these two countries quite clearly exist on opposite ends of the human rights spectrum. Or do they?

Have a look at the table below; columns A and B represent the human rights record of two different countries as measured against a variety of human rights criteria. Can you spot any differences between the two countries? If so, which country (A or B) has the better human rights record?

Issue	Country A	Country B
Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Assembly	Independent media Freedom of the press Access to Information Act Privacy Act Charter protections	Widespread censorship Imprisonment of journalists Challenges to Party authority forbidden Hundreds dead at Tiananmen Square Dongzhou massacre Expression is protected, subject to: CCP leadership dictatorship of the proletariat Marxist ideology the socialist road
Freedom of Belief	Separation of church and state Charter protections Widespread religious freedom	State control of religion Persecution of Falun Gong
Treatment of prisoners	Corrections and Conditional Release Act Restorative justice Broad spectrum of offender programs No capital punishment	Strong evidence of torture Organ harvesting Forced labour Estimated 8,000 executions/year
Minority populations	Multiculturalism Clarity Act Gay marriage Charter protections for aboriginals Residential school abuse Residential school settlement Specific Claims Task Force annual federal aboriginal spend of $9,320 per capita, $9.1 billion total First Nations tax exemptions Aboriginal hunt and fishery rights Language rights	Occupation of Tibet Minorities excluded from political power Policy of using force to overtake Taiwan if it proclaims independence
Other	Freedom of association Strong labour union movement Mobility rights Strong democratic institutions Rule of law Judicial independence	One Child policy Workers cannot organize own unions Discrimination against rural workers "The quality of our people is too low [for democracy]." - former Chinese President Jiang Zemin

If you noticed a difference between columns A and B, you're on the right track. If you furthermore determined that Country A (Canada) has a superior human rights record than Country B (China), count yourself among the large majority of Canadians who could walk into a discussion of Canadian vs. Sino human rights records with their head up and their lips wet with anticipation.

If the Mayor doesn't want to raise human rights, fine. But Mr. Lake, you are a highly intelligent man. You can think on your feet, and I can't imagine a circumstance in which you would not be able to give as good as or better than you got. You should be proud of Canada's human rights record; don't use it as a lame excuse to avoid an unpleasant task.

Councilor Joe Leong also warranted a raised eyebrow from this corner for his comment that, "China has its own democracy. It's called Chinese democracy." China may have fashioned its own form of capitalism, but politically the country lost whatever progress it made toward Chinese democracy at Tiananmen Square. Canada and China are not similar politically, despite the fact that good people inhabit both countries. There are already too many politicians losing their way in a relativistic fog, Joe. We need more of your expertise and clarity of thought, but less of the doublespeak.

The fact is that we have plenty of good reasons to engage China, and Mr. Leong is doing a wonderful job of spearheading some local initiatives that are doing just that. Business throughout Canada has been busy establishing beachhead relationships between our two countries, but at some point Canada must insist on building something more substantial - like real respect for human rights - on top of that commercial veneer. This is where a middle power like Canada (and a municipality like Kamloops) can have the greatest international impact. But if we refuse to emphasize core Canadian values while expanding our relationship with China, the fact we can discern between columns A and B above is of no value to the citizens of that country.

The environmental movement in recent years has admonished our society to, "Think global, act local."  It's a powerful motto; whatever the global issues may be, no matter how big they seem, it always comes down to what one person will do or will not do to create change within the sphere of his or her own influence. Mayor Lake often finds ways to think global and act local on behalf of the city when the issues are green, but Councilor Singh is now in essence asking Mr. Lake to demonstrate the same kind of leadership posture on unfamiliar turf.

Mayor Lake may not think it's his place to raise human rights when he leads the Kamloops delegation to China, and ultimately it's within his discretion to make the call. But I for one am confident he has the courage and skill necessary to deliver a delicate payload without harming the purpose of the trip. Councilor Singh did us a favour by putting the issue on the table; now the question is whether the Mayor will deliver the message, or pull up lame instead.

To share your thoughts about politics, trade with China, or human rights with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

 

Downtown Kamloops will get game if council puts the whistle away

This evening I'm on the road. I travel fairly frequently for business, this week to Winnipeg. I've done a little sight-seeing on previous visits, snapped some pictures, but this time I'm well west of the downtown core, out near the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Canad Inns Stadium.

I try hard to fit in some local experience wherever I go, but between flights and meetings often that local experience translates into little more than the food and drink that can be found within walking distance of the hotel. This evening however, with a strong recommendation and a little help from the shuttle driver, I've oddly enough arrived at the Winnipeg Hooters for tonight's Monday Night Football game between the Saints and the Titans.

After a brief battle with the waitress over the concept of local vs. domestic beers, she scrounges up a scarred bottle of Two Rivers Red lager by the Fort Garry Brewing Company. Although the first bottle goes down well, it is quite frankly a little sweet for my taste and so the second bottle sits largely unfinished on the table while the waitresses - who I am surprised to discover provide very fast service - sling beers and pose for photos with the football-mad crowd.

