Toronto, ON, Nov. 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — After two conservative-minded businessmen purchased The Toronto Star, critics predicted the finish of the long-struggling liberal newspaper. And then got here a worldwide pandemic. Premiering Sunday, November 20, 2022, on TVO—with streaming obtainable by way of TVO Today, YouTube, the TVO Today cellular app and good TV companies from November 18—TVO Original Viral News is the story of how the efforts of Star journalists formed our understanding of COVID and immersed the new house owners in the gravity of their process.
“Viral News focuses on the Star as a major metropolitan newspaper struggling to survive in the digital age while trying to cover the biggest story in decades,” says John Ferri, VP of Programming and Content at TVO. “But it addresses a much larger question: What would be lost if news organizations like this one were to be diminished or disappear entirely? The Star repeatedly broke important stories during the pandemic. Who would replace that essential work?”
“I was a print reporter before becoming a filmmaker and I’ve always loved newspapers,” says Viral News director Kevin McMahon, Primitive Entertainment. “When ‘fake news’ became a common trope, my producing partner (and brother) Michael McMahon and I decided to make a documentary about the reality of news gathering. The late publisher John Honderich agreed to let us film in the Star‘s newsroom and we were ready to start in March of 2020 when, suddenly, the paper was sold and COVID hit. We ended up filming through the Omicron lockdown in the nearly empty Star building and in the family kitchens that became the Star‘s virtual newsroom. As usual in documentary, the twist in events was a blessing in disguise. Our job became tougher, but I think the resulting film reveals more about journalism today than it would have under more normal conditions.”
When Jordan Bitove, the scion of a rich household, and Paul Rivett, a price investor, bought the Star in March 2020, Toronto’s media critics painted them as pillagers who would destroy a century-old establishment. The Toronto Star continues to wrestle towards the advances of social media, significantly its potential to eat away at promoting income. But the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the dire public want for fact-based reporting that might fight misinformation coming from these exact same platforms.
TVO Original Viral News examines the lengthy winter of the Omicron lockdown and the essential help Star journalists delivered to readers in a time of uncertainty. Witness journalists rising to the challenge of the greatest well being disaster in human historical past, all whereas Bitove and Rivett discover ways to run a newspaper from the empty rooms of Star headquarters.
TVO TODAY LIVE EVENT – NOV. 17, 2022
Join Steve Paikin from The Agenda on Thursday, November 17, 2022, as he hosts TVO Today Live. After an in-person screening of Viral News, Paikin will average a dialogue with a panel of featured friends: Paul Rivett, Torstar co-owner and CEO; Jay Rosen of New York University and the weblog PressThink; and the Honourable Pamela Wallin, senator, former broadcast journalist and diplomat. Registration is free by way of Eventbrite.
Watch the broadcast premiere of TVO Original Viral News on Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 9 pm ET on TVO, and stream it beginning Friday, November 18 on TVO Today, YouTube, the TVO Today cellular app and good TV companies. Subscribe to the weekly TVO Docs Newsletter for the newest on programming updates and options, or comply with @TVODocs on Twitter and Facebook.
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ABOUT PRIMITIVE ENTERTAINMENT
Primitive Entertainment is an Emmy nominated, Webby award-winning producer of documentary characteristic movies, tv collection and digital media. With 30 years of expertise producing premium nonfiction content material, Primitive Entertainment’s work has earned greater than 40 awards worldwide. Our mission is to have interaction, enlighten and entertain audiences by way of compelling and daring tales that may change the method we see the world round us.
ABOUT TVO
TVO evokes studying that modifications lives and enriches communities. Founded in 1970, we’re a globally acknowledged digital studying group that engages Ontarians of all ages with inclusive experiences and various views. Through video, audio, video games, programs, newsletters and articles, we’re investing in the transformative potential of schooling for everybody. Funded primarily by the Province of Ontario, TVO is a registered charity supported by 1000’s of sponsors and donors. For extra info, go to TVO.me, TVO.org and TVOkids.com.
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