‘Loss of faith’ in TV news makes CTV reporter quit his job

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: The Star

Kai Nagata, the Quebec City correspondent for CTV News, has abruptly resigned from his job, expressing his disillusionment with television news in a farewell letter.

“I quit my job because the idea burrowed into my mind that, on the long list of things I could be doing, television news is not the best use of my short life,” Nagata, 24, said in a 3,000-word essay to explain his departure.

The essay has received widespread attention from journalists across Canada and even caught the attention of Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, who posted the lengthy missive on Twitter.

Among the reasons cited by Nagata, who also previously worked for CBC News, was his discomfort at an industry that “casually sexualizes its workforce” by hiring unqualified people who looked the part.

Read more: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/1022991--loss-of-faith-in-tv-news-makes-ctv-reporter-quit-his-job?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

[buddysmellgood]

1. Wow. Why did he take the job in the first place. I thought it was bad 20 years ago.

[Butch350]

4. Psst! (whisper) job shotages???

Lofty goals of informing the world of REALS NEWS?

[arikara]

5. Maybe because he was only 22

and thought it was a good opportunity.

[avebury]

12. K&R

[MADem]

14. +1 nt

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[Gregorian]

3. It sounds like he just "ran out of bullshit".

And to think that this is decades after Network was filmed.

If only he had good hair, and bullshit. Then he'd be a smash hit on the tv news.

Back in the early Bush years I recall an email I wrote to the journalism department at UC Berkeley. It was so blatantly obvious that they were simply prepping kids to yack into microphones. Here we were invading a country, and all of the fake news that was coming out of one of our best universities was complete fluff. Copycat news. Crap they heard on Fox, and then just rebroadcast. Microphone practice.

[w4rma]

15. This guy is one of the good guys, it would appear. Not in it for the profit motive. (nt)

[JDPriestly]

21. Sarah Palin -- prime example. She was prepping herself to mouth

banalities. Then compare Christine Amanpour. She is slick and corporate, but curious and intelligent. Amanpour is not my ideal, but she is way above the norm.

Then there is Amy Goodman who should be lead anchor on CBS, NBC or ABC. Quality journalism has no chance in today's short infomercials between commercials.

If I had my way, there would be no undergraduate degrees in journalism or communication or anything related to that other than to broadcast technology. A journalist should get a degree in some field of liberal arts. They should have to have proved a certain intellectual capacity and know something about some field in the world -- political science or education or just something. Journalism should be a graduate study field.

[arikara]

6. Here's his blog with the letter

http://kainagata.com/

worth a read.

[JBoy]

17. A brilliantly articulated piece. He reflects many of my opinions on where Canada is at.

[KamaAina]

7. He better not come south of the border, then

by our standards, CTV and especially CBC is what TV news is supoosed to be.

[SteveM]

8. The only T.V. news drama in Austin, Tx, is the gambling aspect...

Since the news channels cover the same topics, if you are quick with the remote you can tell if the stations hit the same stories in the same order; you know, like having three oranges on the slot machine. You do have to put up with vast quantities of Rick Perry, however.

[Ninjaneer]

9. Wow, his blog post is a great read. K&R n/t

[harmonicon]

10. Good for him.

TV "news" is a fucking joke. I'm slightly astonished that anyone pays attention to it as if it were really journalism.

[DaveHee]

11. Wonderful Essay!

What a refreshing and energizing read! I encourage all y'all to read the essay, it is well written and engaging. There -is- hope for the future because of people like him!

Dave

[MADem]

13. This sounds like a self-indulgent whine to me.

I'm not saying that some of what he said does not have merit, because it absolutely does, but come on--this isn't news. It's like expressing shock when one finds out there's drinking going on in a bar.

There have been "news related" films made for many decades that highlight the whole "anchorman" (or broadcast news) culture. Looking pretty is a big part of all that, and it is even a bigger part with HDTV.

What's not mentioned by the young Mr. Nagata is that not only do networks hire for "attractiveness," they also hire for pure racial tokenism. Gotta have one of each, so we look good! And ya can't always force the black guy to be the cheery weatherman or the "sports dude" anymore! Family Guy has made fun of this aspect of TV news for years, with "Asian Reporter Tricia Takanawa." Some forward-looking stations are even courting the "geezer demographic," and hiring a token oldie with wrinkles, but wrinkles that look grandmotherly/fatherly in HDTV.

If I had to guess, I'll bet this guy applied for a more prestigious assignment, and got beat out by the hottie with the boob job--and he's very, very angry about it. But hey, I'm guessing that the hottie had better Q Scores than he did, because those factor into who gets picked, like it, or not.

At 24, this kid is too damn young to feel 'discomfort.' At 24, he hasn't yet paid his dues. At 24, it's better to be inside the tent pissing out, IMO.

This kid is giving up, taking his ball and going home, stomping his foot because he didn't get a trophy. He would have been better off working for change from within. Despite Ebert's endorsement of his essay, I'm not sold that this guy's reasons have to do with the culture of broadcasting--I think they're much more personal.

[w4rma]

16. No. You couldn't be more wrong. It's important news. (nt)

[MADem]

18. My mileage varies. That's my opinion and I'm stickin' to it! nt

[Hissyspit]

20. "At 24, this kid is too damn young to feel 'discomfort.' At 24, he hasn't yet paid his dues."

Yeah all those young Vietnam protesters and civil rights protesters in the 60s should have just shut up for another couple of decades, and accepted things as "the way it is." Their opinions were clearly invalid, what with their being in their early twenties.

[dana_b]

23. touche

(I don't have the nice accent on my keyboard ;) )

[Ian David]

19. We've pretty much known this for a while...

http://youtu.be/VIPnRDtM6wo?t=54s

[KamaAina]

22. Current Canada?

Eh?