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Canada's CTV National News fires lead anchor LIsa LaFlamme in contract dispute


mouseboy33

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CTV - Lisa LaFLamme is out at CTV. Massive news at CTV as  the lead female anchor's contract was not renewed. Sounds like CTV didnt want to pay to keep their main anchor and the let her go! WOW! And they framed it as her leaving. Not that they let her go because they didnt want to pay or something like that. I wonder where she will go. 

This sounds messy exit WOW!!
https://twitter.com/LisaLaFlamme_/status...kJXGMmxV6Q


https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/lisa-lafla...-1.6027895
List was one of the female news anchors in Canada which now introduces a man to the main big network anchor chairs.
From the Toronto Star

 

Quote:Long-time news anchor and journalist Lisa LaFlamme is speaking out after what she called a “sudden” decision by Bell Media to end her contract with CTV National News.
“On June 29, I was informed that Bell Media made a ‘business decision’ to end my contract, bringing to a sudden close my long career with CTV News,” said LaFlamme in a video posted on social media Monday afternoon.
“Recognizing changing viewer habits, CTV recently advised LaFlamme that it had made the business decision to move its acclaimed news show, CTV NATIONAL NEWS, and the role of its Chief News Anchor in a different direction,” reads a press release from Bell Media.


LaFlamme covered some of the most important stories during her tenure with the company, including the war in Afghanistan, federal elections, natural disasters, the global pandemic and most recently the papal visit in Canada.
LaFlamme said she is leaving in a manner “that is not my choice.”

This is a developing story. More to come.

THey quickly replaced her with Omar Sachendina as the Chief Correspondent.  WHOA!
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/omar-sache...-1.6027906


I wonder if this will be City News oppourtunity to grab her and building a national news cast around her. She helmed CTV National News in the #1 for years. So Citytv and Rogers might be licking their chops to grab her.

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Seeing Arsenault and Friesen (her competitors at CBC and Global, respectively) respond with personal and professional praise for LaFlamme really shows how dumb and unpopular this move was…


Also the “changing viewer habits” argument makes no sense as CTV National News has consistently been the highest rated newscast in Canada (and by a whole lot too) under LaFlamme.  

Edited by Glimmer
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...and several others who were let go in the past two years and change, even before Dan O'Toole. Why? For the excuse of "budget reasons."

 

Bell, let's talk.

 

Lisa LaFlamme just won the Canadian Screen Award for "Best National News Anchor" four months ago. She helped make CTV National News the unquestionable top dog when it comes to Canadian newscasts, and this is how you reward her after all this time? By firing her for the excuse of "changing viewer habits?"

Edited by DJonNews
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13 hours ago, Chopper4 said:

A lot of people think she was let go because she is a 58 year old woman, with grey hair.     

 

 

Even more people think this is actually a cover story so she can spend more time watching the CW....

 

(sorry. 😛 )

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Well, that was possibly the most moronic media move of the decade, and we’re only a few years in. Lisa LaFlamme was more than a worthy successor to Lloyd Robertson. She anchored the newscast with the same level of gravitas and professionalism that Lloyd did. Bell Media truly has inmates running the asylum. Yes, there are times when cuts need to be made, but you don’t cut a popular sports anchor (Dan O’Toole), shut down a popular radio station (TSN Vancouver), and fire your top anchor without a damn goodbye! If Bell thinks they can cut their way to success, they’re in for a shock when the viewers go to Global in droves.

 

Also, if the CBC is listening: Your biggest competitor just gave you the gift of a lifetime. Put Lisa LaFlamme on The National.

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11 hours ago, DJonNews said:

...and several others who were let go in the past two years and change, even before Dan O'Toole. Why? For the excuse of "budget reasons."

 

Bell, let's talk.

 

Lisa LaFlamme just won the Canadian Screen Award for "Best National News Anchor" four months ago. She helped make CTV National News the unquestionable top dog when it comes to Canadian newscasts, and this is how you reward her after all this time? By firing her for the excuse of "changing viewer habits?"

