Halifax Chronicle Herald issues 20 layoff notices

The Halifax Chronicle Herald issued layoff notices to 20 unionized newspaper employees today in a bid to cut costs, the Canadian Press reports.
Herald CEO Mark Lever says the move was made because of declining advertising and sluggish revenues.
The company says the number of layoffs could be reduced if the union agrees to concessions on pension cost sharing, mileage and a planned wage increase.
Lever says the newspaper expanded its digital and print products, but they have not generated enough revenue to offset continuing losses in national advertising.
He says employees affected by the layoffs will receive severance packages as stipulated under the union contrac

Rogers and Vice Media create joint venture

Rogers Communications is teaming with pugnacious cultural magazine and digital outlet Vice Media in a $100-million joint venture that will launch a new TV channel and open a production studio in downtown Toronto.

The partnership between Montreal-created Vice and Canadian media giant Rogers (TSX:RCI.B) will begin next year with the Vice TV Network in Canada and a digital distribution model that will let Rogers chase the 18- to 34-year-old demographic with exclusive mobile content.

Link to Canadian Press story

Johathan Kay new editor of The Walrus

The Walrus Foundation has announced that the new Editor-in-Chief of The Walrus magazine and all of its content platforms will be Jonathan Kay.
For the past decade, Jonathan Kay has acted as the National Post’s Managing Editor for Comment, with direct oversight of the paper’s Editorial, Letters, and Issues & Ideas pages. He is the author of two books, and has edited several more.
Jonathan Kay will replace John Macfarlane, current Editor and Co-publisher.

John Tory picks ex-journalist Chris Eby as his chief of staff

John Tory’s most senior staff member is a former journalist and communications consultant who has jumped in and out of the media and political worlds.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime,” Chris Eby said Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Tory named him chief of staff. “Not to engage in hyperbole, but I feel like we are at a critical moment in the city’s history.”
Eby, 39, had spent the past seven months pulling 18-hour days at his day job and volunteering on Tory’s mayoral campaign. Eby has worked as a print reporter, political staffer for Tim Hudak, a reporter for CFTO and a communications strategist.
Star story

CBC lands broadcast rights to 2018, 2020 Olympics

The CBC has announced that it managed to land the Canadian broadcast rights to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Rogers and BCE are expected to show some of the Olympics programming on their Sportsnet and TSN networks, respectively.
The announcement was made at the CBC’s headquarters in Toronto by network president Hubert Lacroix, along with Jeffrey Orridge, the CBC’s executive director, sports properties and general manager, Olympics, Neil McEneaney, chief business officer for business and operations and François Messier, general manager, productions, Radio-Canada. It was not immediately disclosed how much the network will pay for the broadcast rights.
More

Interviewer Jian Ghomeshi finished at the CBC

The 47-year-old writer, one-time rock star (Moxy Fruvous) and television host Jian Ghomeshi has severed relations with the CBC. It is not clear just what happened. For those who want to refresh their memories of his story there is Wikipedia  Globe and Mail

Parliament Hill reporter Mark Dunn dies at 53

Mark Dunn, senior national bureau reporter for QMI Agency, has died in Ottawa following a struggle against cancer. died. His death was announced Saturday, October 25, 2014. Mike dun was 53.   after a battle with cancer. He was 53.  Dunn was born and raised in Ottawa and covered Parliament Hill for QMI Agency and The Canadian Press. He also served in senior communications roles for sitting governments and opposition parties, including a hitch with former Liberal leader Stephane Dion. His wife, Globe and Mail reporter Gloria Galloway, said "I will miss Mark Dunn's passion for Hill politics and having to tell him he'd just written a column from his heart and guts, not a mere story," Sun Media vice-president of editorial Glenn Garnett said. QMI Agency's national bureau chief David Akin wrote, "I will dearly miss Mark's wit, charm and nose for news. He was a leader in our newsroom, a good friend and mentor to our younger reporters, and valued by all for his experience and wise counsel. We are tremendously saddened by his loss." His colleagues took to Twitter Saturday to offer condolences and share memories. CTV news anchor Lisa LaFlamme tweeted, "So deeply sad to learn of Mark Dunn's passing. He made me laugh so often on the campaign trail. Such a memorable man. Thinking of Gloria."

