Ottawa Citizen editorial re: local tv news

The Citizen has a good editorial today on A-Channel’s place in the local tv news market . A snippet:

On the morning of June 27, police called a press conference. The rumour mill, always busy in the news business, had it that at the meeting there would be an announcement of an arrest in the Jennifer Teague case.

So if you scoured the television dial at the time of the news conference, you would have noticed that only one station was broadcasting the event live from the Elgin Street police station. And that would be A-Channel. After the former NewRO had left the event, CTV Ottawa had a newsreader in its studio regurgitating what had already been on A-Channel. And CBC Ottawa was nowhere to be found.

A-Channel’s coverage was workmanlike, if not spectacular. The station had file footage while it awaited the formal announcement of the charges and comprehensive coverage of the events at the police station. No other TV outlet provided a live feed of the news conference.

It’s part of A-Channel’s commitment to Ottawa coverage – something that has been disappearing in area television. Whenever three people get together for a pizza in this town, A-Channel has a camera there. The item might just be a voice-over in the studio with some pictures, but at least the event is covered.

** Related: ** Ottawa Newspaper Guide