News about news

• CBC News had to issue an editor’s note after some CBC News Alerts tweets talked about the economic impact of the Brazil election on Canadian companies, which was criticized as being out-of-touch. Paul Hambleton, Director of Journalistic Standards and Practices says the coverage itself was fine, but “the rollout of that article could have been better.”
• TFO talks about what happened in the Ontario community of Kapuskasing after this summer’s closing of its only local newspaper, the Northern Times, by (my employer) Postmedia. It’s being felt by advertisers and politicians, and there are local efforts to replace it with some other source of local news.
• Some news media are finding ways to make money. The New York Times now has 4 million subscribers, the most at any time in its history, including 3 million digital-only subs. The Guardian has had more than a million people contribute financially over the past three years, with 500,000 keeping their subscriptions. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed is trying a bunch of things to make money.
• La Presse is getting into the newsletter game, with a daily hockey newsletter by Mathias Brunet.
• Le Droit columnist Denis Gratton really didn’t appreciate his paper being criticized for ignoring the franco-ontarian community, especially by someone his paper had just given quite a bit of attention to.

At the CRTC

• New chair Ian Scott tells the Globe and Mail he doesn’t like to do the kind of centre-of-attention stuff seen by his predecessor Jean-Pierre Blais, like holding news conferences to announce major decisions. He also says the commission should have the power to fine broadcasters, rather than simply threaten to revoke their licences.
• The broadcasting and telecommunications legislative review panel has extended its deadline for comments to Jan. 11. It plans to keep the same 2019 and 2020 deadlines for its reports to the government.
• The commission has approved the purchase of Fabmar Communications by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, which will now take over radio stations CHWK-FM Chilliwack, B.C., CIXM-FM Whitecourt, Alta., and CJVR-FM and CKJH in Melfort, Sask.

Ethical reviews

• Another set of decisions from the Quebec Press Council:
  • A complaint against the monthly newspaper Le Journal Altitude 1350 of St-Donat was dismissed because the council concluded that the newspaper was not a news outlet. The publication consists mainly of advertisements and articles written by people about their own businesses, associations and political campaigns.
  • On-air comments by CHOI’s Jeff Fillion that suggested shooting G7 protesters in the head did not incite hate and violence, because they were his opinions about what he would do as a police officer.
  • Comments about “illegal immigrants” from FM93’s Éric Duhaime were largely deemed acceptable, but by majority vote, the use of the term “illegal immigrants” itself was deemed inexact, without blaming the host. Three of the eight panelists found that the term is controversial and it’s not up to the council to determine whether it’s correct.
  • A CBC News article about an event by the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide that noted how it planned to honour a pioneering helicopter pilot who was also a Nazi prompted several complaints by the organization, all of which were dismissed.
  • A Radio-Canada story about a door-to-door campaign against a Muslim cemetery did not make misleading implications or violate the campaigners’ privacy.
  • Radio-Canada did not plagiarize a story from an insurance broker’s magazine and had no obligation to identify its writer as a source.
  • A Radio-Canada story about calls for an inquiry into systemic racism was not biased against CHOI-FM.
• National Newsmedia Council:
  • A Sudbury Star story about a shooting wasn’t wrong to use information in a paid obituary. (The story was nevertheless edited a week later to take that information out.)
  • A Niagara This Week column criticizing a lighthouse did not violate journalistic policy, with the exception of one exaggerated statement.
• CBC ombudsman:
  • A Metro Morning interview with Jesse Wente about a racist incident targeting Indigenous players at a junior hockey game was not an example of anti-white racism or discriminatory comments about Quebec.
  • A CBC News analysis about the crisis in Venezuela did not require seeking out commentators who support the government.
  • A Sunday Edition focus on guns presented two sides of the debate and was not unduly biased.
• Toronto Star Public Editor Kathy English wants Canadian politicians (like Andrew Scheer) to refrain from using the kind of anti-media rhetoric we’ve seen in the U.S.

TV

• Bell has made a big change to Crave TV: The Canadian Netflix-like subscription streaming service has merged with The Movie Network, with the latter rebranding as Crave (TMN Encore will be rebranded as Starz next year). TMN Go is being discontinued, replaced with the Crave app, and Crave now comes included at no extra charge for subscribers to TMN-now-Crave on TV. The list of participating providers is long and includes most of the major players, but Videotron is not on that list, even though it had an agreement to use TMN GO. Videotron is telling subscribers that a “disagreement” with Bell has led to the latter restricting access, and until it’s resolved access will be limited to Videotron’s on-demand platforms (Channel 900 and Illico Web). I’ve asked Bell what it’s side of the story is.
• CBC Television has announced winter premiere dates, including Street Legal on March 4.
• TVA Sports says its coverage of Impact games had 114,000 average viewers this year, up 11% from last year.
• Videotron has finally added MSNBC and Vermont PBS (WETK) in HD. Stingray Vibe should follow soon.

Radio

• CBC has merged its local radio morning shows in Corner Brook and Gander, Newfoundland. Its Labrador and St. John’s morning shows remain separate.

Print

• Postmedia has stopped delivering print editions of newspapers to schools for free to comply with Canada’s laws related to cannabis advertising to children. The company is instead offering access to its electronic edition, where cannabis ads are blanked out.
• The National Magazine Awards have announced its categories for 2019.

Online

https://twitter.com/JaneLytv/status/1058423747789565954

News about people

I dressed as the meme that best captures my daily life as a news reporter (Thanks @DaltonCBC for animating my outfit!) #HappyHalloween #PartyLikeAJournalist @JournalistsLike pic.twitter.com/GUPtPa96Bj

— Jaela Bernstien (@jbernstien) October 31, 2018

• Heather Conway is leaving as executive vice-president of CBC, with a month’s notice.
• Rick Hodge has retired from EZ Rock in St. Catharines, Ont. after 45 years.
• Emma Saganash is retiring after more than 40 years with CBC North’s Cree unit.
• Jack Nagler has been named the CBC’s new English services ombudsperson, replacing Esther Enkin, who retires in December.
• Global News has hired Amra Pasic (CBC, CTV, Al Jazeera) and Stephanie Irvine (Rogers Media and Global) in the roles of Network Assignment Manager and Network Story Manager respectively, at their network news desk.

Jobs

• Sports reporter, Winnipeg Free Press (deadline: Nov. 6)
• National online journalist, politics, Global News Ottawa (deadline: Nov. 7)
• Online reporter/editor, CBC Winnipeg (deadline: Nov. 9)
• Assistant Professor in Solutions Journalism for Health Improvement at Concordia University in Montreal (deadline: Nov. 15)
• Associate producer, Postmedia Content Works in Montreal (deadline: Nov. 16)
• Reporter, Ottawa Citizen (deadline: Nov. 16)
• Associate producer, CBC News investigative unit in Toronto (deadline: Nov. 21)