Ben Chin, regular weekend anchor of The National, is now the host of a series of Internet videos that attack the Conservative party in Ontario.
Last year, Chin became the nominee for the Liberal party’s run in a provincial by-election. Chin lost the election and now campaigns for the party.
Chin had worked for City TV and CTV News prior to joining CBC News. He was considered by many to be a rising star in the ranks, but in September 2003 he left the Corporation to join new TV station Toronto 1. When the station’s news programming was cancelled, he joined Global TV’s national newscast, but left to joined the communications staff of Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty before he was ever on air.
“It was just before one in the afternoon, Eastern Time, on Sept. 5, 1997, that the CBC’s online news service (then Newsworld Online, barely a year old) really realized the big difference between broadcasting broadcasting — where the signal goes out to the world — and online news, where the world comes to you,” remembers Robin Rowland of CBC.ca News.
“If much of that world arrives at the same time, all wanting the same story, then that could overload the server, jam the system and stop those people from getting the story they want.
In the early days, the small staff at Newsworld Online could tell instantly when a breaking story was attracting a huge public demand. The system slowed to a crawl. And that’s what happened at Newsworld Online the week Diana, Princes of Wales, died in a traffic accident.”
Despite widespread media and critical acclaim (not to mention strong viewership numbers), Little Mosque on the Prairie will not win a Gemini for Best Comedy this year. In fact, it’s not even in the running. (The show was, though, nominated in the comedy writing and directing categories.)
Instead, the Royal Canadian Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes will be up against CTV’s Corner Gas, Showcase’s Rent-A-Goalie and Comedy Network’s Odd Job Jack for the Best Comedy award.
Kirstine Layfield, head of CBC TV’s network programming, told The Globe and Mail she’s not bothered by the nomination lineup. “Geminis are great to have and it’s nice to have that industry recognition, but to us, the recognition we’ve gotten from the Canadian people, that’s a real measure of success.”
Little Mosque is currently the subject of a bidding war between two American television networks.
What do you think? If you were deciding the nomination list for the Gemini’s Best Comedy award, what five Canadian shows would you list?
CBC Northbeat anchor Carol Morin is running for office. She will campaign in the Weledeh riding, currently held by the outgoing premier Joe Handley. An accountant and an environmental activist are also running for that riding.
Born in Regina, Carol is of Cree and Chipewyan ancestry. She has been recognized as a role model with the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre and was nominated for a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, and was the first First Nations person to anchor a national newscast (1989, CBC Newsworld).
Morin is a jingle dress dancer and started a women’s drum group in Yellowknife. She has recorded two CD’s of women’s songs and is writing a children’s book.
CBC is getting closer to providing live digital TV and digital radio broadcasts to cell phones.
CBC recently wrapped up a successful mobile broadcast multimedia field trial using “T-DMB” technology in the Greater Montreal area. The trial broadcasted two live TV services and multiple live radio services within its existing digital radio broadcasting channel.
T-DMB is one of the technologies that permits the delivery of multimedia content to mobile and handheld devices for multiple simultaneous users using a hybrid broadcast/cellular network. A news release from CBC said the trial was “a good example of how CBC/Radio-Canada will make more efficient use of its digital radio transmitter network, frequencies and licences in the future.”
Many industry analysts believe that live multimedia represents the next growth area in mobile convergence. There are a number of systems for delivery of multimedia content to mobile users in development and CBC/Radio-Canada is carefully monitoring trials in this area, including T-DMB.
T-DMB, which is based on an extension of the “DAB” digital radio system, allows delivery of television as well as radio. Now commercially available in South Korea and Germany, T-DMB has proven to be a very efficient means of broadcasting live TV, multimedia and digital radio content to mobile users. It can significantly reduce the network congestion issues associated with some existing mobile TV services which use conventional cellular networks, and it allows an unlimited number of users at any one time to access live digital TV and digital radio via mobile and handheld devices.
