My confession: Yelling at theTV News.

I don't know about yourself but sometimes I find myself yelling at the TV and the so called professional news media while I am watching the news. I try not to do it, but sometimes I see something so stupid that it sort of just comes out.

Last night during the local Global Edmonton 6 PM news broadcast was just such an occasion.

Normally I would have just made my comments towards the TV (and any family member who dares to sit and watch the news while I am there) and left it a that, as it usually is just a one off, but last night it happened twice and a third story dumped a whole pile of irony into the mix.

First up a story on the the deal the province struck with the pharmacists to decrease the costs of generic drugs.

The story covered all the relevant information, they spoke with all the parties involved including the opposition Liberals; all was good until I saw the following up on my screen.


A pharmacist, or possibly a pharmacy tech, counting out pills to fill a prescription while in plain view in the background sits another prescription, complete with the medication, Azelaic acid in Glaxal Base, and the FULL NAME and address info of the person it was written out for! (Even though I am not a professional journalist or a news editor, I have edited out the name for OBVIOUS reasons) Global is not the only one at fault here, although they are the ones that filmed it and let it make the segment, the pharmacy that allowed the taping should have made sure that no identifiable information was in sight.


That is where first I found myself yelling at the TV and soon after I felt the urge again while watching a story about a neighborhood meeting against a proposed cell phone tower in their area. The story was well covered but the reporter forgot to ask anyone interviewed who was against the tower the most obvious question of all. Do you yourself own or use a cell phone? I know, I know, it is not something that I should get that upset about but I was already sort of worked up over the pharmacy story and really, would this not be a question that you would have asked someone opposed to a cell phone tower if it were you asking?


So that was 2, and as I noted earlier I might have left it at that, but soon after came a third story that almost dared me to do more than just yell at the TV.


The final story was a Trouble Shooter segment on the subject of privacy. That is right, privacy. It seems that yesterday was International Data Privacy Day and current and former Privacy Commissioners were in town for a little forum on how to protect your, and your customers, privacy in the electronic age.

You know; privacy protection such as on computers with social networking sites, customer billing, and of course privacy from Global TV cameras. Oh the irony of it all.


Thankfully I do have another outlet other than just yelling at the TV, and I thank you for visiting it and reading my little rants.


Update Feb 12th: The Alberta Privacy Commissioner responds. Nothing at all from Global, not even a damn auto reply.