Linden MacIntyre wins Giller Prize

Linden MacIntyre, co-host of CBC's The Fifth Estate, has won the Giller Prize for his book The Bishop's Man, which deals with the sensitive topic of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests. The winner of the major literary award, with a $50,000 cash prize, was announced at a gala in Toronto on Tuesday by Jack Rabinovitch, founder of the award.The Bishop's Man is about "a priest who goes into the business idealistically, who realizes that priests also have feet of clay, and it leads him to a personal crisis," MacIntyre said.

Drop extortion charge, Letterman accused asks court

A TV news producer accused of blackmailing David Letterman in exchange for keeping quiet about his sexual affairs was only trying to sell the late-night comic a screenplay, a defence lawyer said Tuesday. Robert J. "Joe" Halderman's lawyer asked a judge to toss the attempted first-degree grand larceny case, saying the producer did nothing illegal in slipping Letterman documents alluding to the ``Late Show" host's dalliances and taking a $2 million check from Letterman's lawyer.

"There was no extortion. There was a screenplay for sale," the lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said outside court. "There was a commercial transaction. Nothing more."

Seven-year licence approved for Victoria's CHEK TV

The CRTC has approved a seven-year licence for CHEK Media Group. The broadcaster, acquired early last month from Canwest Global Communications with private and employee investment, called the licence transfer today a “historic” move in both expediency and the term of the deal.

“A licence transfer like this usually takes months,” John Pollard, president and general manager of CHEK News, said in a statement. “They have reviewed our application and approved it in less than a month."

Ex-NY Post editor sues paper for racism, sexism

Sandra Guzman, a black and Puerto Rican former New York Post editor has sued the newspaper and its parent News Corp, saying she was fired after complaining about sexism and racism, including a cartoon that appeared to liken U.S. President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee. According to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, the former associate editor, was terminated on Sept. 29 in retaliation for complaints about allegedly pervasive racism and sexism at the newspaper.

Murdoch may remove newspapers' stories from Google

Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, said his papers which include the London Times and the Wall Street Journal , would probably cut themselves off from Google once they started to charge online. In an interview with Sky News Australia, Murdoch was asked why, given his attacks on Google for “stealing” the company’s content, News Corp had not decided to remove its websites from Google’s search indices.

“I think we will, but that’s when we start charging,” he said. “We do it already with the Wall Street Journal . We have a wall, but it’s not right to the ceiling.”