I'm a little out of place sitting by myself reading back issues of the Winnipeg Free Press and scrawling notes between columns, but am intrigued to read about a local entrepreneur who was recently run out of the downtown by Winnipeg city council.

Council sunk Kyriakos Vogiatzakis's application to moor the River Rouger - his riverboat - at the Donald  Street dock. Downtown residents concerned about party noise and parking successfully lobbied council, so now the entrepreneur is left nursing his wounds. "That's the problem with this city. Nothing moves here. It's very conservative, and that's why all the young people move to other provinces," Mr. Vogiatzakis complained to the Winnipeg Free Press.

Nicholas Hirst's subsequent column in the same paper, Unplan for a vibrant downtown, argues that the city needs to find a way to energize the downtown, not via a grand plan or politicians bending backwards over NIMBY special interests, but rather by allowing business initiatives to occur rather than stifling them.

His column brings to mind our own troubles with the concept of a downtown waterfront hotel in Kamloops. The concept spurred the organization of the Save Public Waterfront group, and provided an opportunity then and since for some local politicians to come down firmly on both sides of the issue.

To be clear, there is no comparison between downtown Winnipeg's urban decay and the situation in  Kamloops, but the underlying problem may be similar: lack of investment and growth.

Retail and residential investment has largely bypassed the foot-friendly core of our fair city for much of the 25 years since Aberdeen Mall opened and residential development followed it up the hill. The experience was similar on the North Shore when the Halston Bridge opened around the same time; the new route expedited traffic and consumers away from traditional North Shore retail centers on Fortune and Tranquille. One major retailer after another (Eatons, Woodwards, The Bay, Zellers, Sears, Overwaitea, etc.) abandoned both the downtown and the North Shore, leaving both areas sucking wind while the southwest sector stretched its legs.

As much as things have improved since then, opinions differ on whether the Kamloops downtown core is now "vibrant". I can't count the number of times I've heard residents and visitors alike complain that there is nothing open downtown on Sundays, for example. Some seem to think this is the fault of retailers, as though they had some kind of civic obligation to remain open when there isn't any business. Retailers will keep their doors open when there is sufficient demand, but when there isn't, they don't.

While Winnipeg council has nixed proposals that could well have breathed some energy into the downtown core, our civic leaders have so far resisted pressure to rezone the parking lot behind Interior Savings Centre as parkland, and have so left the door open to development there in the future. Zoning and taxation are the two primary tools with which municipalities can directly encourage new investment, and on the latter count the City also implemented a Revitalization Tax Exemption to encourage investment in the downtown core. But while the general concept of development can be attractive, civic politicians often tie themselves into knots over specific initiatives.

It must be very tempting to meddle in every little thing; recently some councilors have made heavy-handed comments about smoking bylaws for restaurant patios. While I appreciate their enthusiasm, business is more apt to thrive when it has the opportunity to innovate and differentiate, rather than conform. If council is serious about growing an energetic and thriving downtown core it will need to resist the urge to pull out the whistle, at least until the game actually gets underway.

Back at Hooters as I finish this post, it looks like the New Orleans Saints will need more than a friendly ref if they expect to come out on top; at some point, the players need to show up.

To share your thoughts with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers, click on "Comments" (below).

Blazers Win as Tom Gaglardi Scores a Gordie Howe Hat Trick

Kamloops This Week reports this evening that members of the Kamloops Blazers Sports Society have voted overwhelmingly in favour of selling the Kamloops Blazers to River City Hockey Inc. (RCH).

RCH amended the terms of their offer for the Western Hockey League franchise Wednesday to include:

• assumption of liability for the society's education fund (estimated by KPMG to be approximately $720,000)
• a commitment to rehire all existing staff without severance
• a legal mechanism that will ensure the team "never leaves Kamloops"
• purchase of all outstanding shares outright, without impacting the final purchase price of the franchise

The Kamloops Daily News reported Thursday that the number of eligible voters has grown considerably (to 256 from 194) since last year, when RCH first offered to purchase the team. Since that time, many members holding multiple shares have apparently sold the additional shares to others who support the RCH bid.

In the end, Kamloops This Week reports that 151 out of 194 shares represented at the meeting voted to accept the amended offer, providing an overwhelming 78% level of support.

Unless something unforeseen now occurs, the club will transfer to private hands for the first time since 1984, namely the private hands of Blazer alumni and current NHL stars Jarome Iginla, Shane Doan, Darryl Sydor, Mark Recchi, and of course Mr. Gaglardi.

As I posted here last Saturday, Mr. Gaglardi's leadership, creativity, and ability to build momentum through this process amount to an off-ice Gordie Howe Hat Trick in this blogger's mind, including one scrap fought (in the BC Supreme Court), one assist made (Mr. Gaglardi's announcement of close to $30 million in new property development in Kamloops via Northland Properties), and one goal scored (winning the shareholder vote).

Congratulations to River City Hockey and good luck to the on-ice team, which will now face a lot of scrutiny as the dust settles over the next several months and the focus of the community returns to the on-ice product.

What do you think about Mr. Gaglardi, the sale, or the club in general? Click on "Comments" below to share your thoughts with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers.