Driven Car Show Shakes What Its Mama Gave It Saturday

[Markham]

Hi guys

A little late, but here's the Beacon's take on the Driven car show.

http://www.calgarybeacon.com/2010/06/driven-car-show-shakes-what-its-mama-gave-it-saturday/

Markham

[core_upt]

that is one of the worst headlines I have ever read

[JfuckinC]

Originally posted by core_upt
that is one of the worst headlines I have ever read

Same, knew it was this guy :rofl:

[2Valve0]

:facepalm:
waste of time

[911fever]

the Calgary Beacon is disturbing waste of time and effort.

[Modelexis]

Such poor quality and lack of effort. The beacon is so far out of touch with reality it's amazing.

[inline6turbo]

He wanted to interview me on tape for his paper. I had to pleasantly decline. Very nice guy though Josh, very nice.

[Toma]

:facepalm: :rofl:

[Novus]

What a :facepalm: :closed:

[beyond_ban]

HAHAHAHHA, i thought this thread title was a joke..... Until i saw who the OP was.

I like how he tries to gain our support by writing articles about us, but he still finds no love.

[2EFNFAST]

May I suggest a possible topic for your next article? This movement seems to be gaining traction

7V9-y0QWSGY

[CUG]

You guys are out to lunch, all of you. This is a fine piece of journalism work :poosie:

[2EFNFAST]

Originally posted by CUG
You guys are out to lunch, all of you. This is a fine piece of journalism work :poosie:

clearly you did not watch the video I posted above you.

[scat330]

You can tell if it's their work or not, the better articles are copy and pasted!

[J@TheBeacon]

Originally posted by core_upt
that is one of the worst headlines I have ever read Excellent, we did our best to illicit a somewhat comedic response (good or bad) with that headline. You read it, so mission accomplished.


Originally posted by Modelexis
Such poor quality and lack of effort. The beacon is so far out of touch with reality it's amazing.
I noticed you have a fair bit of input with respect to our automotive articles, so I need to ask you what specifically you found to be a) Out of touch with reality b) a lack of effort.

For these smaller stories, we get a time allowance of 2-3 hours where I need to interview 3-5 people and provide as full of an account of the 5 w's as possible in a writeup including pictures and video.

I'll even go as far as offering you to accompany me on our next Motorsport assignment so that you can share your input and help provide us with that extra bit that you see missing. Beer is on me.


Originally posted by Toma
:facepalm: :rofl:
I take it you didn't like the Mustang? :dunno:


Originally posted by beyond_ban
HAHAHAHHA, i thought this thread title was a joke..... Until i saw who the OP was.
Markham didn't select the title of the article, I did, and for that precise reason. I wanted to have some cheesy fun with it, and a nasally "Driven Car Show a Success" was boring as shit to me. From beyond.ca alone we've seen more than 600 hits on that article, good title or bad, the writeup and video is getting traffic, and it's providing extra coverage that it wouldn't have otherwise seen.


Originally posted by beyond_ban
I like how he tries to gain our support by writing articles about us, but he still finds no love.
Which I find to be completely hilarious in and of itself considering the motorsports community gets almost ZERO full-reel coverage here in Calgary from the media. If the track only needed Beyond.ca members to survive in this town, you sir, would have the luxury of that kind of attitude, no offense, brah.


The Beacon/Southeast Calgary News was the only media outlet to cover every single facet of the Race City fiasco. We said what needed to be said about how the city was doing business, and we backed the community 110% by committing to astronomical amounts of time giving the track, and the people who go there a way to get to the greater public.

I'm genuine in asking you guys for your input; what you think was missed, what needed more coverage, and what could have been done better in the short 3 hours I had to put this together.

[kenny]

Everyone is just jumping onto the "Hate The Beacon" bandwagon. Other than the really cheesy headline (which actually drew tons of attention) I don't really see anything wrong with the article at all.

[Ukyo8]

Headline was kinda retarded but I didn't mind the article itself :dunno:

[JfuckinC]

Originally posted by kenny
Everyone is just jumping onto the "Hate The Beacon" bandwagon. Other than the really cheesy headline (which actually drew tons of attention) I don't really see anything wrong with the article at all.

Haha i didn't read the article, but i do agree. Beacon Writers, just understand beyond is like one big bandwagon, where the wagon goes changes on the daily, but that's all it is.

Do what you want, right?

[Kloubek]

They say that getting a reaction to something is better than no reaction at all. Cheesy or not, the headline did the trick.

