Bernard St-Laurent to retire from CBC

The Montreal  Gazette's Brendan Kelly writes:
"It’s hard to imagine a world where you can’t turn on the radio and hear Bernard St-Laurent giving us the inside scoop on the often-wild ups and downs of Quebec politics. He has been taking us behind the scenes — and behind the headlines — for four decades, mostly at CBC Radio and CBC TV.
On Monday, St-Laurent announced he is retiring from the public broadcaster. His last day on the air will be June 26.
"Most recently, he’s been doing political columns twice a week on CBC Radio One’s Montreal morning show Daybreak and CBC’s Montreal supper-hour newscast. In addition, he has still been hosting C’est la vie, a national CBC Radio show he co-created in 1998. He says C’est la vie is one of the things he’s most proud of, and with good reason: it’s one of the only places in the national media that provides regular coverage of franco Quebec culture. (C’est la vie will continue next season with a new host.)
"With his distinctive voice and point of view, St-Laurent has been a near-constant presence on CBC since the early 1980s. He has hosted Radio Noon and Homerun on CBC Radio, been a news assignment editor for what was then called Newswatch, and toiled for years as a national reporter in Quebec City for CBC Radio. He has also filled in as host for a slew of CBC Radio shows, notably The Current, Sounds Like Canada, As It Happens, The House and Cross Country Checkup.+
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RTNDA, CAJ awards - everyone toots their own horn

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How a curmudgeonly old reporter exposed the FIFA scandal that toppled Sepp Blatter

The Washington Post on how journalist Andrew Jennings brought down FIFDA execs. Excerpt:
"For the past 15 years, Jennings has focused on the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), international soccer’s governing body. As other journalists were ball watching — reporting scorelines or writing player profiles — Jennings was digging into the dirty deals underpinning the world’s most popular game.
“'Credit in this saga should go to the dogged obsession of a single reporter, Andrew Jennings,' the Guardian’s Simon Jenkins wrote last week, citing in particular Jennings’s BBC Panorama film called “The Beautiful Bung: Corruption and the World Cup.” 

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Judge at Mike Duffy trial allows critical Senate report into evidence

CP reports that the judge presiding over the trial of Sen. Mike Duffy has allowed a key Senate committee report to be entered into evidence. Justice Charles Vaillancourt had been considering whether a 2010 report of the internal economy committee should be regarded as factual when hearing the arguments of the case. The report was based heavily on three audits of the Senate's administrative practices, undertaken by the firm Ernst and Young. It found that there was a lack of clear guidelines and criteria establishing what constitutes official business when senators file travel expenses. Those conclusions are important for Duffy's defence, which is largely focused on the argument that he was operating within the Senate's confusing and lax rules.

The GnM on the Rogers hockey expansion; reader comments skeptical

The Globe's James Bradshaw and Christine Dobby write:
"Ever since Rogers Communications Inc. sealed a deal to grab a near-monopoly on hockey broadcasting in Canada for 12 years, questions have lingered about whether it could squeeze enough value from the precious NHL rights to make its $5.2-billion gamble pay off.
Now, as the deal’s first season enters its final games, the company’s chief executive officer says it made money on the inaugural campaign, and expects a reasonable return over the life of the contract despite the hefty price tag. . . .
"But there is still much work to do to boost audiences and attract new hockey fans to the fold. Advertising partners who were promised a whole new game see room for improvement on viewership. A dismal year for the country’s biggest draw, the Toronto Maple Leafs, dragged audiences on some Saturdays down 15 to 20 per cent, which in turn sapped ratings for late-night games on the West Coast."
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