To be fair, “changing viewer habits” is going to be a legitimate excuse. Many of CTV’s viewers are about to change their viewing habits right now after hearing this news.

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I wonder if any of the other Network anchors are looking vulnerable  since Lisa is a free agent. I would imagine that GLOBAL might want to bolster their news product.  I cant see Lisa ever dealing with Bell/CTV ever again.  Bell/CTV did ruin CHUM back in the day, ruining literally every channel they touched. PLus how they ripped the heart out of CP24/CItyNews. That was messy and sad.

  But I just wonder if Rogers is looking hard at her. You know they want to build up Citytv into a true national operation. It would be massive step down for Lisa, but a huge get for City. But Citytv has been a disaster for a while now in Rogers hands. Especially their news operation. Its totally not the same anymore. Too bad that they cant re-work the originally CityNews ethos and style for a new era. Not a fan of what they're doing now. Late 80-90s were defo City's strongest creative period. I wonder what a well designed City-style National newscast would look like.

Edited by mouseboy33
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From what I have been reading as well, Michael Melling is a narcisist sociopath that loves to cut budgets and doesn't care about journalism at all, only about the spreadsheets. A very stupid move. But it was coming since Wendy Freeman was demoted from President, CTV News to VP News.

 

Melling wanted to break up the pairing of Hwang and LaFlamme by "promoting" Rosa Hwang as the VP of News for CTV Toronto and CP24, which Ms. Hwang clearly did not want. Melling is another Rafael Lenin Lopez and will continue to inflict damage to CTV News.

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Sounds like it. I think thats the point as well. Alternative fact on CTV's part.  Seems like CTV/Bell is keen on covering their rears. Kinda hard to make a respected journalist look bad when they are against a big money grabbing corporation.

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"Lisa LaFlamme chose not to bid farewell to viewers before ouster..." Yeah, I doubt that. Bell Media showed LaFlamme the door without allowing her to bid farewell. It wasn't LaFlamme's choice -- it was all Bell Media. Is it telling that even their own employees were among the many, many, many people against firing LaFlamme for no reason? Is it telling that this huge backlash is why Bell Media was forced to open an independent investigation of the CTV newsroom, even though they didn't want to do so?

 

Oh, and that decision by Bell to announce LaFlamme's successor, Omar Sachedina, less than 30 minutes after her abrupt firing, which robbed viewers of a historic moment since Sachedina is an accomplished journalist of color? Thank goodness Bell finally admitted it was a terrible mistake to do so.

 

But what I can't forgive them for is this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/19/lisa-laflamme-going-grey-canada-tv-terminated

Great idea by Bell Media to fire her after her hair turned light gray... 🙄

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This...

https://etcanada.com/news/923053/dove-canada-throws-shade-over-lisa-laflammes-controversial-ousting/

 

Bell Media management really should be hanging their heads in shame. Dove Canada, of all the names, is calling them out for firing Lisa LaFlamme for no reason other than the done-to-death excuse of "changing viewer habits..." and it's a soap bar product!

 

And yet, Bell Media still doesn't care...

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12 hours ago, DJonNews said:

This...

https://etcanada.com/news/923053/dove-canada-throws-shade-over-lisa-laflammes-controversial-ousting/

 

Bell Media management really should be hanging their heads in shame. Dove Canada, of all the names, is calling them out for firing Lisa LaFlamme for no reason other than the done-to-death excuse of "changing viewer habits..." and it's a soap bar product!

 

And yet, Bell Media still doesn't care...

Given the unprecedented blowback, I wouldn’t say that they don’t care at all. On the contrary, they care a lot, given that their ratings are about to plummet (if they haven’t already done so). Even I thought the story would fizzle out by now, but it hasn’t. An editorial from The Globe and Mail puts it best:

Quote

And yet the network is stuck, unable either to advance or retreat, knowing it is headed for disaster but wholly incapable of admitting it. A decision like this, after all, would not have been made only on the whim of a lowly VP of news, as early reports had it. It was reportedly signed off on, not only by the president of Bell Media, Wade Oosterman, but by Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of Bell Canada.

