Smoke and Mirrors : The Inside Story of Television News in Canada
Peter TRUEMAN
Mc Clelland and Stewart, 1980

.Extraits :

To do an intelligent story in a minute and thirty seconds, an average length for a TV news item, the television reporter should know a good deal more about the story than his newspaper counterpart. If he doesn’t, the story is likely to be as shallow as its length would appear to dictate. (p.130)

If an interview clip is used because the reporter isn’t clear about the facts or the points that the interviewee is trying to make, it may be safe but it’s also likely to be boring. And if the reporter, who was able to listen to the interview several times, isn’t clear about the point that’s being made, what hope is there for the viewer, who gets only one chance, while his or her faculties are at a low ebb after a hard day’s work and he or she is easing the pain in a comfortable chair in the living room? (p. 131)

There is no doubt in my mind that there is scandal to be uncovered in Canadian government. Government is the country’s biggest industry and its disbursements have become enormous. Large amounts of money tempt people and it would be unreasonable to suppose that none of our public servants and politicians has yielded to temptation. But I believe that scandal will be best uncovered not by training up an army of journalistic private eyes, but by insisting on better journalism at the general reporting level. (p.176)