WATCH: Cameraman Catches CEO Of Airport Authority’s Spin In Hilarious Real-Time ‘Fact-Check’
One of the basic rules in public relations is to make sure that the visuals match the message.
This is a lesson that Deborah Flint, CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, seemed to have missed.
In a presser on Tuesday, Ms. Flint was touting the improvements that have been made in on-time flights when a CTV News camera operator tilted the camera up as she was speaking to show a board showing mostly delayed and canceled Air Canada flights.
From BlogTO:
A Tuesday press conference at Toronto Pearson International Airport has turned into a high-profile public relations gaffe, all thanks to some creative work by a news camera operator.
Deborah Flint, CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, was in the middle of telling assembled media that Pearson has “seen almost a doubling in terms of improvement on on-time performance since last year,” when camera operator Matthew Reid decided to take some creative license, tilting his camera up to show an arrival board covered in delayed and cancelled flights.
A clip of the CTV News broadcast has gone viral, with two tweets showing the same video collectively sharing over 2.7 million views as of Wednesday morning. Viewers are reacting with shock and delight to the colossal burn, with one calling it a “murder on live television.”
Source: BlogTO
If you’ve never had the displeasure of traveling through Pearson, count yourself fortunate. It has been long documented by travelers that there are long, pointless lines, the baggage claim is preternaturally slow, and many of the staff don’t speak English properly — basically, it’s akin to a trip to the depths of hell.
Travel through Pearson became much worse during the pandemic after the Trudeau government added another layer of bureaucracy to an already unpleasant experience by requiring proof of vaccination for travel and mandatory use of the government-developed ArriveCAN app to report your vaccination status and quarantine plan.
Last year, Barstool Sports host Ryan Whitney posted a rant recounting just how awful his experience was. It went viral.
I live at Toronto Pearson International airport. The worst place on earth. I smell so bad. pic.twitter.com/PfdnHcO7Ad
— Ryan Whitney (@ryanwhitney6) June 6, 2022
The Spitting’ Chiclets host wasn’t the only one who was having a bad experience.
My flight is cancelled, and so are a lot of others. This is the customer service line right now pic.twitter.com/73V47jiL44
— Nicki LyMac 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@NicoleMac19) June 6, 2022
Photos of the baggage claim were shared all over social media by frustrated travelers.
@TorontoPearson So we've now been 1.5 hours waiting for bags, people have fallen asleep, amd volleyball game has started in the baggage claim area. Get with the program Pearson!! #ridiculous pic.twitter.com/gwrrn3xQIM
— Jason Barnes (@bigwingsfan14) May 23, 2022
This is what baggage claim looks like at Pearson Airport. Thanks to Trudeau, you can now spend two hours playing hide and seek with your luggage. pic.twitter.com/Bpq73q01SO
— Canada Proud (@WeAreCanProud) June 28, 2022
It became exponentially worse around Christmas.
I’ve never seen anything like this at Pearson Airport in Toronto.
A mass of humanity and luggage upon arrival. pic.twitter.com/VfOOYxSoWA
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) December 27, 2022
After years of awful travel conditions, it’s no wonder that the creative camera work struck a chord on social media.
Amazing story telling by the camera operator here.
— Blaise (@boehmerB) July 18, 2023
Talk about the importance of visuals when doing a press conference. This is not a good look! https://t.co/HX7IE8MaDb
— Rob Kirsic 🇨🇦🇭🇷 (@robkirsic) July 18, 2023
Call the police, I’d like to report a murder. Unreal job by the camera man. This CEO makes two million dollars a year. https://t.co/fRIJM3bnZ9
— Travis Linford (@luckylinford) July 19, 2023
Somebody buy this cameraman a beer. 😎 pic.twitter.com/lGRx8mJblA
— Glenda M 🇨🇦 (@McfarlaneGlenda) July 18, 2023
Yep. As long as it’s not Bud Light or some other watered-down swill. At least it’s Canada, and although it’s being governed by idiots, at least we have good beer here!
The Toronto Airport tried to make light of the video, but they got fact-checked on that, too.
Except most of those arrivals are delayed arriving into YYZ because they were delayed departing from YYZ earlier!
— ✈ Stephen (@flying_steve) July 19, 2023
This tweet is taking off better than the airplanes leaving your airport.
— Andrew Schwan (@aschwan41) July 18, 2023
One Twitter user posted some pretty important context.
Doubling in terms of improvement is a hilarious claim, like a second derivative or something.
They haven't doubled the number that are on-time, they've doubled the improvement. If the improvement last year was one more on-time flight, this year there are two more on-time flights.— Graeme Edgeler (@GraemeEdgeler) July 18, 2023
To sum up…
Toronto’s Pearson Airport still sucks, but it just sucks slightly less than it did last year.
This is a tremendous success in Canadian terms.
So, when you, my American cousins, get down about how your incompetent your leaders are … take heart that they’re probably not stupid enough to stand in front of evidence of their lies.
Well, okay… “The Big Guy” is definitely an exception.
But maybe a courageous camera operator might find a conscience and catch him in a blatant lie… You never know!