CBCnews

Tape delay

If you tuned in Wednesday night to watch and listen to the statements of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Stephane Dion, you waited almost 25 minutes to hear Dion's response.

The networks' plan was to run the Liberal leader's response one minute after the prime minister finished.

Both parties agreed to deliver a tape to CBC to be fed to all networks.

The tape from the Prime Minister's Office arrived before 6:30 in the evening. However, the tape from Dion's office did not arrive until just after 7:15 and then it needed to be dubbed because both English and French versions were on the one tape.

All of this meant the tape could not be played to a waiting audience until almost 7:30.

George Hoff