Regulatory, Telecom & Media News – RTDNA Canada recognizes Jean La Rose, Tchadas Leo

RTDNA Canada is set to recognize former APTN CEO Jean La Rose and CHEK TV reporter Tchadas Leo as part of its 2024 awards program. La Rose has been leading Dadan Sivunivut since 2019, a holding company established by APTN to manage a number of its subsidiaries, including the ELMNT FM radio stations in Ottawa and Toronto. He’ll receive the RTDNA Canada President’s Award at its National Awards Gala on Nov. 2 in Toronto. Leo will receive the 2024 Emerging Journalist Award, awarded to a journalist who displays excellence in the coverage of enterprise journalism on a single topic, investigative reporting or continuing coverage of a beat or a major breaking and developing story. Read more here.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has found CTV National News in breach surrounding the inaccuracy of a report in April on capital gains tax. The report from CTV National correspondent Heather Wright, which aired on the late night edition of the newscast on April 25, focused on changes announced in the federal budget that, for any capital gains over $250,000, two-thirds would be taxable. The first graphic used an example of a cottage sale, providing numbers erroneously labelled “taxes owed,” which it confused with “capital gains inclusion rate.” Viewers complained to the CBSC about the graphic’s inaccuracy, in addition to other aspects of the report. Read more here.

CBC/Radio-Canada’s news services have been re-certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI). In external audits by the Alliance for Audited Media, both CBC News and Radio-Canada Info fulfilled certification requirements, which scrutinize a news service’s transparency and editorial practices. Launched by Reporters Without Borders in 2018 to combat disinformation and promote trustworthy journalism, CBC/Radio-Canada’s news services were the first Canadian broadcast media to earn JTI certification. The Winnipeg Free Press, France Télévisions, RTÉ News (Ireland) and SWI swissinfo.ch (a branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation) are among other certified media.

Rebel News is still not eligible for journalism tax credits, following a judicial review in Federal Court. A judge upheld a previous Canada Revenue Agency decision that found the right-leaning media outlet doesn’t qualify because it doesn’t produce enough original content. Following Rebel News’ initial application in 2021, the CRA found that less than one per cent of the site’s content was original news. Justice Ann Marie McDonald’s review noted that the agency assessed 423 news reports from Rebel News, finding just 10 were original and the rest rewritten from other sources, not based in fact, or failed to include balanced perspectives.

The BC Association of Broadcasters (BCAB) Awards of Excellence are open to submissions on Oct. 1, encouraging member radio and TV stations to submit their best work across categories including Excellence in News Reporting, Best Podcast, and Best Commercial Creative. The deadline for submissions is Oct. 25. 

Jeanne Beker and designer Paul Hardy are co-curating upcoming Glenbow Museum exhibition Obsession: The Unscripted Life of Jeanne Beker. One of the feature exhibitions Glenbow visitors will experience when the Calgary museum reopens at the JR Shaw Centre for Arts & Culture in 2026, the exhibition will tell the story of Beker’s trailblazing career as a television personality, fashion and lifestyle journalist, editor, and interviewer, through her work as the host of Fashion Television, which aired for nearly three decades. Ahead of the biographical exhibition, Beker’s memoir, Heart on My Sleeve: Stories from a Life Well Worn, is set for release Oct. 8.

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) has announced Rana Ayyub, an investigative journalist from India and Global Opinions Writer at The Washington Post, as the recipient of one of two 2024 International Press Freedom Awards. Ayyub established her reputation for courageous reporting when she went undercover in 2010 to investigate the Indian government’s involvement in communal violence, defined as violence based on religion or race. Since then, she’s contributed to a wide range of publications, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic and Foreign Policy, filing on the persecution of minorities and state sanctioned violence. In 2016, she published best-selling book, Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover-up. Ayyub will accept the award at the CJFE Gala: A Night to Celebrate Courage in Journalism on Oct. 23 in Toronto.

Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong journalist, media publisher, and pro-democracy activist facing a potential life sentence, has won PEN Canada’s One Humanity Award. Lai, 76, who has been in solitary confinement since December 2020, is a UK citizen and former owner of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, once regarded as Hong Kong’s most prolific pro-democracy news outlet. Since his arrest in 2020, he has faced multiple unjust convictions, including a 13-month sentence for unauthorized assembly stemming from his brief appearance at a vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre.