According to Reuters, Tony Burman isn’t wasting any time getting things done in his new role as managing director of Al Jazeera English. Negotiations are pushing forward with U.S.-based cable companies to bring the Arabic news channel to wider distribution. Al Jazeera is also augmenting its Internet presence, including refining its YouTube channel which brought it 21 million views in its first year of operation.

The story that Tony Burman had recently joined the Arab world’s leading news channel, Al-Jazeera, has provoked numerous commentaries. When asked to comment on his new role for this Star piece, Burman said

“Without sounding like a typically self-righteous Canadian, we tend to view things with a detachment that in journalism is a very valued asset. Canadians are viewed in a very favourable way that I must say I find flattering”.

The darker side of commentary has been very busy as well, including this piece in the National Post which stops a hair short of calling Burman and the CBC anti-Semitic, and this one in which the headline denotes that “the rest of them” should be gotten rid of as well. Probably all to be expected, given the demonization of Al-Jazeera in some media after 9/11.

George Stroumboulopoulos has people stopping him to shake his hand in many American states because of The Hour’s popularity due to widespread viewing on YouTube.

The Canadian Press reports that The Hour has been getting millions of hits on YouTube since the show started uploading segments last fall. The Hour is also one of the top video podcasts in Canada on iTunes. Strombo says that the show has a wide appeal since it fills a gap in late-night TV; unlike other late-night shows, it isn’t pure comedy.

Viewers as far afield as New Zealand and Australia are also members of the shows’ Facebook group.

The CBC has re-launched its YouTube Channel.

Even though full-length shows are available, for the most part, on the CBC web site, the YouTube channel ensures that those searching for things like the Rick Mercer Report end up getting the videos from the source, not from some reposting hack.

The new YouTube channel incorporates lots of functionality allowing users to personalize their content. Users can favorite videos, subscribe to shows and share videos with their friends.

It’s all part of our evil plan to take over the Internet. Mwahahaha! Actually, truth be told, we probably decided to re-launch when that last bastion of stodginess, the Royal Family, launched their own channel on YouTube. Can’t hold out much longer after seeing that exciting content going live.

CBC Television will be putting more videos online on its YouTube channel, and will even be adding some full-length programs to the mix. Plans call for some of the popular episodic entertainment shows as well as more documentaries.

In related news, the CRTC this morning released its report on Canadian broadcasting, which includes a New Media category. It found that 70% of Canadian households now subscribe to the Internet (60% of which have high-speed access), and 22% of Canadians have listened to radio online.

A whopping 58% of Canadians used a cellphone to access the Internet, and 23% own a MP3 player of some kind.

Who needs audition calls in malls when you’ve got YouTube?

CBC Television is turning to the popular video sharing site, owned by Google, to recruit young candidates for the upcoming season of Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister.

In fact, it’s the only way people can apply.

Last year’s show attracted close to a million viewers and the four finalists shared the stage with former Canadian prime ministers.

Random trivia: The show is based on a popular nationwide competition originated in 1995 by Frank Stronach, father of Liberal MP Belinda Stronach.

The YouTube site is at http://youtube.com/nextprimeminister

What do you think? Is using YouTube for audition submissions a good way to experiment with social media? Or does it discourage participation from those without a computer?