Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
Maybe I'm old and cranky but I'm convinced that the best format for The National was when it was divided into The National and The Journal. 21 minutes for all the daily news reporting you need to know, then the rest of the hour for documentaries, interviews, whatever else. It was the greatest. Peter Mansbridge would read you the news, and then after that you'd get a solid 24 minute Terence McKenna documentary on life in post-communist East Germany or something equally interesting.
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That was on when I first started travelling the world, and being Acajack I'd always check out the equivalent programming everywhere I went, and I felt and still feel it was something pretty special that we had back then.
As Molson said, it was the best news and public affairs combo in North America, and dare I say it was "world-class" and comparable with the top-level of what was out there around the planet.
I have mentioned before that SRC had the same set-up with Le Téléjournal at 10 and Le Point (same concept as The Journal) coming on at 10:20.
Today we still have Le Téléjournal but they've always had a single anchor. They have a panel that takes up a lot of show time as well. Chantal Hébert is often on it. Last night Paul Wells from Maclean's was on it. Tasha Kheiriddin used to be a regular but she has moved on to other things.
I think The National-The Journal era played in a role in the (More) Worldy Canadians myth or stereotype that much of the planet had about us. Not because anyone around the world paid attention to the shows, but how it shaped the world-view and outlook of so many Canadians of multiple generations.
Sadly, I think we're a "dumber" Canada now when it comes to such things, and increasingly so. Which is ironic because we've never had access to so much information.
Before anyone gets excited, I think it's a global trend and not just us.