News about news

• It was election day in British Columbia yesterday, and not only did the results come far too late for eastern Canadian newspapers or late-night newscasts to include, but the results were so close that we still don’t know for sure what the resulting government will look like. CTV eventually called a minority government at 1:30am (10:30pm PT), and The Canadian Press did as well once all the polls reported. But if the B.C. Liberals hold their 43 seats and a recount goes in its favour in Courtenay-Comox, where the NDP won by nine votes, Premier Christy Clark would just barely get her majority in the legislature. Either way, B.C. politics will get very interesting over the coming weeks.
• The National Newspaper Awards were given out on the weekend. The Globe and Mail was the big winner, taking half the categories. The Toronto Star won two awards, and no other newspaper took more than one.
• The RCMP is looking at generalizing a policy that would offer journalists more protections in criminal investigations.

At the CRTC

• The Raj Shoan drama continues. After winning a legal challenge to the government’s decision to fire him based on a report that he successfully challenged in court, Shoan was summarily fired again in what can only be described as an obvious case of bad faith. Naturally, he plans to take the matter to court again.
• Flooding in the Ottawa River has forced government offices in Gatineau to close, and that includes the CRTC. As a result, major decisions expected this week on TV licence renewals for the big media companies, and the request by Rogers to make OMNI into a mandatory pay TV service, will be pushed to next week.
• The CRTC has approved a change to APTN’s licence that allows the network’s HD feed a little more scheduling freedom compared to the three SD feeds (East, West and North). They will have the same programs, but be able to schedule them differently.
• A university professor created a pretty useful guide for beginners on how to participate in CRTC proceedings.

TV

• The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council was deadlocked on whether this TV ad for CHUM-FM in Toronto violated its codes. Half thought it was unacceptably dehumanizing, while the other half thought it was okay because it was a woman doing it to a man. Because ties go to the defence, there is no sanction.
• A major deal in the U.S. with Sinclair Broadcast Group buying Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, creating a major player in local television stations. Tribune’s stations include Chicago’s WGN, L.A.’s KTLA and New York’s WPIX, while Sinclair has more than 150 stations. Tribune’s print assets were previously spun off into the ridiculously-named Tronc.
• ABC is reviving American Idol (already?)
• Israel shut down its public broadcaster with very little notice. The plan is to create a new one, which has critics wondering if the new one will be as independent of the political machine.
• Groupe TVA released its quarterly financial report. It’s bad news overall, but some better numbers for TVA Sports, which saw its net loss cut by a third thanks to 16% more ad revenue. The Canadiens making the playoffs will help in the current quarter, which started April 1.
• Hugo Dumas writes that the guerre des réseaux is heating up again, with shows on Radio-Canada and V having difficulty getting TVA personalities to appear.
• La Voix ended its fifth season on Sunday. Brendan Kelly explains its appeal to anglophones. Similarly, the Ryerson Review of Journalism has a piece explaining Tout le monde en parle.
• Télé-Québec’s Les Appendices won’t come back for a 10th season, but there will be two specials, including and end-of-year one.
• Orphan Black returns for its final season on June 10.
• The Amazing Race Canada returns July 4. Other summer CTV schedule announcements here.

Radio

• FYI Music News speaks with Rob Farina about iHeartRadio Canada, which he insists is open for non-Bell stations to join, and future plans for the platform, including a pay version that allows saving songs.
• Radio station CHIN in Toronto has gotten CRTC approval to transform its FM retransmitter into its own FM station with partially distinct programming.
• Rogers is hiring for its new Sportsnet station in Vancouver.

Print

• Le Devoir has digitized its entire archive up to 2009. The collection is available for free from the Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec.
• Cult MTL released the results of its annual shameless popularity contest, the Best of Montreal readers’ poll. I’m listed #5 in Best Twitter. Evelyne Brochu is listed in the Hottest Woman (#1), Best-Dressed Montrealer (#1), Best Icon (#10), Best Twitter (#1), Best TV Personality (#3), Best Instagram (#1) and of course Best Actress (#1). The media results are here. Among them:
  • Best Radio Station: CKUT, CHOM, CJLO, CBC, CISM
  • Best Radio Host: Nick Schofield (CKUT), Terry DiMonte (CHOM), Mitch Melnick (TSN 690), Mike Finnerty (CBC), Paul Arcand (98.5)
  • Best TV Station: CTV, CBC, RadCan, Télé-Québec, RDS
  • Best Newscaster: Mutsumi Takahashi, Céline Galipeau, Pierre Bruneau, Paul Karwatsky, Debra Arbec
  • Best Newspaper: Cult MTL, Montreal Gazette, Le Devoir, La Presse, Métro
  • Best Website: Cult MTL, MTL Blog, Reddit Montreal, Urbania, YULorama
  • Best Podcast: Mike Ward Sous Écoute, 3 Bières, Cadeau & Janco Wednesdays @ Lunch, Go Plug Yourself, La soirée est (encore) jeune
• BlogTO checked out what the old Globe and Mail building looks like as it’s being demolished.
• Bell Mobility has a new offer giving access to PressReader and most major newspapers for $10 a month.
• Le Devoir gave awards to student journalists

Online

• InfoPresse speaks with La Presse’s new president, who says that they’re working on a new smartphone app that might be more engaging than what they currently offer, which may (or may not) offer a La Presse+ like experience on smartphones.
• Greg Brady and Caroline Cameron of Sportsnet have created a new podcast called Point Taken. It launches today.

Other

• DHX Media (which owns Family Channel) is buying an 80% stake in the Peanuts brand, prompting at least one headline about Charlie Brown moving to Canada.
• The Grammy Awards are moving to New York City thanks to a deal with the government there.

News about people

.@TorontoStar says I can't be a columnist and an activist at the same time, so I'm giving up my column. https://t.co/keGJlESd8L

— Negro Frolics (@DesmondCole) May 4, 2017

• Desmond Cole decided to become a martyr for freedom of speech and is giving up his Toronto Star column after being told it’s generally not okay for newspaper columnists to engage in disruptive activism. The Star’s public editor agrees, which prompted accusations of the paper setting a double standard because of liberal racism.
• Sean Craig, who covers media for the National/Financial Post, is leaving to join Global News
• Iain MacIntyre’s goodbye column in the Vancouver Sun
• Scott Mitchell, formerly of the Toronto Sun, has been hired by TSN to do baseball reporting
• Rebecca Makonnen gets a profile in Le Devoir

Good reads

• Pierre Trudel on how an access to information request was denied because the documents couldn’t fit on a USB key.
• La Presse explores the Canadian podcast scene, talking with producers of Canadaland and Mike Ward sous écoute, among others
• The New York Times on YouTube creators’ growing frustrations with declines in ad revenue after the company made changes to how it distributes ads.

Jobs

• Digital Editor, Montreal Gazette (deadline: May 11)
• Journalist at CJSO-FM in Sorel-Tracy (deadline: May 12)
• General assignment reporter at Yukon News (deadline: May 19)
• La Presse diversity bursaries and internships (deadline: June 9)

Upcoming events

• May 20: Canadaland in Montreal