AP changes cameras

 No more of these

The Associated Press says it has reached a deal with Sony Electronics to exclusively equip its visual journalists with new video and still cameras over the next two years.
The AP sends some 3,000 photos and 200 videos a day to customers worldwide. Visual journalism is a point of pride for the news cooperative, which won its 54th Pulitzer Prize this year, the 32nd it has won for photography.
The new Alpha cameras will be smaller and lighter, and employ mirrorless technology, enabling photographers to work silently.
“This is a game-changer for the AP and will give us way more flexibility into the future,” said Derl McCrudden, deputy managing editor for visual and digital journalism. (AP)

CBC announces cuts

The CBC is cutting about 130 jobs across the country over the next three months, the Crown corporation said Wednesday. "As a result of some necessary changes with respect to resizing our business, a number of positions from within the organization will no longer be a part of our workforce come the end of the calendar year," Barbara Williams, CBC's executive vice-president of English services, said in a note to staff. In a separate note to staff, an official said that 58 positions across news, current affairs and local will be cut.

More

Global news cutting staff

The Globe and Mail reports tat in what it describes as a “significant” restructuring, Global News is cutting some of its workforce.

Global TV owned by Corus Entertainment Inc. confirmed it has laid off staff in an e-mail to The Canadian Press, but declined to provide exact numbers.

Corus executive vice-president of broadcast networks Troy Reeb attributed the layoffs to challenges faced by the news industry in recent years, including regulatory restraints, a lack of government support, advertising losses and most recently, COVID-19.

Larry Stout has died

 LAWRENCE (Larry) STOUT September 11, 1939 - June 27, 2020 After a courageous battle with Alzheimer's disease, Larry Stout has signed off and taken what he always referred to as the "eternal high jump". Larry had a wonderful sense of humour; he was a terrific pal to his friends and one of Canada's best broadcast journalists. 

Obituary

Facebook strikes agreement with Canadian Press to create eight reporting jobs

Facebook has struck an agreement with The Canadian Press that will create eight new reporting jobs.

The digital giant says it will provide $1 million through a one-year fellowship initiative to allow the news agency to hire, train, equip and provide salary and benefits for reporters to be added to its newsrooms from Halifax to Vancouver.

The jobs are to be posted immediately and reporters are expected to be in place by the fall.

"The stories that will be created by these journalists will be, of course, administered and managed entirely by CP editors for the benefit of our customers and so this will add a significant new volume of stories from different regions across the country," said CP president Malcolm Kirk.

"So I think it's a real win for journalism, it's a real win for young journalists starting out in their careers and a huge value for our customers to be able to get new content at no additional charge."

CP agreed to participate in the project only after ensuring it will promote the development and growth of Canadian journalism without influence from 
Facebook and that there will be no infringement on editorial independence, Kirk said. 

The partnership comes as Canadian publishers banded together last month to call on the federal government to force large international digital companies including Facebook and Google to share their advertising revenue with media companies, who have seen a heightened pace of advertising sales declines since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The publishers want Canada to follow Australia and France in trying to make digital companies pay news media for use of their copyrighted content _ although Google and Facebook both argue they actually benefit news companies by driving online traffic to their websites.

Facebook has invested nearly $9 million in Canadian journalism through various programs over the past three years and offers similar programs in other countries, said Kevin Chan, head of public policy for Canada for Facebook Inc.