Postmedia loses $50m in fourth quarter

Postmedia Network Canada Corp. says its losses deepened in the fourth quarter as revenues dropped 13 per cent, weighed down by weaker print and digital advertising sales.

The  media company says it had a $49.8 million net loss, or $1.24 per share in the most recent quarter ended Aug. 31.

Revenue slipped to $146.8 million from $169.3 million, mainly on weaker print advertising sales which fell 21 per cent to $74.2 million. Digital revenue dropped five per cent to $20.2 million while print ciculation revenue slipped to $48 million from $49.4 million.

Postmedia announced earlier this month that it is buying Sun Media’s 175 English-language newspapers, free dailies and online sites for $316 million from Quebecor Media Inc.

Anderson Cooper aghast when reporter asks him to take selfie near Ottawa shooting scene

Anderson Cooper scolded a young Sun News contributor for asking him to take a “selfie” near the scene of the Ottawa shooting Wednesday night.
The CNN host flew into Canada’s capital yesterday to report from the National War Memorial where Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was shot dead while serving as an honour guard.
When Cooper took a break from his live coverage, Vandon Gene, who has worked for the Sun News Network for the past six months, asked the American journalist to take a photo with him.
Cooper refused. When Gene continued to urge him to take a picture, an aghast Cooper scolded the young reporter and told him to “have a little respect for what happened here today.”

Ben Bradlee, ex-Washington Post editor who led Watergate coverage, dead at 93

Nancy Benac of the Associated Press writes:
 "The hard-charging editor who guided The Washington Post through its coverage of the Watergate scandal, Ben Bradlee, has died. He was 93.
"The Washington Post reports that Bradlee died at his home Tuesday of natural causes.
"As managing editor first and later as executive editor, the raspy-voiced Bradlee engineered the transformation of the Post from a sleepy hometown paper into a great national one. He brought in a cast of talented journalists and set editorial standards that brought the paper new respect. . ."
Full obit in the Star

As a court deliberates if Jan Wong owes The Globe $209K, it’s still unclear why she did what she did: NatPost columnist

The National Post's Chris Selley writes about Jan Wong:

Jan Wong

"It would be intriguing to know why she did what she did in her 2012 memoir, Out of the Blue — namely, reveal that the Globe had sent her a 'big fat cheque' as part of a bitterly contested settlement over her long-term absence from work for depression and subsequent termination. Trouble is, that settlement prohibited the parties from disclosing its terms.
The Globe complained to an arbitrator. The Globe won. And now Ms. Wong owes The Globe $209,000.
"At the Ontario Divisional Court in Toronto on Thursday and Friday, her lawyers argued to quash the repayment order. They argue “there’s a reasonable apprehension that there was a question of impartiality” with respect to arbitrator Louisa Davie, and they argue union counsel representing Ms. Wong botched the case. They want Ms. Wong herself and her own representation, not the union’s, to have standing in a new arbitration hearing."
The whole column

Hockey Night in Canada: How CBC lost it all

The Globe and Mail's David Shoals' take on the Rogers-Hockey Night in Canada deal:
Excerpt:
"It didn’t have to happen, staff at both the CBC and Hockey Night say, because they believe NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his marketing chief John Collins were willing to offer the CBC a compromise that would have saved a scaled-down version of Hockey Night for the network that still would have been a significant source of revenue. Those staffers also believe the CBC executives missed this chance because of their failure to recognize the changed broadcast landscape and to see the threat posed by Rogers and BCE Inc., which owns the TSN and CTV networks. The CBC negotiators insisted throughout an exclusive negotiating period with the NHL that any new deal would see the network stick to a regional and national schedule by carrying all games played by Canadian-based NHL teams on Saturdays."
Link (long read!)

