Journalists in English langauge debate all female!

The English language election debate is set for October 7, the French for October 10.
The English language moderators are all female -- a first in debate history. They are:
Rosemary Barton, CBC News; Susan Delacourt, Toronto Star; Dawna Friesen, Global News; Lisa LaFlamme, CTV News and Althia Raj, HuffPost Canada Each moderator will guide a different part of the debate.

For the French debate, the moderator will be Patrice Roy from Radio-Canada, with the participation of:Hélène Buzzetti, Le Devoir; Patricia Cloutier, Le Soleil; François Cardinal, La Presse and Alec Castonguay, L'actualité

There is still a debate under way whether Maxime Bernier will be added to the Liberal, PC, NDP and Green party leaders.

Kevin Newman steps down as host of W5; will run podcast

CTV News announced today that Kevin Newman will be stepping down as Host and Correspondent of W5 when the award-winning investigative series returns to CTV for an unprecedented 54^th season on Sept. 21.

“I feel genuinely fortunate to have done some of the most meaningful work of my career at W5,” said Newman. “After four decades of reporting, it’s time to make room for the next generation, and I am grateful to be contributing to CTV News in new ways.”

Newman’s decision to take a step back from helming W5 allows him time to focus on other projects, including a new podcast series for CTV News and iHeartRadio. With complete details to be announced soon, this new podcast project will be released in the lead-up to and throughout the Canadian federal election and will focus on issues related to technology and democracy.

Ellen Roseman's consumer column to end

The Star's long-running consumer columnist, Ellen Roseman, is ending her stint with the paper. She tweeted:
"MY FINAL COLUMN: After 20 years of championing the consumer cause in the Toronto Star’s Business and Life sections, my columns in the newspaper have come to an end. I’ve had a great run, aided enormously by readers’ support and sharing of experiences."
She doesn't say what is next for her. She has written books and given lectures and will no doubt continue but not in the Star.

Even before first bailout dollar arrives, newspaper industry holds out its hand for more: Andrew Coyne

Andrew Coyne writes:
“Before long,” I gloomily predicted in November of last year, when the government first unveiled its plans to bail out the newspaper industry, “we will be back for more.”
I had thought two, maybe three years – after we had gotten used to taking money from the people we write about and had discovered that, far from solving our problems, it had only encouraged us to put off dealing with them. I had not imagined our sense of entitlement would already have grown so bloated that we would be sticking out our hands for more even before we had pocketed the first dollar.
And yet there it is, on page after page of the report of the coven of industry supplicants — sorry, “independent panel of experts” – the government retained to advise it how best to shower $600 million of public funds on them. Ostensibly the panel’s purpose was to fill in the details: what sorts of publications should be accredited as Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations, for example, making them eligible for the government lolly, or how to define terms such as “journalist,” never previously the subject of state regulation. (“Journalistic principles” include, if you were wondering, “a practice or correcting errors,” sic.)
Full story

New editor-in chief at National Post

Rob Roberts will be returning to the National Post as editor-in chief, the Twittersphere reports. He was a member of the original staff of the NatPost but left for CP. Now he is returning.
Other changes include Mick Higgins taking up a new position working with politics executive editor Kevin Libin.