The broadcasting infrastructure and frequencies for “DAB” digital radio are already in place in many countries. It is robust and reliable, and can be easily extended to deliver multimedia and video in a spectrum-efficient way. There is also the synergy of being able to deliver digital radio programs to the same receivers, which appears to be popular with users.
Former CBC broadcaster and executive John O’Mara, 63, passed away Sunday in hospital in St. John’s after a brief illness.
O’Mara began his career with the CBC as an announcer in Corner Brook in 1964 and later moved to St. John’s. After 20 years in the business, O’Mara worked his way to the top job at CBC Radio in Newfoundland and Labrador, serving as director of radio for nine years.
During his time with CBC, he hosted many programs and specials for both radio and television, including On the Go, Newfoundland and Labrador’s weekday afternoon radio current events program, which he hosted from 1973 to 1975. He also hosted Weekend Arts Magazine from 1976 to 1978, and the popular program, The Fisheries Broadcast, from 1978 to 1979.
Historian and former broadcaster Paul O’Neill was a friend and former co-worker of O’Mara’s. On Monday, he spoke with CBC Morning Show host Jeff Gilhooly about O’Mara, and the legacy he has left as a well-known broadcaster and local community volunteer.
O’Neill told CBC that O’Mara’s volunteer projects were too numerous to mention.
“Most active volunteer person I think I ever knew in Newfoundland,” O’Neill said. “You could hardly mention something that John wasn’t involved in in some way.”
A reputed Ku Klux Klansman was sentenced Friday to three life terms for his role in the 1964 race slayings of two African-American teenagers in Mississippi, in a cold case that was resurrected by a CBC filmmaker and one of the victim’s brothers.
James Ford Seale, 72, was convicted in June on federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy in the deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. Each count carried a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Deputies escorted Seale in a bulletproof vest and shackles into court Friday morning for the sentencing hearing.
The charges came after interest in the case was rekindled when the CBC’s David Ridgen and Charles Moore’s brother, Thomas Moore, tracked down Seale — who had long been believed to be dead — living near where the two teenagers disappeared while hitchhiking on May 2, 1964.
CBC/Radio-Canada will continue to send journalists to cover events in Afghanistan, CBC news executive Jamie Purdon told the Globe and Mail. This after two Radio-Canada journalists were injured after a roadside bomb exploded beside an armoured vehicle in which they were travelling.
News directors at Global National, CTV News, CBC News, Canwest News Service, the Toronto Star, Canadian Press and The Globe and Mail have all stated they will all continue to send journalists to Kandahar to cover the war and allow them to be embedded with Canadian Forces while on patrol.
“We’re pretty conscious about sending people out into these areas. Everybody who goes gets … hostile environment training. But you can only do so much preparation; some things are just unforeseen,” said CBC director of newsgathering, Jamie Purdon.
Mr. Purdon said although the close-knit newsroom has experienced a range of emotions about the incident that severely injured cameraman Charles Dubois and shook up correspondent Patrice Roy, CBC journalists who have reported from Afghanistan in the past were fully aware that an attack involving journalists alongside soldiers was inevitable. Regardless of the risks, Mr. Purdon said the CBC will continue to bring stories from Afghanistan to Canadians.
Radio-Canada reporter Patrice Roy and camera operator/editor Charles Dubois are still in Kandahar at this hour. They fly to Germany tomorrow.
Dubois, who was seriously wounded, will be treated at the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany until he’s well enough to return to Canada. Radio-Canada’s office in Paris is assisting. His wife and her brother are flying there to be with him.
Roy will return to Canada sooner. He had originally been scheduled to come home on September 9.
If you’d like to send a message of encouragement to the two, please contact me (Tod Maffin) via Groupwise and I’ll provide the special email address set up for that purpose.
Replacing the two in Afghanistan will be veteran correspondent Bernard Derome, who leaves this evening, camera operator Gilbert Drouin, and producer Bruno Bonamigo.