J@TheBeacon: I have to admit - you took the high road to the comments that were made. Good for you.

[Markham]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, good or bad. What I don't understand is why the Beacon detractors seem to hate our paper so much. We're the only media in town covering motorsport and automotive news. Isn't that what you guys want?

Sure, the motorsport stories could be a little better. Josh is learning the business. But every time out he does a better job than the time before. His stories are interesting, the video he shoots is all right and getting better.

Josh is quite right in his comments when he asks the detractors what it is they think we should be doing better. If you don't like what you're reading/viewing, what would you prefer to read/view?

If you want to continue to throw rocks instead of offering constructive criticism, that's your prerogative. But Josh and I cover motorsport because we're fans and we're trying to support the sport and the community. We'll continue to do that regardless of the haters who post nasty comments about our stories and the Beacon.

One last message to the critics: if you hate the Beacon so much, don't read our stories. We're not charging you for them. We're not holding a gun to your head. You don't have to read them.

To our supporters: thank you for reading the paper. We appreciate your support and look forward to positive, constructive comments from you. Our goal is to always improve and you can help us do that.

Markham
Calgary Beacon
Publisher/editor

[Toma]

Lets just analyze this...

Someone affiliated with the Beacon posts link to article, hence attracting attention.

Article has epic Fail headline.... we all agree on this.

Friends of Beacon point out "we meant to do it for attention, you guys that say its bad are just bandwagon homos"

Uh huh :zzz:

Epic fail at back pedaling. :rofl:

Anyway, better luck next time.

Criticizing your readership is pretty lame and unprofessional.

I had no idea the "Beacon" was anything but an old Calgary Strip Joint/Pimp hangout Rock bar from the 80's... so I ain't hatin' your paper.

[J@TheBeacon]

Originally posted by Toma
Lets just analyze this...

Someone affiliated with the Beacon posts link to article, hence attracting attention.

Article has epic Fail headline.... we all agree on this.

Friends of Beacon point out "we meant to do it for attention, you guys that say its bad are just bandwagon homos"
To be clear, I've owned the cheesy headline from the get go, as well as the motivation behind it. That's no secret. I am new to journalism, and I think that was my 8th story in a little over month being on the job.

Again, you or anyone, I ask what more could have been covered and what you guys would like to have seen in there. It would be foolish not to want to please a large chunk of our readership.

[01RedDX]

.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Yeah I don't know....other than the ridiculous headline I fail to see any problem with the article..... :dunno:

[bjstare]

Originally posted by 01RedDX
....Don't worry about the immature kids on this site - most of them aren't actually kids, and that's a much bigger problem for them than it is for you.

This is so true its not even funny.

Okay, its kinda funny; still true nonetheless.

[2EFNFAST]

I'm sure the Beacon is a paying Beyond sponsor since they keep directing people over to their site........

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by 2EFNFAST
I'm sure the Beacon is a paying Beyond sponsor since they keep directing people over to their site........

What matters the most is that we'd hope Beyond.ca gets a huge advertising page in return. :poosie:

[Jeremiah]

The Article is not top notch, but it doesn't really need to be.

I saw nothing wrong with the article, although I have to agree that the headline was tacky.

[Modelexis]

I'll put my crits right in this thread,

1. For a page loaded with sponsors you really don't have proper equipment, start with a decent quality camera. It doesn't cost much to get a good quality HD camera these days, every guy that's been beaten up by cops in the last 3 years has had better quality footage than your professional news station.

2. Find a way to not be asking questions from behind the camera and leave them in the final cut, it makes you seems creepy, in the case of the model interview, it has the same feel as a bangbus video where they are interviewing them at their 'crib'.

3. Upload your video to a site that allows you to keep quality.

4. Watch some 'car show' videos and get a sense of quality.
http://vimeo.com/11345354
obviously this video took hours and hours and hours to produce, but note the video quality, and the angles of the cars, and the amount of footage on the cars.

5. The video makes it seem like there was 10 cars at the show and only 50 people showed up.
Even if you have to cut the sound and dub over the interviews, take footage during the peak hours, try to make people want to attend, from the video it seems like a beyond honda meet indoors by the turnout.

6. Invest in a camera for god's sake, the pictures on the page look like you just took frames from the video.

7. Where is the gallery? how hard is it to grab the camera and take 40 or so pictures and post up a gallery on your page. You want hits? on the internet? more pictures.

I don't need a liquor bribe so that you can have someone teach you how to be good at your job.
If you don't know what you're doing wrong, post it up on a journalism site for crits.
Why did you go into this line of work if you have no experience and have no skills?
I don't even understand how you get paid for this stuff.

