News about news
I spent the day reading messages, texts, tweets and emails. I’m in a puddle of tears, overwhelmed by your kindness. It’s been my privilege to have grown up with you the past 21 years. The love you have shown me is with me forever. xx pic.twitter.com/KIaaT488Bu
— Tamara Taggart (@tamarataggart) April 11, 2018
- CTV has made some changes (a “major refresh” in PR-speak) at its Vancouver station, the most notable of which is dismissing both evening news anchors, Mike Killeen and Tamara Taggart. In a 25-second statement on Monday’s newscast (starts at 18:30), Mi-Jung Lee announced the co-anchors “are no longer with CTV News” and praised them on their careers. “We thank them both and wish them well.”
- Surveillance video showing the mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque last year won’t be broadcast, but journalists were allowed to describe what happens in them. Radio-Canada’s Michel Cormier explains why the media would want permission to be able to broadcast such horror. The FPJQ also issued a statement denouncing the decision.
- A judge has determined that the media attention it drew should be a factor in sentencing against former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre’s son, who used his family’s credit cards and then falsely told his family and police that he had been the victim of identity theft.
- A roundup of TV news graphics getting foreign countries wrong on maps.
- Bloc Québécois leader Martine Ouellet is continuing to threaten journalists with libel suits. The latest threat is against Radio-Canada radio show Médium Large, which brought on psychologists to talk about stubborn politicians. Despite explicitly saying on air that they’re not diagnosing Ouellet, Ouellet said it’s clear that they were diagnosing her. Radio-Canada responds here.
- As Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a U.S. congressional committee, Craig Silverman points out that some of the Facebook features that allow companies to scrape data about people have also been used by journalists.
- Blacklock’s Reporter reports that the federal government paid half a million dollars to a company called News Canada that distributes royalty-free news to small newspapers across the country desperate for free content. The information highlights risks about small newspapers republishing government-written news stories without disclosing that.
- The group Canadian Journalists for Free Expression is in a crisis after its communications coordinator published a statement on its behalf condemning assaults on journalists in Gaza. The group’s board will have tighter control over communications in the future.