Ottawa seeks use of news footage without permission in political ads

Globe story by Steve Chase:
"The Harper government is preparing to alter copyright law in Canada so politicians can use news footage and other journalistic content for attack ads and campaign spots without asking broadcasters or publishers for permission.
"The measure would constitute an intervention into the intellectual property rights of broadcasters and other news organizations by a Conservative government that styles itself as laissez faire. . . "
Link to Globe story

Islamic State, murderer of journalists, releases 11 rules for journalists

Vice News was able to film its remarkable view of life under the Islamic State in Raqqah, Syria, with apparent cooperation from the extremists. “These are managed trips, so you are there with their permission,” Kevin Sutcliffe, Vice’s head of news programming in Europe, explained to the Huffington Post. “While they are, to some extent, keeping you safe ... you are also an interloper.”
The whole story

CNN plans 1,475 full-time job cuts world-wide

CNN has announced plans to cut ten percent of its worldwide workforce or 1,475 full-time jobs. The parent corporation will be cutting 400 positions from its American and international channels, the news organization reported. The company said about 130 CNN reductions will be voluntary buyouts, and the rest will happen through layoffs. Turner Broadcasting, which owns CNN, TBS and TNT networks, said it plans to cut its workforce by ten percent, which means roughly 1,475 full-time positions will be terminated worldwide. 

Postmedia buys Sun papers across Canada

RELEASE -- Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (“Postmedia” or the “Company”) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Quebecor Media Inc. (“QMI”) to purchase Sun Media Corporation’s stable of 175 English language newspapers, specialty publications and digital properties (“Sun Media”), including the Sun chain of dailies, consisting of The Toronto Sun, The Ottawa Sun, The Winnipeg Sun, The Calgary Sun and The Edmonton Sun, as well as The London Free Press and the free 24 Hours dailies in Toronto and Vancouver. The purchase price is $316 million in cash less a $10 million adjustment related primarily to real estate properties to be disposed of by Sun Media prior to closing, and other customary price adjustments to be determined subsequent to closing. The transaction also includes the acquisition of associated English language digital properties, including the Canoe portal outside of Quebec, as well as QMI’s Islington printing plant in Ontario, and 34 owned real estate properties in Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba.  Marketwatch 

NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

An American freelance cameraman working for NBC News in Liberia has tested positive for Ebola and will be flown back to the U.S. for treatment.

The freelancer, Ashoka Mukpo, 33, was hired Tuesday to be a second cameraman for NBC News Chief Medical Editor and Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman. Snyderman is with three other NBC News employees on assignment in Monrovia, reporting on the Ebola outbreak.

Mukpo came down with symptoms on Wednesday, feeling tired and achy. As part of a routine temperature check, he discovered he was running a slight fever. He immediately quarantined himself and sought medical advice. On Thursday morning, Mukpo went to a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) treatment center to be tested for the virus. The positive result came back just undeIn a phone interview with Matt Lauer on TODAY Friday, Snyderman said Mukpo "should have a very good prognosis." She added: "The amount of virus in his body is low."

New York Times plans cutbacks in newsroom staff

The New York Times plans to eliminate about 100 newsroom jobs, as well as a smaller number of positions from its editorial and business operations, offering buyouts and resorting to layoffs if enough people do not leave voluntarily, the newspaper announced on Wednesday.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the newspaper’s publisher, and Mark Thompson, its chief executive, said that in addition to the job cuts, NYT Opinion, a new mobile app dedicated to opinion content, was shutting down because it was not attracting enough subscribers.

The reductions, they said, were intended to safeguard the newspaper’s long-term profitability.

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The unruly media ruffles real estate flunky's feathers!

Doug Ford held a news conference at the Toronto Real Estate Board about his proposed cuts to the land transfer cuts.
Then it got interesting. As the Star's Daniel Dale reports:
"After Ford finished taking questions, the board’s chief government and public affairs officer, Von Palmer, stepped up to the microphone himself. Other board officials, including president Paul Etherington, watched from the side.
"After various questions about Ford’s proposal, James Tumelty, senior camera operator for Citytv, calmly asked Palmer a series of questions about realtors’ commissions.
"Etherington did not enjoy them."
The whole exchange -- worth reading
Arrogance or what?