B.C. NDP livestream crash prevents public from seeing Adrian Dix speech

by Charlie Smith on Feb 24, 2013 at 2:06 pm
Comments
Adrian Dix is going to have to change the party's livestream for the better.
Stephen Hui

Things weren't supposed to work out this way.

Photos

We thought that when the B.C. NDP imported media whiz Brian Topp from back east as the 2013 election campaign manager, Adrian Dix might have an error-free run into the premier's office.

But this afternoon, the B.C. NDP's livestream went kaput, preventing members from across the province from seeing Dix's speech to the faithful.

It also detracted media attention from what Dix had to say.

Earlier today, the deputy campaign director, Jan O'Brien, sent out a mass email urging people to tune in for the address at the "Weekend of Change" conference in Burnaby.

The event is designed to reinforce the B.C. NDP's new marketing slogan: "Change for the Better: One practical step at a time."

However, the livestreaming fiasco prompted Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason to poke a little fun with this tweet: 

Comments (17) Add New Comment
Murray Nelson
Feb 24, 2013 at 2:55 pm
I have been streaming since the year 2000. First mistake was using livestream. I have set up in front of CBC long time techs up and running in less than 1/2 hour. Trouble is I am in Lethbridge AB. Why am I here instead of the coast? $$$$ dummy. But you could have flown me out to the coast for the event. Its all in a suitcase.
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paul-swells
Feb 24, 2013 at 2:59 pm
Good job reporting on the content of the speech. I guess if the livestream fails you get to choose to fail in your duty to report the real news story too.
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forest
Feb 24, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Gary Mason, sheesh. I guess that's just more of the journalistic practice we've come to expect from the Globe and Mail. Eh, Margaret?
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DavidH
Feb 24, 2013 at 3:40 pm
Good to see Gary Mason maintain his unbiased journalistic standards. Did he tweet that from a free bar at the latest BC Liberal photo op?

What a pathetic character. We'll find out more about him once the Furlong case hits the court.
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ger
Feb 24, 2013 at 3:52 pm
But Paul, how can you report on what you don't get to see?
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David Eaman
Feb 24, 2013 at 4:38 pm
I can see the conversation in the NDP campaign office right now: "My son and his friend do this "livestreaming" thing all the time, and they have a band with a PA system too, so we can get them to set up a something real quick! These kids know way more than us about computers ya know."
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Charlie Smith
Feb 24, 2013 at 4:48 pm
paul-swells,

I would have reported on the speech if I was able to see it at the time.

Instead, I set myself up at the computer—at the urging of the deputy campaign manager—only to stare at a message telling me that the livestream wasn't available.

Then I told our readers this.

The Mason tweet was designed to show how the livestreaming blunder became the story rather than what Dix said.

If the deputy campaign manager hadn't urged me to watch the livestream, this story wouldn't have appeared.

Charlie Smith
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paul-swells
Feb 24, 2013 at 5:24 pm
Does this mean you'll be updating this piece now that youve had the chance to watch the livestream?
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Kathy
Feb 24, 2013 at 5:25 pm
At least the rest of the media made it out - they even got to ask questions of Adrian Dix! ...something you wouldn't have gotten from the livestream.
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Erin
Feb 24, 2013 at 9:36 pm
Clearly Hui's a little pissed that his plan to cover the story from home where pants are optional, blew up in his face.
Always amazed at how lazy journalists have become.
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Charlie Smith
Feb 24, 2013 at 9:48 pm
Erin,

It's not Stephen Hui. It was me. I'm sure all those New Democrats are going to blame me for not covering the speech, but I was juggling a few things—and I was invited to watch it on livestream by the deputy campaign manager.

paul-swells wonders if I'll write about the speech now.

No, I won't. I'll post it on our site if the NDP ever gets around to posting it on YouTube.

Adrian Dix gets lots of coverage on this site already. Besides, when I watched part of the speech, he was rehashing his run through the party leaders, just like he did at the 2011 NDP convention.

http://www.straight.com/news/adrian-dix-sends-message-new-democrats-shou...

The last time, he left Bob Skelly off the list. I'm not sure why because Skelly was an honourable politician. Perhaps Dix just forgot about him.

Charlie Smith
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Tim.
Feb 24, 2013 at 9:55 pm
I'd rather have a Livestream crash than a government crash. The choice is clear for me in the next election -- I'm voting NDP.
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JC
Feb 24, 2013 at 10:46 pm
What's the NDP's platform anyway???? oh right they haven't released it yet & we're 2 months away from an election...
but that's OK because a lot of blind sheep will be voting for them regardless of their platforn........ BC politics what a joke..
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Ippo pot! - A moose?
Feb 25, 2013 at 8:56 am
Your impassioned self important comments rival the piece itself in length and original thought.

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Keith
Feb 25, 2013 at 2:00 pm
With the provincial debt of BC an ADMITTED 60+ BILLION run up by the liberals, with another 40+ billion long term debt for BC Hydro, again wholly at the hands of the liberals, youre right JC. Lets all vote for the Christy Clark Liberal Party. Idiot
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genuine
Feb 25, 2013 at 8:22 pm
if the msm were not so lazy they should have covered the event instead of relying on live stream. you know,like they did in the days of old that was and as far as I'm concerned it should still be done. get off your ass mason and go find some news there lots out there,many unanswered questions that to this day are still around.
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Noneofyouknowtechnology
Feb 27, 2013 at 1:50 am
Uh huh, and how much of this is the NDP's fault? Live Streaming isn't 100% there yet. There are multiple products out there JustinTV, Twitch, LiveStream, and even Youtube Live. None of these are perfect, multi-million dollar events are streamed through Twitch and Justin and there are still issues. Blizzard streams have fuckups regularly. Live Stream and Youtube Live are used by many organizations and they too discover various issues. These are generally temporary, but we don't have perfect networks.

It's easy to blame the NDP for it and make it seem like they were the incompetent ones, but that really isn't the case here.

Don't talk about stuff you have no clue about.
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