News about news

Another successful charity softball game v Jewish General Hospital Memory Clinic Trailmakers. @CBCMontreal lost 11-2. Raised about $250 & Nobody needed an ambulance. Thanks to all CBC listeners and watchers who came out! Wins all around! pic.twitter.com/USA21Mi79R

— Douglas Gelevan (@DGelevan) August 15, 2018

• The Nieman Lab looks at how the Globe and Mail will be covering cannabis, including the launch of a premium subscription news service that will start at $999 a year.
• The Winnipeg Free Press mobilized its newsroom to cover 24 hours in the life of the city, focused on food.
• More than 300 newspapers joined the Boston Globe in printing editorials condemning the White House’s verbal attacks on the media. CNN has compiled some highlights.
• Police are investigating after Toronto Sun photographer Stan Behal was attacked by a man during an anti-hate protest in Toronto. Various people have opined that this is either being underplayed or overplayed or misinterpreted, but the truth is that no person should fear for their safety at a protest, regardless of whether the threat of violence comes from a member of the police or an activist. And if your protest condemns violence, it should not use its size to de facto protect those who engage in it. (UPDATE: An arrest has been made in the case.)
• A New Brunswick judge has lifted a publication ban on details related to the Aug. 10 Fredericton shooting, which was put in place even though much of that information had already been published.
• A Florida school district learned that when you release redacted information online, you can’t just cover it with a black box. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel found the redacted info in the files and published it, and argued with a judge over whether doing so was legal.
• Star Democratic Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a town hall last Sunday which was open to the public but closed to journalists, either because she wanted constituents to be free to speak their minds or because she’s just annoyed at journalists mobbing her for comment. Anyway, they’ve promised not to do that again.

At the CRTC

• The commission released new data on consumer subscriptions and expenses on broadcasting and telecom as part of its annual Communications Monitoring Report.
• An unlaunched Punjabi/Hindi ethnic radio station serving Vancouver has gotten permission to move its transmitter location and increase power to 50,000 watts after the first site fell through.
• The CRTC renewed the licence of community radio station CFIN-FM Lac-Etchemin despite a compliance issue related to too much popular music.
• Vista Radio has returned the licence of CIVH (Valley Country 1340) in Vanderhoof, B.C., after its tower was accidentally torn down in March and it was determined to be too expensive to repair. The local programming from that station has been moved over to CIRX-FM-1 95.9, which had previously been mainly a retransmitter.
• The commission has renewed the licence of CJMB-FM (Extra 90.5) in Peterborough, Ont., and agreed to eliminate conditions of licence requiring it to broadcast Christian music. The station moved to a sports talk format so that is no longer relevant. To ensure it doesn’t compete too much directly with other Peterborough stations, it’s limited to 25% music content throughout the week. The renewal is for five years because it was well short on local programming.
• Community station CHHO-FM Louiseville, Que., has gotten a five-year licence renewal. It had a minor compliance issue related to audio recordings.
• Silver Screen Classics had its licence renewed, and will need to spend 10% of its revenue on Canadian content. The channel wanted 5% because of the difficulty of finding Canadian movies from that era, but the CRTC minimum is 10%.
• CHTO 1690 AM Toronto has been given an extra year to launch its Mississauga retransmitter at 1490 AM.
• APTN, AMI, CPAC, TV5/Unis and The Weather Network/MétéoMédia should find out next week if they can continue with their mandatory subscription status that forces millions of Canadians to pay for them, and if so what they will be allowed to charge.

Ethical reviews

Just like a healthy marriage, AP style calls for clear communication.
We also believe in the value of compromise. So as a reminder, the Stylebook doesn't prohibit all Oxford commas. If omitting a comma could lead to confusion or misinterpretation, then use the comma. https://t.co/vGsuRrwpQW

— APStylebook (@APStylebook) August 15, 2018

• A National Newsmedia Council review of a Toronto Sun column rejected complaints about bias because the story in question was a column, but noted that it was categorized on the website as “news” and said media should be more clearly separating news and opinion contentn.

