NOT C-ING THE NEWS

We got a good look at the C 7pm newscast on Monday, and truly it left a lot to be desired.
First off, Roger Dwarika seems to be going head to head with TV6's Fabien Pierre to see who can do the most stand-ups. Guys here's a note: it's not necessary for every story. Roger, it was not necessary for the follow up landslip story in Maracas because you did a stand up in almost the same spot already.
The stand up actually would have been better at the site of the pink (or was that orange?) guesthouse where you interviewed the owner who said the driveway and the gallery became separated from the house because of the landslip. But alas you told us "Our camera could not make it down the slippery slope...", so we only got a shot of the ladder leading to the house, a very far away shot of the house, and you and the interviewee disappearing into the bushes. Steups! What was the problem with the cameraman handing you the camera then climbing down the ladder, then taking the camera back from you as you both made your way down to where we the viewers could see the best shots of the damage to the man's home?
That part of your report was totally useless and should have been done as a copy because the viewers were left totally in the dark.

The other story which grabbed our attention was the one-man protest outside T&TEC's office by the Mayaro resident. The gentleman made some accusations against the company about the increase in his monthly bill, then there was a soundbite from a female customer corroborating the man's claims with her own experience of the company affecting "poor people". The third soundbite was from a customer who had an opposing view, saying that some people are illiterate and just don't know how to read their new bills.
Well did your "reporter" or the person holding the microphone attempt to get a response on the protester's claims from the company? We saw shots of people entering and leaving T&TEC's office, but no sign of a company official and no word in the story that your reporter attempted to contact T&TEC for a response. So what was the point of the story? Just to show someone protesting? Steups! Whoever wrote that story should probably get some tips from the Action Line columnist in the Express, who outlines readers' complaints then gives us responses from the offending entities.
Anyway, there was a press release from T&TEC last week that affected customers will be credited. We are guessing that neither the reporter nor the protester saw that story.

The redeeming quality of the newscast was the Lee sisters who looked really professional, though we are still coming to terms with Naette reading sport.

And perhaps the most annoying story (this time on TV6) was that of the falling boulder which flattened two cars and damaged a home in Glencoe. Dominic Kalipersad read the introduction to the story, and of course when you hear something as incredulous as that, the first thing you want to see is the flattened cars.
But alas, Leeron Brumell decided that the first thing the viewers should see was a 15 second soundbite from one of the affected drivers (BTW with NO cover shots of the car, just the interviewee for 15 seconds with some bush in the background). Did anyone actually hear what he said? We don't think so, because if they were like us they were cussing out the reporter for not giving us the shot as soon as the story started! Leeron, what possessed you to start your story with a soundbite? Steups! Maybe if you had a shot of the driver standing in front of the car holding his head and bawling that would have been perfect, or even an interview with the guy with the car clearly visible in the background. Again, steups!

Your colleague at the Express Peter Christopher tells us of one of the residents: 'Chin said they heard noise like if "something was running through the forest up there, then we just hear boom!"'
Notice where his quotation marks are? Peter it sounds as if you were describing the situation to one of your colleagues when you got back to the office and in your excitement decided to go with the vernacular description. Hmmmm.

And while photos and videos show that the two cars damaged were a Hyundai Matrix and a Nissan Almera, for some reason the Guardian's Kyle Jeremiah tells us "The second vehicle was a Mazda 323."
And the Newsday's caption for one of the photos for the story tells us that the owner of the home which was partially damaged by the falling boulder also suffered damage to his vehicle. Where did that come from? As far as we are aware and based on reports in other parts of the media, only two vehicle owners were affected: Camille Holder (owner of the Matrix) and Keino Pollidore (owner of the Almera).