CTV News has parted ways with two of its staff members, following an investigation into an altered clip of federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. The network said their investigation found that “two members of the CTV News team are responsible for altering a video clip, manipulating it for a particular story.” CTV National News initially ran a retraction, following the spliced clip’s airing, which the Conservatives said left viewers with the impression that Poilievre could introduce a non-confidence motion over the Liberal dental care program, which would trigger an early election. The clip was edited and the accompanying script reframed, removing reference to the phrase “carbon tax election.” The Conservative leader’s media relations lead Sebastian Skamski said in a post that “until they explicitly acknowledge their malicious editing & omission of context to undermine Pierre Poilievre, Conservative MPs won’t engage with CTV News & its reporters.” Read more here.
The Canadian Journalism Collective-Collectif Canadien de Journalisme (CJC-CCJ) has opened the application process to share in compensation from the Online News Act. The process to become a member of CJC-CCJ is now open to all news businesses. Those who applied during Google’s Open Call process must reapply. Eligibility to receive funds will be subject to the terms of the CRTC’s exemption order.
The Association des Professionnels de L’edition Musicale (APEM), which represents French-language music publishers, has filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC, urging the regulator to collect music streaming service data on a quarterly basis related to the rank, title, artist, release data and origin of listens and impressions (where the music is displayed to the user). Specifically, it’s asking for data for the 10,000 most popular musical pieces listened to in Canada, the top 5,000 Canadian musical scores, the top 5,000 French-language songs, and the top 5,000 non-Canadian musical pieces. The group says this will allow publishers to evaluate the discovery of their music and compare the recommendations of Canadian French-speaking content against non-Canadian directories in those online services to ensure the objectives of the new Broadcasting Act are being met. The group says its members have struggled to reach their audiences, with a significantly smaller portion of royalties than expected making it into artists’ pockets. Read more in our sister publication, CARTT.ca (paywalled).
Unifor is once again sounding the alarm as Bell Canada’s Expertech, a network infrastructure service provider, cuts 120 positions across Ontario and Quebec. The job cuts will eliminate 18% of the unit’s 660-person membership, which is represented by more than 19 local unions in both provinces. The cuts will first be made through a VSP (Voluntary Separation Program) as well as RIO’s (Retirement Incentive Offers). Unifor Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier says the move showcases how “Bell is ambling towards a death by a thousand cuts.” Unifor represents clerical workers and technicians at Expertech, a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE. Members ratified a new collective agreement with the company in June.
