Ooo, a political cartoon. You'd think I'd draw tons of these. Sketchy art, cynicism, and a strong willingness to drink right from the bottle should all add up to a career as a political cartoonist. However, I don't think I've ever drawn more than four or five political cartoons at least semi-seriously.
First of all, it's hard work. If you don't believe me, try it sometime. Laughing all the way to the bank? Holy cliché, Batman! At least fair-use laws give a lot of leeway to artists who work in satirical formats.
I think the most difficult part is where you end up taking jabs at some poor slob who's doing it all wrong (and who no doubt deserves it), but you don't come up with anything better yourself.
Take for example Mr. Ivan Fecan, the CEO of CTV. I liked drawing him because he has this wildly improbable mane of hair, like Homer Simpson would have if he could have kept using the Dimoxinil treatment (bald as a cue ball in the evening, hair like Samson the next morning).
Ivan Fecan's CTV was the major host broadcaster in Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I thought they did a super job. Along with TSN, they were also the main broadcaster for the 2010 Winter Paralympics, for the first time ever that this event has been held in Canada. And CTV did a crappy job. What happened?
It's easy enough for me to sit in my chair, spend the day rattling off a satirical cartoon, and point my finger at Mr. Fecan. I know very little about him, or about how he runs CTV. All I really know is that CTV paid the IOC a lot of money for the rights to broadcast the Olympics and Paralympics. To set something up like that would take a tremendous amount of dedication and hard work.
By all accounts that I could find, Mr. Fecan is a stand-up guy. A biography of important Canadian broadcasters lists him as a "Philanthropist". Now there's something we have in common: I often claim to be a philanthropist when I have to list my occupation. Philanthropy is probably easier and more effective if you have lots of money to spend, like Mr. Fecan does, unlike myself, where this year I am in the lowest tax bracket. It's a form of financial discrimination, being a charity-case philanthropist.
Of course, one does not succeed in the world of broadcasting by running a charity. CTV paid a lot of money to the IOC because they expected to recoup a lot of money in advertising revenues. According to CBC (that other Canadian broadcaster), CTV paid $90 million for the broadcasting rights to the Olympics. That's roughly double the $47 million the Canadian government spends annually on athletic programs geared for the Olympics (although there have been significant one-time bonuses, including money from the provinces and private sponsors). With the success of the Games assured, CTV ought to make their investment back and then some. The financial numbers have not been released yet, but I do not see how CTV could have taken a loss given the popularity of the events. By way of an example, the Gold Medal Canada-USA Men's Hockey game was the most-watched television event in Canadian history, earning an unprecedented viewer share of 80%. Even VANOC expects to break even, or at least come close.
So, how exactly does one make a profit off of what is supposed to be an amateur sporting event? It takes a scheme of relentless marketing that uses non-professional athletes as spokespeople, or at least infers that they are. Most of these athletes are not millionaires. Rather, they and their families have spent their money and their lives to be able to come up with performances that meet the Olympic ideal. It's an incredible and inspiring personal sacrifice for a Canadian to become an Olympian. CTV is happy to broadcast the pictures of the events, as long as you don't mind sitting through sixteen minutes of sponsor ads for every hour you watch. You buy the product the sponsor advertises, some money goes back to the sponsor, some goes to CTV, and a bit goes back to the athletes.
So why did CTV and the philanthropic Ivan Fecan almost completely turn their back on broadcasting the Paralympic Games? They paid for the access, the technical people and the equipment were all in place, and most importantly, the people of Canada desperately wanted to watch. Would not a true philanthropist find some way to broadcast the majority of the Paralympic Games? Olympic atheletes are inspiring, but Paralympic Atheletes are absolutely astounding. Each of them has overcome a physical disability to particpate in their sport, and then on top of that has refined their technique to the Olympic level. God forbid if Sidney Crosby got into a wreck that paralyzed his legs and then he lost all of his money (there's way fewer millionaire Paralympians than Olympians), but if that happened, and then he found a way to actually move again, and get into shape, become competive, and then be a world-class athlete... if I was a philanthropist with money, there would be NO WAY ON EARTH I would pass up a chance to showcase these Canadian Paralympians - in Canada for the very first time in a Paralympics - to any and all Canadians who wanted to watch it.
As it was, only intense public pressure convinced CTV and TSN to air more than a few token hours of coverage, to replace their precious sit-com re-runs and afternoon dreck programming with Paralympic sport. Honestly, it was like twisting the arm of CTV. And what people don't understand is how CTV could have been such a gracious host to the Olympians and so lukewarm towards the Paralympians. The IPC, God bless them, seemed happy with the crumbs that CTV scattered for them on the broadcast schedule. From what I hear, Vancouver exceeded their expectations, which is nice.
CTV and TSN are not charities, and under the IOC, niether is the Olympic movement. However, is it too much to ask for them to properly recognize the time, money, and commitment spent by all athletes to become Olympians, disabled or able-bodied? Canadians have shown beyond doubt that they support their Olympic athletes. I say it's time that our broadcasters show some Canadian spirit. Look up from counting your dollar bills, Mr. Fecan!
If CTV and TSN want to show the Olympic Rings in their logo, they must have to do more than just pay royalties to the IOC. Olympic broadcasters must themselves be at least a bit Olympian. They must see that all of our athletes matter. If our Olympians are good enough for commercials to sell us credit cards and SUV's, they deserve to be damn well good enough to be on live television competing for their country, our Canada.
Posts