[Markham]

Thanks for your comments, Modelexis, but you're way off base. The video was cut by an editor with 25 years of network TV and commercial experience...she laughed when she read your comments.

FYI, we use the same camera and Bluetooth mic used by the Calgary Sun....good enough for them, good enough for us. And it is shot in HD using the AVCHD format.

The fact you expect "car show" quality video from a small, local newspaper shows how unrealistic your expectations are.

As for uploading to a site that allows us to keep quality, I don't know what you're talking about. The video is encoded in Flash at 350 kbs transfer rate, which is fairly high quality. The Beacon site is hosted by Media Temple in L.A., which is one of the big American hosting companies, ensuring consistent download speeds.

As for asking questions from behind the camera, TV reporters ask questions from off-camera all the time. Standard technique.

And we don't do galleries. We're not a car site, we're a news site that reports on motorsport and automotive news. I don't have time to edit a gallery. Sorry, just the reality of a small, independent paper.

Yeah, the headline was cheesy....it was supposed to be. It was meant to grab attention. Mission accomplished. And if you read the Beacon regularly, that headline was an anomaly...you're busting our chops for something that is unusual.

Frankly, you're trying to make a big something out of nothing. This is the way we do motorsport and automotive stories. Sorry if it doesn't meet your standards.

[Markham]

We did an advancer on the show to promote it. And in the future when Beyond.ca puts on or sponsors events we'll be happy to promote those as well. As I said before, we're trying to support the Calgary motorsport and automotive community, and that includes Beyond.ca.

Markham


Originally posted by TomcoPDR


What matters the most is that we'd hope Beyond.ca gets a huge advertising page in return. :poosie:

[Markham]

Toma, that comment is completely unwarranted. Both Josh and I have been responding to some pretty harsh criticism and as one reader noted, we've stuck to the high road, unlike our critics. We're not criticizing our readership, we're defending the story and the Beacon, which is perfectly legitimate. You're a business owner, I would think you'd understand about defending your work when unfairly criticized.

Markham

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Toma
[B]Lets just analyze this...

Criticizing your readership is pretty lame and unprofessional.

[J@TheBeacon]

Originally posted by Modelexis
I'll put my crits right in this thread,

1. For a page loaded with sponsors you really don't have proper equipment, start with a decent quality camera. It doesn't cost much to get a good quality HD camera these days, every guy that's been beaten up by cops in the last 3 years has had better quality footage than your professional news station.

2. Find a way to not be asking questions from behind the camera and leave them in the final cut, it makes you seems creepy, in the case of the model interview, it has the same feel as a bangbus video where they are interviewing them at their 'crib'.

3. Upload your video to a site that allows you to keep quality.

4. Watch some 'car show' videos and get a sense of quality.
http://vimeo.com/11345354
obviously this video took hours and hours and hours to produce, but note the video quality, and the angles of the cars, and the amount of footage on the cars.

5. The video makes it seem like there was 10 cars at the show and only 50 people showed up.
Even if you have to cut the sound and dub over the interviews, take footage during the peak hours, try to make people want to attend, from the video it seems like a beyond honda meet indoors by the turnout.

6. Invest in a camera for god's sake, the pictures on the page look like you just took frames from the video.

7. Where is the gallery? how hard is it to grab the camera and take 40 or so pictures and post up a gallery on your page. You want hits? on the internet? more pictures.

I don't need a liquor bribe so that you can have someone teach you how to be good at your job.
If you don't know what you're doing wrong, post it up on a journalism site for crits.
Why did you go into this line of work if you have no experience and have no skills?
I don't even understand how you get paid for this stuff.

You’ve made some very interesting points, and I completely appreciate you taking the time to lay them out in such a simple and enticingly easy-sounding way. I'll concede that I'm a rookie with camera work, and I even took some pointers from a pro that was on hand at the show. I'd have to let our publisher answer why there isn't a gallery, and the video issues that you yourself are having.

I just wanted to clarify something with you: make no mistake; I most definitely wasn’t attempting to bribe you. I was in fact legitimately interested in seeing how you could pack your suggested level of production into three hours of work. I’ve noticed a number of your hostile comments, and figured it was time to get your input, even at the risk of seeing more of the same.

Where you're suggesting massive failure for not having a person-to-person on camera interview, it's not how those interviews happen. I'd like to invite you to view this Calgary Sun video on Ricky Gervais:
http://video.calgarysun.ca/
Make a note of the high quality footage contained in there as well. In fact, with these styles of coverage, I’ve yet to see what you’re suggesting.

