Media Beat: July 9, 2018

By David Farrell

CBC privacy breach was bigger, broader than 1st announced

The corporation said that 20,008 people were affected when it first announced the breach on May 16 — but the pubcaster knew by at least May 11 that the actual total was larger – Dean Beeby, CBC News

CanadaLand unpacks CTV defense filing in Patrick Brown suit

CTV Says A Tip That Patrick Brown Apologized For Sexual Misconduct In Ottawa Launched Their Investigation - Jonathan Goldsbie & Graeme Gordon, CanadaLand

CRTC decisions expected this week

Broadcasting Decisions:

Applications by licensees to renew the broadcasting licences for various radio stations

Decisions relating to the following applications considered by the Commission at the 28 November 2017 public hearing:

• Applicants
  Licensing of a new radio station to serve Grimsby and Beamsville
  Public record: 1011-NOC2017-0316

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• Applicants
  Licensing of a new radio station to serve Georgina
  Public record: 1011-NOC2017-0316

A decision relating to the following application considered by the Commission at the 11 January 2018 public hearing:

9116-1299 Québec inc.
CFOR-FM Maniwaki – Licence renewal
Public record for this application: 2016-0927-3

 Decisions relating to the following applications considered by the Commission at the 31 May 2018 public hearing:

• Wow! Unlimited Networks Inc.
  Comedy Gold – Acquisition of assets
  Public record for this application: 2017-1027-8

• Newcap Inc.
  CKEC-FM and CKEZ-FM New Glasgow – Acquisition of assets
  Public record for this application: 2017-1026-0

Telecom Decision:

CISC Network Working Group – Non-consensus report on the quality of service metrics to define high-quality fixed broadband Internet access service
Public record: 8663-C12-201503186 and 8621-C12-01/08

Fagstein’s latest Media News Digest

Includes:  Angie Seth, who anchored Global News newscasts for local markets across the country, has left that job to take on an anchor job at CTV News Channel.

    Roger Petersen has been named the new co-anchor of Breakfast Television in Toronto. He replaces Kevin Frankish, who left last month.

    Valérie Gaudreau has been named editor-in-chief of Le Soleil, while Marc Gendron has been named editor-in-chief of La Voix de l’Est.

    Amanda Stein, the former TSN 690 reporter who left to work with the New Jersey Devils, is staying with the hockey team permanently.

    Colin Harris, an online editor at the Montreal Gazette, has departed the company. He says goodbye in a Twitter thread. He’s the second editor to leave the paper in a week.

    Simona Chiose is leaving her job as education reporter for the Globe and Mail.

    Catherine Tait officially took over as president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation this week.

    New York Times reporter Ali Watkins has been reassigned to New York City after it was revealed she was in a relationship with a staffer at the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is on her beat. The Times calls that unacceptable.

    Reporter Brian Ross and producer Rhonda Schwartz have left ABC News after erroneously reporting that President Donald Trump asked former national security adviser Michael Flynn to contact the Russians during the 2016 campaign.

In Brief

Markham park is to be named after CTV News icon Lloyd Robertson.

Roger Petersen replaces Kevin Frankish on Breakfast Television Toronto.

Wireless speaker co. Sonos has filed an IPO that shows it is looking to raise up to US$100M with the public offering. It said that as of March 31, it has sold 19M products to 6.9M households.

Democracy reinstates net neutrality… in California

After a hearing that stripped California’s gold standard net neutrality bill of much of its protections, California legislators have negotiated new amendments that restore the vast majority of those protections to the bill. The big ISPs and their money did not defeat the voices of the many, many people who want and need a free and open Internet. –Common Dreams

Inside pseudoscience and conspiracy theories

It's hard to win an argument these days. You can present scientific studies, historical evidence, and even pictures or videos to back up your words, but some people won't budge from their position. And some of those people have some pretty strange ideas, from flat-earthers to the "Avril Lavigne Is Dead" conspiracy theorists (yes, that is a thing). Have you ever wondered why people refuse to change their beliefs, no matter how outlandish, even when faced with cold, hard facts? Well, it turns out that "motivated reasoning" is to blame — and we're all guilty of it.

Renowned skeptic, neurologist and host of "The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe" Dr. Steven Novella recently sat in to discuss his ideas on a recent Curiosity’s podcast.

RIP

James Joseph Richards, better known as “JJ,”, died at his adopted home in Rancho Mirage, CA  on June 30. The Brandon, Manitoba born career broadcaster was 88. JJ worked for a variety of television and radio news outlets across the country, beginning as a teenage disc-jockey in Brandon before moving on to CKUA in Edmonton, CBC and CHUM in Toronto, CKDA in Victoria and C-FUN/QM-FM in Vancouver. He received the Radio-Television News Directors Association Distinguished Service Award in 1993 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 for his accomplishments as a political journalist. A celebration of life will be held in Vancouver in August.