TV

• APTN has a new three-part miniseries this fall called First Contact, that brings six white Canadians with “outspoken” opinions about Indigenous people and immerses them in Indigenous communities. It looks promising, especially if the change of heart shown in the trailer appears genuine in the actual series.
• Bell and Vice have signed a new content agreement, after Rogers ended their deal in January. The new deal does not mean the return of the Viceland TV channel to Canada. Instead, Bell will offer Vice content on Crave TV, through online channels as well as on existing channels like Much.
• Radio-Canada is proposing not to broadcast a French-language leaders’ debate in New Brunswick, instead proposing a bilingual forum with CBC, according to Acadie Nouvelle. Though New Brunswick is Canada’s only bilingual province, its party leaders have poor French (only the premier is fully bilingual), leading to some cringe-worthy moments during French debates.
• NBC has released its national NHL broadcast schedule for 2018-19. Of the 109 games broadcast, 13 so far are scheduled for the main network, with the rest on NBCSN. Only one of those games, Jan. 14 at Boston, is a Canadiens game (it’s also on NBCSN). Besides the higher number of games, NBC also points out that the All-Star Game will be on NBC in primetime on Saturday, Jan. 26, the first time it’s been on a broadcast network in the U.S. since 1997. There will also be more Wednesday night doubleheaders, and that means early games will be more likely to start at 7pm or 7:30pm than 8pm as was the case before.
• CBC and Netflix have renewed Anne with an E for a third season. The second season is already on Netflix internationally and will debut on CBC Television in the fall.
• Slice’s new fashion design competition series Stitched begins Sept. 9.
• Canal D has set premiere dates for its new fall programming, which includes documentary series on the forestry industry and the Montreal courthouse.
• Netflix has cancelled two talk shows, hosted by Michelle Wolf and Joel McHale, mere months after their debuts.

Radio

• The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group is acquiring Fabmar Communications Ltd. and its four radio stations in western Canada: 5 The Drive (CHWK-FM) in Chilliwack, B.C.; XM 105 FM (CIXM-FM) in Whitecourt, Alta., and 105 CJVR (CJVR-FM) and CK750 AM (CKJH) in Melfort, Sask. The transaction requires CRTC approval.
• An Austin radio station that was transmitting content from Alex Jones was fined $15,000 by the FCC for broadcasting without a licence.

Online

• Reuters explores in detail Facebook’s problems controlling hate speech in Myanmar.
• Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says he’s trying to rethink how the platform works to make it less of an echo chamber. This comes as it suspended Alex Jones’s Twitter account for 10 days for violating its policies.
• It’s not just Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites that are under fire for allowing hateful content. A Sandy Hook parent found it very difficult for Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, to delete conspiracy theories about his dead son.

News about people

• John Bartlett, who was the voice of the Canadiens on TSN Radio, then Sportsnet, then TSN, is now going back to Sportsnet, where he will call Maple Leafs regional games on Sportsnet Ontario, as well as some national games on Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada. This means TSN will need to find a new voice for its Canadiens TV broadcasts.
• Bartlett’s hiring at Sportsnet comes with the departure of Paul Romanuk, who appears to be leaving on good terms.
• James McCarten is the new Canadian Press correspondent in Washington, replacing Alexander Panetta, who left for Politico.
• Emmanuelle Latraverse, Radio-Canada’s former star journalist in Ottawa, has joined TVA Nouvelles in a similar position. She’s still coy about why she left RadCan.
• Canadaland looks at the legal threats that Mike Bullard is sending journalists.
• Vanmala Subramaniam is the new cannabis reporter for the Financial Post after two years at Vice.
• Paule Robitaille, former Radio-Canada journalist, has become the latest person to jump from news reporting into politics.
• Colin Harris, who recently left the Montreal Gazette, has joined Ricochet’s editorial team.
• Jimmy Thomson is the new associate editor at Maisonneuve magazine.
• Amanda Ferguson has left CityNews in Toronto for a job at transit agency Metrolinx.
• Global News Toronto videojournalist Jimmy Stewart has retired after 40 years on the job.
• Marc-André Cossette has left CBC’s Power and Politics for a journalist/producer job at CPAC.
• Chris Windeyer has left his job as editor of the Yukon News, heading to to a journalism fellowship in Toronto. Ashley Joannou takes over as editor.
• Shawn W. Smith has left his job as a reporter with Metroland media. He’s now looking for freelance work.
• Media reporter Dylan Byers is moving from CNN to NBC.

Obituaries

• Maurice Giroux, founder of the Point Sud newspaper and general manager of FM 103,3 Longueuil.

News about companies

• Rogers is shopping its magazines, including Maclean’s, to potential buyers.
• Quebecor is acquiring the Guide de l’auto and its associated websites.
• The owner of New York magazine is exploring a possible sale.

Jobs

• Reporter, Queen’s Park Today in Toronto (deadline: Aug. 19)
• Newsroom director for newsletters at the Toronto Star (deadline: Aug. 23)
• Ontario regional communications officer, CBC (deadline: Aug. 23)
• Local online producer, Global News Radio 680 CJOB Winnipeg (deadline: Aug. 24)
• Project manager, transmission engineering, CBC Montreal (deadline: Aug. 25)
• Weekend news anchor/reporter, AM1150 in Kelowna, B.C. (deadline: Aug. 26)
• Radio and TV reporter, Bell Media in Fort St. John, B.C. (deadline: Aug. 26)
• Cree language journalist for Maamuitaau at CBC Montreal (deadline: Aug. 28)
• Radio and TV newsperson, Jim Pattison Broadcast Group in Kamloops, B.C. (deadline: Aug. 31)
• Business reporter, Globe and Mail in Toronto
• Afternoon news anchor, 1310 News in Ottawa