A couple of years ago I was filling in for Bill Richardson on air and in our story meeting, the executive producer came in late and breathlessly exclaimed: “We have a problem.”
My mind raced. Crap. Did I swear on air? Did I imply Newfoundland was in the Maritimes? Did I refer to the Barenaked Ladies as a “boy band?”
Nope. Turns out, we were getting close to not meeting our Can-Con requiments that week. We ended up airing a show with pretty much exclusively Canadian content and made our requirements just fine.
I don’t think most people realize how seriously CBC Radio takes its commitment to Canadian content. We monitor and log all the music we play to make sure that we’re achieving the right level. In Vancouver (and probably other plants), CDs in the music library have little orange stickers to indicate if it qualifies as can-con.
This always seems to interest people I mention it to, so I thought I’d do a primer on CBC’s commitment to Canadian content and what the rules actually are.
First, just because it’s Celine or Bryan Adams, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily officially Canadian. To qualify as ‘Canadian content,’ a song must generally fulfill at least two of the following conditions (called the MAPL code):
Music: The music is composed entirely by a Canadian
Artist: The music is, or the lyrics are, performed principally by a Canadian
Production: The musical selection consists of a live performance that is
(i) recorded wholly in Canada, or
(ii) performed wholly in Canada and broadcast live in Canada
Lyrics: The lyrics are written entirely by a Canadian
(Check the back of any Canadian CD you have. Chances are, there’ll be that circular logo above there. The quarters that are filled in means it qualifies.
We have to make sure that over the course of a broadcast week, at least half of the “popular music” songs we play meet at least two of the MAPL codes. (Popular musi, according to the CRTC, is classified as pop, rock, dance, country, acoustic, and easy listening.
We also have to make sure that we play at least 20% of Canadian “special interest music.” That is: Classical, folk, world beat, jazz, blues, non-classical religious, and gospel.
Cuts of a minute or longer qualify as can-con, but we log all music, regardless of length.
What do you think? Is that the right balance of Canadian content in our music? (Note that we’re not the ones that set the guidelines; it’s the CRTC.)
CBC Edmonton staff recently set up bleachers for people who wanted to stop by and watch the FIFA Under 20 World Cup a while back. CBC Edmonton is located in City Centre Mall. (Photo: simonerose)
Ben Whitney was pretty excited when he found a photo he took at the SPP summit show up on the cbc.ca web site.
“Of the 13 photos CBC selected to display representing the SPP summit, mine was the only one by non Canadian Press/CBC official photographers. How about that?” he posted on his Flickr page.
CBC photo editor Robin Rowland tells me we get the best response during, naturally, big stories. For instance, the partial collapse of BC Place stadium’s roof. In many cases, we provide a mix of citizen-, staff-, and wire-generated content. The B.C. snowstorm is a good example of that.
But it’s not always easy to get the photos in the right way. Although the submit page asks for clean pictures as large as possible, often the pictures are too small for us to use or have the date and time burned in, which limits the ability to crop a picture for better composition. CBC also doesn’t use photographs where people do not include their name and a phone number or name and address so we can check with them. (Apparently, we get a lot of pictures submitted directly from Hotmail or similar addresses with no other identifying information. We never use those pictures.)
You retain the copyright on your photos, but do grant CBC the “non-exclusive right to use it in any way that CBC sees fit.”
On September 1, CBC/Radio-Canada will be subject to federal legislation that provides a right of access to all records held by the Corporation.
Lots of staffers have asked how this affects their day-to-day work and two PDF documents were distributed today with tips on how to operate within the legislation. In case your workstation has trouble with PDF files, here’s the information.
.
The information we work with every day falls primarily into the following two categories of records: “business records” and “transitory records.”
Business Records
If you’re wondering whether a particular record is a business record, ask yourself the following questions:
Does the record document the delivery of a program or service?
Is this a record of why or how a decision or action was taken?
Does the record involve financial and/or legal matters?
