By David Farrell
Michael Melling succeeds Wendy Freeman as head of CTV News
CTV has announced that Michael Melling has been appointed head of CTV News, succeeding Wendy Freeman who stepped down from the role at the end of December after more than 25 years with the network.
Melling assumes responsibility for all news, information and current events programming including CTV News, BNN Bloomberg, CP24, as well as current affairs shows W5, Power Play, and Question Period. – Connie Thiessen, Broadcast Dialogue
Tara Henley: Why I quit the CBC
For months now, I’ve been getting complaints about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where I’ve worked as a TV and radio producer, and occasional on-air columnist, for much of the past decade.
People want to know why, for example, non-binary Filipinos concerned about a lack of LGBT terms in Tagalog is an editorial priority for the CBC, when local issues of broad concern go unreported. Or why our pop culture radio show’s coverage of the Dave Chappelle Netflix special failed to include any of the legions of fans, or comics, that did not find it offensive. Or why, exactly, taxpayers should be funding articles that scold Canadians for using words such as “brainstorm” and “lame.”
When I started at the national public broadcaster in 2013, the network produced some of the best journalism in the country. By the time I resigned last month, it embodied some of the worst trends in mainstream media. In a short period of time, the CBC went from being a trusted source of news to churning out clickbait that reads like a parody of the student press. – Tara Henley, National Post
Can the news media rebound in 2022?
… Beyond TV news, the AP noted that The Washington Post’s number of unique visitors was down 44% in November 2021 compared to a year earlier, according to Comscore; The New York Times dropped 34% in that time. (The Post has proven especially dependent on political news for traffic.) Still, the New Year has already brought news of a major media launch: On Tuesday, Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith and Ben Smith, the former top editor of BuzzFeed and most recently the New York Times’ star media columnist, announced plans for a start-up targeting a global audience. “There are 200 million people who are college-educated, who read in English, but who no one is really treating like an audience, but who talk to each other and talk to us,” Ben Smith told his now former paper. “That’s who we see as our audience.” – Caleb Ecarma, Vanity Fair
Russia Today broadcasting illegally in Germany
German regulators have launched proceedings against Russian state-controlled media RT for broadcasting in the country without a valid license.
RT DE, the German-language channel of broadcaster RT, suddenly began satellite broadcasts in Germany on December 16 using a questionable Serbian license, the MABB media regulator for Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg said on December 17.
Germany does not grant broadcasting licenses to foreign-owned state media, although RT DE is allowed to have a bureau in Berlin. – Radio Free Europe
Sony at CES: All the usual, the enhanced, imagined…and a smart SUV
The segment about the car starts at 44:06
Gravitas: Trends that will rule 2022
As the dust settles on 2021, take a look at the themes that will shape the year ahead. Will the pandemic end? Will you be able to travel? Will Mental Health become mainstream? Palki Sharma tells you what the broad trends will look like.
How you could have turned US$1K into $1.3T by trading the S&P 500 in 2021
If you had $1,000 and knew exactly the right stock to trade every day, how much money could you make in a year? In 2021, trillions.
A trader who began 2021 with $1,000 in a brokerage account and put all of the money in the best-performing S&P 500 company each day of 2021 would have $1.3 trillion in that account today—and hold claim to completing an effectively impossible task. – David Yanofsky, Quartz
Elwy Yost: A life in movies
Over 20 years have passed since Elwy Yost last served as the popular host of TVO'sSaturday Night at the Movies and Magic Shadows. His infectious enthusiasm for cinema and interviews with actors, filmmakers, and critics influenced generations and left an enduring legacy with audiences across Ontario. Through archival footage and interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, this film tells the story of how a school teacher from Weston, Ontario became a Hollywood film authority.