 

Reversing the decision, then, would implicate not only the person who made the initial decision, but the whole executive food chain. And so it must be maintained, whatever the cost – to the program, the news division, or the company. What’s that line of Barbara Tuchman’s? “Awful momentum makes carrying through easier than calling off folly.”

They know they screwed up, but they can’t do anything about it because it would only further tarnish the reputations of the top executives at Bell Media. They’re probably hoping and praying this blows over before Sachedina takes over. I don’t think it will.

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Well, get ready for this: A restaurant chain has joined in calling out Bell Media for Lisa LaFlamme's abrupt firing.

https://www.blogto.com/city/2022/08/wendys-canada-lisa-laflamme/

 

Oh, and for good measure, LaFlamme's predecessor, Lloyd Robertson spoke out in regards to this.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/lloyd-robertson-lisa-laflamme

 

Here's what he said:

Quote

You don't go laying off that person the way you laid off Lisa LaFlamme. These people are good human beings, communicating with the public in a real way, and being true to their own identities and their own integrity as they go along.

 

And just when it couldn't get any worse for Bell Media, this happens:

https://www.blogto.com/city/2022/08/ctv-lisa-laflamme-bell-boycott/

 

Again, Bell Media made a horrible mistake doing what they did. "Lisa LaFlamme chose not to bid farewell to viewers before ouster?" Ha! I highly doubt that. "Due to changing viewer habits, we have made the decision to let LaFlamme go." I think by "changing viewer habits," you meant "LaFlamme's hair turning gray?"

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First, Dove Canada. Then, Wendy's Canada. Now, Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit issue (despite making no mention of LaFlamme's firing).

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/sports-illustrated-swimsuit-lisa-laflamme

 

How anyone at Bell Media thought the choices they made (firing LaFlamme for letting her hair go gray, blaming it on "changing viewer habits," putting out a CTV press release saying she declined to bid farewell to the viewers when that's not the case, announcing LaFlamme's successor, Omar Sachedina, less than 30 minutes after her firing) would lead to only a day or two of controversy is the real mystery here.

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16 minutes ago, DJonNews said:

First, Dove Canada. Then, Wendy's Canada. Now, Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit issue (despite making no mention of LaFlamme's firing).

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/sports-illustrated-swimsuit-lisa-laflamme

 

How anyone at Bell Media thought the choices they made (firing LaFlamme for letting her hair go gray, blaming it on "changing viewer habits," putting out a CTV press release saying she declined to bid farewell to the viewers when that's not the case, announcing LaFlamme's successor, Omar Sachedina, less than 30 minutes after her firing) would lead to only a day or two of controversy is the real mystery here.

Here’s the thing: don’t take these statements as meaning much. Those companies are merely taking advantage of the trending story of the moment in Canada. It comes across as desperate, disingenuous, and as a Canadian retail analyst said, “opportunistic.” There are few things I hate more than faceless corporate entities trying to show off how “socially conscious” they are when they don’t actually give a crap (see also: #BellLetsTalk).
 

Besides, the issue of gray hair is a bit of a red herring here. Lisa wasn’t fired just because she had gray hair. She was fired because of egotistical executives, the fact that she was willing to stand up to management in the face of cost-cutting, her higher salary, and the fact that Bell already operated on a philosophy of cutting their way to the top. Her hair was certainly not a non-factor, but to say that hair was the main issue is missing the forest for the trees. These major brands know that, but are capitalizing on the situation anyway.
 

Of course, Bell could get away with firing Dan O’Toole, Natasha Staniszewski, and a slew of local news personalities. They aren’t getting away with firing the top anchor in the country. That said, the fact that these companies are willing to risk losing ad space on Bell’s platforms certainly speaks volumes on both the state of Bell Media and how horrific a miscalculation this was on the part of Bell’s top executives.

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