I feel the need to point out that Driven received more in depth coverage from us than any of the other news outlets in town. Global showed up and did a quick live spot on their late show... other than that, searching the papers and other outlets, there was nothing.

We are not Driven’s in house media production department. We covered the show to keep in time with the current automotive events taking place in Calgary, and to give a relatively intermediate element here some exposure. The "hours and hours and hours" of production you're suggesting we put into a 3 hour time budget (including travel to the show, collection, the write up, as well as the editors time) doesn't sound economical to me, but again, I’d have to leave that suggestion for the boss.

Regardless, I appreciate your input and will definitely take it into consideration for next time. :)

Regards,

J

[FraserB]

Markham, if you or Josh want an interview in the future I have an idea for a future story, one that all the major news groups are uninterested in providing.

[4lti]

Grow a pair of balls.
In Journalism NOT EVERYONE will like your work.
Thats life man.

Stop crying and saying everyone is just being mean.

When I first read the title the first thought was "wtf..."
I personally thought it was the model show pictures thread of shaking asses or something.

The title is very poorly thought out. Accept it.

If your going to cry like this then your just gonna be writing shitty little papers like this for your whole life.

[TomcoPDR]

Moar on one of your reporters: Elizabeth Sande :love:

[J@TheBeacon]

Originally posted by 4lti
Grow a pair of balls.
In Journalism NOT EVERYONE will like your work.
Thats life man.

Stop crying and saying everyone is just being mean.

When I first read the title the first thought was "wtf..."
I personally thought it was the model show pictures thread of shaking asses or something.

The title is very poorly thought out. Accept it.

If your going to cry like this then your just gonna be writing shitty little papers like this for your whole life.

That's a little out of context, but no problem. We like to interact with our readers. There were some key points we felt needed addressing, and we're doing that. No crying going on here, sir :)

[Sil80_D]

Originally posted by 4lti

I personally thought it was the model show pictures thread of shaking asses or something.

Dito. i was disappointed :thumbsdow

[Modelexis]

Originally posted by Markham
The video was cut by an editor with 25 years of network TV and commercial experience...she laughed when she read your comments.

I actually could have guessed that, the images and the article look like something that would have been in the local newspaper 25 years ago.

I don't think the "it's good enough for the sun it's good enough for us" attitude is going to get you anywhere.

That's what I'm talking about with the passion and the effort, it's very obvious that your pieces are rushed and cut short, whatever happened to quality > quantity.

If I want the news I'll read the SUN, you keep saying that you are the only local paper that covers this and that, so why not focus on what sets you APART from the SUN, do your own thing and do it well. Don't try to be the SUN, first get your quality up and then worry about increasing the amount of content.

Who said the sun sets the bar for quality?

I don't know much about video cameras at all, but you need to really look at other cameras, seriously.

Your editor is stuck in the 80's, probably still has 80's hair.:dunno:

[LEGiiT]

Word of advice to the Beacon people:

Just drop this whole thing. You've gotten your point across and we appreciate you not flippin' shit at us and taking the high road, but best to do at this point is drop it and let this topic sink to the dev/null of Beyond.

Liam.

[wintonyk]

The article honestly wasn't to bad. What does baffle me is that the article didn't mention the tuner aspect or that 99% of the cars were not a blue 4x4, ferrari or cadillac. As a matter of fact i don't even recall seeing a cadillac.

Yes the mustang was a monster powerhouse but so much more to the show than that.

Haha and title totally cheesy but caught my eye and curiosity

[Modelexis]

A local forum member put together a video that made your video look like it was shot by a 2 yr old.

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/307211/driven-2010-video/

If I was a professional journalist this would embarrass me, but I guess the beacon isn't concerned with quality.

[Kloubek]

Originally posted by LEGiiT
Word of advice to the Beacon people:

Just drop this whole thing. You've gotten your point across and we appreciate you not flippin' shit at us and taking the high road, but best to do at this point is drop it and let this topic sink to the dev/null of Beyond.

This.

[Disoblige]

Originally posted by Modelexis
A local forum member put together a video that made your video look like it was shot by a 2 yr old.

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/307211/driven-2010-video/

If I was a professional journalist this would embarrass me, but I guess the beacon isn't concerned with quality.
I must agree that swiftcrx's video does capture the show much better.

[Modelexis]

The beacon should next time pay swiftcrx to go with them and hold their hand and give advice to produce a half decent video.