Does the record have policy, program and/or procedure implications?
Could this record have historical value?
If you answered, “yes” to any of the above questions, then you should consider your record a business one and maintain it according to the corporate records retention schedule.
Examples of business records:
All final briefings, reports, studies, surveys, and similarly received or collected material.
All letters and memoranda that meet the criteria described above, including electronic messages and /or documents for which no paper copies have been produced.
All substantive versions of a document, when they clearly demonstrate the document’s evolution, the decision-making process, or the development of policy and legislation.
Copies of documents that have already been sent to the official departmental file, if the documents contain substantive annotations.
Managing Your Records
1. Be informed: identify business records.
A record means “…any documentary material, regardless of medium or form.” The term is interpreted very broadly and includes paper files, electronic files, e-mail messages. It can also refer to notes, plans, maps, drawings, diagrams, pictorials or graphic work, photographs, film, microform, sound recordings, videotapes, machine-readable record, and any other documentary material.
For more information on the difference between business records and transitory records, see the Tip Sheet on Business and transitory records.
2. Be aware: identify transitory records, non-business and personal information.
Transitory records are usually made up of working copies of documents, handwritten notes, FYI emails, telephone messages, etc. Much of this information does not need to be retained after it has served its usefulness to you. If you decide to keep transitory information, including non-business and personal records saved on the Corporation’s servers, remember that it must be submitted to the ATIP Office if it is relevant to an access request.
3. Be proactive: create records with the expectation that they may be disclosed.
Stick to the facts; leave out unnecessary information. Record only the information that is needed to accomplish a task or meet a business requirement. Don’t assume that, just because an exemption or exclusion could apply, that one will be applied to your record.
Keep in mind that most email messages on CBC/Radio-Canada servers are corporate records; keep them brief and maintain a business tone. Email messages that contain actions or decisions should be retained with ATI in mind; they should be easily accessible if required.
4. Be objective: keep your records factual and objective.
Keep minutes and other formal records of proceedings factual. Record the decisions taken and tasks resulting from deliberations. Avoid unnecessary detail. State your views, comments and opinions as objectively as possible. Keep in mind that an individual can make a request to access their personal information, which can include the views or opinions of another person about the individual.
Last year, Chin became the nominee for the Liberal party’s run in a provincial by-election. Chin lost the election and now campaigns for the party.
“It was just before one in the afternoon, Eastern Time, on Sept. 5, 1997, that the CBC’s online news service (then Newsworld Online, barely a year old) really realized the big difference between broadcasting broadcasting — where the signal goes out to the world — and online news, where the world comes to you,” remembers Robin Rowland of CBC.ca News.
Despite widespread media and critical acclaim (not to mention strong viewership numbers), Little Mosque on the Prairie will not win a Gemini for Best Comedy this year. In fact, it’s not even in the running. (The show was, though, nominated in the comedy writing and directing categories.)
CBC Northbeat anchor Carol Morin is running for office. She will campaign in the 
CBC is getting closer to providing live digital TV and digital radio broadcasts to cell phones.
Former CBC broadcaster and executive John O’Mara, 63, passed away Sunday in hospital in St. John’s after a brief illness.
A reputed Ku Klux Klansman was sentenced Friday to three life terms for his role in the 1964 race slayings of two African-American teenagers in Mississippi, in a cold case that was resurrected by a CBC filmmaker and one of the victim’s brothers.
I don’t think most people realize how seriously CBC Radio takes its commitment to Canadian content. We monitor and log all the music we play to make sure that we’re achieving the right level. In Vancouver (and probably other plants), CDs in the music library have little orange stickers to indicate if it qualifies as can-con.
Music: The music is composed entirely by a Canadian
Ben Whitney was pretty excited when he found a photo he took at the SPP summit show up on the cbc.ca web site.
On September 1, CBC/Radio-Canada will be subject to federal legislation that provides a right of access to all records held by the Corporation.
