Harper snubs CTV, Trudeau shuns Sun News in year-end interviews

Throughout this month, our federal party leaders will be doing the media rounds to talk about the year that was.
But don't expect to see Prime Minister Harper on Canada's largest private broadcaster.
According to the Ottawa Citizen's Glen McGregor, Harper will, for the second year in a row, snub CTV.
Pre-Harper, the PM on CTV was a holiday tradition. According to a 2008 press release, the network has hosted 'A conversation with the prime minister' since the days of Lester B. Pearson.
The cynics and conspiracy theorists among us might wonder if the network's breaking coverage of the Senate expense scandal had anything to do with the PMO's decision.
CTV's Robert Fife was the one who broke the story about Nigel Wright's $90,000 gift to Sen. Mike Duffy.
MacDonald denied that CTV's coverage had anything to do with their decision not to be interviewed.
Team Harper aren't the only ones doing the snubbing.
According to Liberal insider and Sun News personality Warren Kinsella, Justin Trudeau won't speak to them — the newspaper chain Kinsella calls "the biggest" in the country.
(Historical note: Pierre Trudeau used to give only one interview at Christmas -- to the late Bruce Phillips, CTV's Ottawa bureau chief. It often made news.)

Rob Ford apologizes to Daniel Dale; Dale says apology "inadequate" and proceeding with lawsuit

Rob Ford has apologized to Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale for insinuating that he is a pedophile. “I did not mean to insinuate anything,” Ford told City Council on Tuesday morning. Ford said he would apologize to Dale personally, if possible. The move came after Dale launched legal action last week against the mayor, as well as Vision TV, which broadcast an interview earlier this month in which Ford made the comment.
Link to full Star story and video

Despite the statement from the mayor, Dale says he finds the mayor's apology inadequate and plans to pursue the lawsuit.

Syrian rebels promise to work for journalists’ safety

The leaders of Syria’s main Western-backed moderate rebel faction said they would do everything in their power to protect journalists on assignment in the country and work to secure the release of those who have already been abducted.
The letter from the Supreme Military Council, the military wing of the Syrian National Coalition, came in response to an appeal from several major international news organizations calling for urgent action against rebel groups targeting journalists for kidnappings. Syria has become the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, and the number of abductions has soared to an unprecedented level over the past year.
Link to AP story

Toronto Star reporter serves libel notice on Rob Ford after Conrad Black interview; asks for an apology

Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale has served Mayor Rob Ford with a libel notice over comments the mayor made during a televised interview earlier this week, the Globe and Mail reports.
Dale published a statement Thursday saying he served the notice against both the mayor and Vision TV – which aired the broadcast – as the first step of a defamation lawsuit. He’s asking the mayor to retract the “false insinuation that I am a pedophile,” the statement said.
During the Monday night interview with Conrad Black that aired on Vision TV, Ford described a May, 2012, incident where he confronted  Dale in a public space behind the mayor’s house.
“He’s taking photos of little kids,” Ford told  Black in the interview. “I don’t want to say that word, but you start thinking ‘What’s this guy all about?’ ” On Tuesday, when urged by councillors to apologize for the comments, Mayor Ford told reporters he stood by his remarks.
But  Dale called the mayor’s account of events “categorically false.”

Former late-night CTV Ottawa anchor Leigh Chapple dies

CTV Ottawa's former late-night news anchor, Leigh Chapple, was found dead in her home Tuesday morning.
In an email to staff Tuesday, CTV Ottawa station manager Richard Gray said Chapple, 58, made many friends at the station during her 36 years there.
"Friend to so many in the building, Leigh was part of the CTV Ottawa/CJOH TV family for 36 years starting out as personal assistant to Max Keeping before moving on-air first as a reporter then later becoming an anchor," Gray wrote.
"Leigh retired May 4, 2012, to spend more time with her husband, another former colleague, Dean Holmes."
Chapple’s cause of death is not yet known.