CBC/Radio-Canada is officially cutting 600 positions and will leave another 200 vacancies unfilled as the public broadcaster looks to undertake $125 million in cost-cutting measures for fiscal 2024-25. Amounting to roughly 10% of CBC/Radio-Canada’s full-time equivalent staff of about 7,900, the public broadcaster says CBC and Radio-Canada will each be cutting in the range of 250 jobs, with the balance coming from Technology & Infrastructure and other corporate divisions. The corporation will also be reducing its English and French programming budgets, including $40 million in independent production commissions and program acquisitions, which will translate to fewer renewals, new television series, and episodes of existing shows, as well as a smaller number of original digital series. Read more here.
The Competition Bureau has obtained a court order to advance its investigation into certain alleged marketing practices by Rogers Communications. The Federal Court order requires Rogers and its subsidiary to produce records and information relevant to the investigation. The Bureau’s investigation involves claims made by Rogers when promoting its Infinite wireless phone plans. In particular, looking at claims that the plans have unlimited data, when there are allegedly significant reductions in data speed, known as throttling, after a subscriber reaches a certain data cap. The Bureau is looking to determine if Rogers’ marketing practices raise concerns under the civil deceptive marketing provisions of the Competition Act.
The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) is accepting entries for its CAJ Awards program. This year’s program features 19 categories, including new category, Community Written Feature, recognizing narrative longform journalism by local or regional outlets. The 2023 program will also celebrate the work of student journalists, and recognize an emerging Indigenous journalist.
Global News Calgary traffic reporter Leslie Horton’s response to a viewer’s criticism about her appearance has gone viral with more than 3.3 million views since it was posted earlier this week and coverage in the Daily Mail, People, and the New York Post, among other outlets. Horton addressed her critic saying “No, I’m not pregnant. I actually lost my uterus to cancer last year and this is what women of my age look like. So, if it is offensive to you, that is unfortunate. Think about the emails that you send.”
Global News Calgary traffic reporter @global_leslie responds to an email criticising her choice of clothes. #yyc pic.twitter.com/r9Od0hKbn0
— Global Calgary (@GlobalCalgary) December 5, 2023
