Regulatory, Telecom & Media News – Loyalist College suspends applications to Radio program

Loyalist College has suspended applications to its Broadcasting – Radio program, citing low enrollment. The Belleville, ON college says the program is currently under review and that Loyalist hasn’t “taken an institutional stance on the program’s future.” Loyalist is just the latest post-secondary institution to announce the suspension of a media program as the broadcast and journalism sectors are faced with mass layoffs, spurred by changing consumer habits and under the looming shadow of uncertainty around AI and the impact other technological advances will have on the industry. Mohawk College in Hamilton has announced it won’t be accepting applications for its advanced three-year Journalism diploma, due to falling enrollment. Humber College announced suspension of its Journalism degree program last November, while the University of Regina has also suspended admission to its Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Bachelor in Journalism, and Masters of Journalism programs for the 2023-24 academic year as it moves to overhaul its offerings with a digital reset in line with the needs of modern newsrooms. Read more here. 

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has found TVA’s failure to clearly disclose sponsored content on its public affairs program Salut Bonjour, amounts to a Code of Ethics breach. The CBSC decision concerns the morning show’s recurring segment “C’est bon à savoir” (“Good to Know”). Hosted by Jean-François Baril, TurboTax was featured on Feb. 20, sponsored by the company, in which the software was presented as “the #1 tax software in Canada for more than 25 years.” A viewer complained the segment was an advertisement for TurboTax, but was misleadingly presented as a neutral tax advice segment. The CBSC Panel found that while TVA disclosed the segment as promotional content on its website, it should also have clearly done so during the on-air broadcast. Read more here.

RTDNA Canada has announced its 2023 Regional Lifetime Achievement Award honourees. This year’s Central Region recipients include CityNews Toronto veteran Cynthia Mulligan; 580 CFRA Ottawa host Bill Carroll; Ken MacDonald, former Vice-President and General Manager of Discovery Channel Canada and former National VP, News and Information Programming, Global TV; and Tina Cortese, Station Manager and News Director at 105.9 The Region (CFMS-FM) Markham, and the former GM and VP of News at Citytv. In the West Region, CFJC Kamloops anchor Bill O’Donovan is being recognized. East Region honourees include Global National Atlantic correspondent Ross Lord; NTV St. John’s anchor Toni-Marie Wiseman; and long-serving NTV director and news cameraman Tony Barrington. On the Prairies, late CBC Edmonton reporter Janice Johnston is being recognized posthumously, along with Global Calgary reporter Gil Tucker; Global Regina cameraman Adrian Raabar; CTV Regina assignment editor Nelson Bird; CTV Calgary video journalist Kevin Green; and CTV Lethbridge weather specialist Dory Rossiter. RTDNA has also announced Regional Award winners for the Central Region, West Region, East Region and Prairies Region. Read more here.

Media Girlfriends co-founder and broadcaster Garvia Bailey and CBC Quebec AM host Julia Caron are among the 2023-24 William Southam Journalism Fellows at Massey College. Fellows are outstanding Canadian journalists in mid-career who are invited to spend a year at the graduate college within the University of Toronto. The program offers journalists an opportunity to broaden their horizons by studying in a university setting.

Jason Gregor (Radio and Television – Radio ’01), is among those receiving honorary degrees from NAIT during this year’s convocation ceremonies. A host on TSN 1260 (CFRN-AM) Edmonton for almost two decades, up until getting caught up in layoffs last week, Gregor quit his oilfield job in the late ‘90s to pursue a career in sports radio. Along the way he has used his platform to raise more than $3 million for local charities and created the Gregor Community Foundation, which provides a suit, shirt, tie and shoes for high school grads who can’t afford it and funds an annual bursary for students in the radio stream of NAIT’s Radio and Television program. Gregor is receiving an Honorary Bachelor of Technology degree. 

Marisa Wyse, Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer and Corporate Secretary at Rogers, has received the 2023 Canadian General Counsel of the Year award. Wyse has been with Rogers for more than nine years in progressively senior leadership roles and played a key role across several mergers and acquisitions. Most recently, she was instrumental in the Rogers-Shaw merger, the largest telecommunications deal in Canadian history. 

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) has released a report on the economic impacts of privatizing Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) and its subsequent acquisition by Bell, indicating that within a year, 1,350 workers had been laid off and phone rates skyrocketed 37%. For Whom the Bell Tolls: the Privatization of Manitoba Telecom Services and its Impacts, authored by Doug Smith, dives into the privatization of the 90-year provincial crown corporation in 1997, with a promise that the company’s headquarters would remain in Manitoba. When MTS was purchased by Bell in 2016, it pledged to make Winnipeg the Western Canadian headquarters. The report says not only has that promise not been realized, but the company’s Manitoba workforce has shrunk by over 800 positions since 2015.