Our TV family is in mourning after the sudden and absolutely tragic passing of our friend Chantel. But nothing can compare to what her family is dealing with. Husband without his wife and two beautiful kids without their loving Mom. Please help them. https://t.co/f8zKKNk2WE
— Phil Perkins (@PhilPerkinsCP24) October 8, 2024
A GoFundMe has been set up for the family of Chantel Grillo, a director at Hamilton’s CHCH News, who passed away suddenly on Friday. She was just 39. The station made the unprecedented move of cancelling its 6 p.m. newscast Friday evening, announcing “the sudden death of an employee who worked behind the scenes in the newsroom.” The circumstances of Grillo’s death have not been made public. She had worked with the station for more than 18 years, joining CHCH right out of the Broadcasting program at Mohawk College in 2006. Read more here.
RTDNA Canada has announced its 2024 Regional Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. In the Atlantic region, this year’s honourees include longtime ATV/CTV Atlantic personality Jayson Baxter; CBC Nova Scotia reporter Paul Withers, who retired from the public broadcaster this year, and former Global News Supervising Producer Richard Dooley. In the Central region, RTDNA is recognizing Lily Pakula, a longtime technical producer with CTV News Northern Ontario; Linda Oland, retired Director of News and Information Programming at CP24, alongside recently retired CKLW AM 800 Windsor morning show personality, Lisa Williams. On the Prairies, RTDNA is honouring John Vos, Corus Entertainment’s former Regional Program Director for QR (CHQR-AM) Calgary and 630 CHED Edmonton; longtime Global Calgary anchor Linda Olsen; and Arnie Jackson, an alum of CFAC and CFXL Calgary, and CKGY Red Deer, known as the voice of chuckwagon racing in the region. In the West, 18-time Emmy winner Ross McLaughlin, who pioneered the first consumer investigative franchise, Troubleshooter, at ITV Edmonton (now Global), is being recognized. Read more here.
RTDNA Canada has announced its national Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, set to be honoured at its National Awards Gala on Nov. 2 in Toronto. This year’s honourees include Susan Marjetti, former General Manager of News, Current Affairs and Local Services, at CBC News, who retired from the public broadcaster in January. Beverly Thomson is being honoured for her 30-year anchoring and hosting career, most recently at CTV News Channel. Mark Blanchard, Global News’ former Manager of Resources and News Gathering, who passed away this summer, will also be posthumously recognized. Read more here.
RTDNA Canada’s Distinguished Service Award recipients have been revealed, presented to members who have played a major role in the continuing success of the organization. This year’s honourees are Jon Whitten, News Director at CityNews Toronto, and former Executive Director of News Content, and Executive Producer of The National at CBC News. RTDNA Conference co-chair Beatrice Politi, former Network Managing Editor at Global TV, and multimedia consultant and former CBC News producer Owen Leitch. RTDNA Canada has also recognized excellence across digital and broadcast journalism with its Regional Awards of Excellence. Check out the winners in the Central Region, East Region, Prairie Region, and West Region.
Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), the Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA) and APTN News are launching the Growing Indigenous Storytellers Fellowship Program, supported by the Google News Initiative. Six Indigenous fellows will have the opportunity to work at APTN News for a period of six months, and connect with a wider network at IJA’s 2025 Indigenous Media Conference. The program will also offer a series of workshops and lectures for both the fellows and broader journalism community. Read more here.
The CRTC is launching a public consultation on the proposed Code of Conduct for the Online News Act bargaining framework. This is the fourth consultation on the Act the CRTC has launched, to encourage organizations and platforms to bargain in good faith and make informed decisions during negotiations. The CRTC is accepting comments until Nov. 7. The CRTC is also investigating whether Facebook has been allowing Canadian news on its platform in violation of the Act. The regulator is gathering comments until Oct. 11 on whether Meta is complying with the law. Read more here.
The CRTC has released its “What We Heard” report, summarizing feedback from workshops with members of the audiovisual (AV) industry discussing the CRTC’s definition of Canadian Content (CanCon) and the possibility it might need to be adapted given fundamental changes to the broadcast industry. A total of 382 participants took part in 17 workshops in February and March of this year, including in-person events in Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Calgary, encompassing the perspectives of Indigenous and official language minority communities (OLMCs), online creators, small and large producers, domestic broadcasters, unions, and representatives from foreign streaming services. Read more here.
The CRTC is taking action to help make cellphone use more affordable when Canadians travel internationally and within Canada. A commission review found roaming fees for Canadian travellers are often inflexible, causing consumers to pay a flat fee of $10 to $16 per day regardless of how much they use their cellphone. The commission is calling on large cellphone providers to take immediate action to provide affordable roaming options. Companies must inform the CRTC by Nov. 4 of the steps they are taking to respond to the commission’s concerns. It says that if sufficient progress is not made, it will launch a formal public proceeding. The CRTC says it is also taking steps to help make domestic wholesale roaming rates – the fees cellphone service providers pay when their customers travel outside of their province’s coverage area – more affordable for Canadians to travel within Canada.
