Tagged: Susan Ormiston
Meek slags Ormiston’s grief porn – feedback
Cliff White defends Ormiston:
I happened to catch both the clip of Ormiston holding the hand of, and then carrying, the little boy, and the one of Cooper tousling the head of another. I didn’t think there was any comparison. I was moved by the first and disgusted by the second.
Watching Ormiston’s reports over the last week or so, it’s obvious she has been deeply affected by what she’s seeing and reporting on. Her actions conveyed a real human warmth. It’s not such a bad thing for viewers to occasionally see that reporters are not just automatons, but are real people with real emotions. On the other hand Cooper’s actions seemed a classic illustration of the opposite, a reporter cynically faking concern hoping to heighten the impact of his story.
As I said in the original post (about a Herald column by Jim Meek), I did not see the Ormiston piece. I did see, and didn’t like, Cooper’s display of affection, but I would not presume to say he was faking. My objection is to making the reporter’s display of compassion, real or contrived, the focus of a story, when the focus ought to be on the people who have been harmed by the catastrophe, and those who are trying to help.
It’s obviously a difficult line to walk, but surely this is a situation that calls for the most rigorous possible factual reporting, rather than titillation.
Meek slags Ormiston’s grief porn
Herald columnist Jim Meek takes a shot at CBC reporter Susan Ormiston:
In one story, the viewer was treated to moving pictures of CBC-TV reporter Susan Ormiston, who held the hand of a small Haitian child as they walked through a devastated, crowded neighbourhood.
Ms. Ormiston later collected the tired child into her own tender arms, and on they marched. The made-for-TV pictures provided proof of Ms. Ormiston’s compassion, and I did wonder for a moment if the reporter or the youngster’s family was the intended focus of the story.
I didn’t see the piece in question, and I winced to see Ormiston (a friend) treated so harshly by Meek (another friend), but I’m pretty sure I would have shared Meek’s dyspepsia. During Friday night’s telethon, I did see, and was faintly nauseated 
by, CNN’s Anderson Cooper repeatedly tousling the heads of Haitian youngsters rescued after days entrapped in earthquake wreckage.
The reason for my discomfort is the same as Meek’s. I detect no curiosity or informational value in these cameos, rather an effort to confirm the reporters, and vicariously the audience, as Truly Caring People. We’ve come a long way from Edward R. Murrow reporting the Blitz from the steps of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Meek again:
This was all part of a drama in which the CBC tried to connect the kid’s mom by phone with a relative — the father, I think — back in Canada.
It was a quest story, a tale of a journey taken in search of a prize, and it even had an ending that was both poignant and happy. The family was connected, but only by phone.
Ms. Ormiston’s report, a becalming pastiche of journalism and missionary work, revealed all the elements of good visual story-telling — real people, a narrative you could follow, great pictures.
But even as I couldn’t stop watching it, I knew I was being manipulated. Still, I might have been moved by this little saga if it had been less contrived, patronizing, and scripted.
Instead, I was struck by what our response to the Haitian crisis says about our national broadcaster, and our national character.
Colvin’s torture testimony – #4
CBC’s Susan Ormiston encountered Richard Colvin when she was a war correspondent, and he was a senior Canadian political officer, in Kandahar. Tonight, on the national, she spoke about his credibility.
He was the guy that reporters wanted to get a briefing from when they arrived in Kandahar to find out what was happening on the ground.
