Jennifer McGuire, Fred Mattocks, Doug Broadfoot depart
TORONTO – The CBC’s Barbara Williams, executive vice-president of English services, unveiled a sweeping new strategy for the public broadcaster in a note to staff on Thursday, accompanied by a company-wide town hall to announce and explain the changes.
A number of senior people have new roles, as you’ll read below, and three long-serving CBC veterans, general manager of local services Fred Mattocks, head of news Jennifer McGuire, and senior director, production services, media operations, Doug Broadfoot, are leaving.
“Today is an important day at CBC,” said Williams in her note to staff. “With your help, we are starting down a new path… What we are introducing today is a shift from a siloed traditional media operation to a truly audience-centric, content company.”
Williams wrote that CBC is primarily a content company – one with a public service mandate – but which has long operated “sometimes encumbered by silos.” There are TV teams, radio teams and digital teams within the CBC and while they do collaborate, it must be done far better, is the crux of Williams’ announcement. “We need to move to a more audience-centric approach where we are ultimately working together as one CBC. We’ve seen this shift in other traditional media companies,” she wrote.
Travelling during the past year to various CBC outposts, Williams saw the strong role CBC plays locally, but “also came to realize that we are doing journalism in three different spaces, with three groups and three structures and that they are not always as connected as they could be. We can work better together by bringing our journalism under one division. One CBC,” she said.
“The same is true for our content that exists primarily to entertain. Entertainment allows us to engage with audiences through emotion in narratives both scripted and unscripted, fictional or factual. Music, books, documentaries and podcasts are created to make us think and feel. And for many, sports is the ultimate emotional experience. They’re all about telling great stories with engaging characters and that’s what we do so well,” reads the email.
All that said, “we are proposing a new structure for the CBC to promote greater collaboration and creativity, improve the audience experience and operate more efficiently. A structure based on three pillars – Content, Audience and Business,” she wrote.
Content will be structured under journalistic content and entertainment content, which will be reflected by two new leadership positions – Susan Marjetti as the general manager of news, current affairs and local and Sally Catto as general manager of entertainment, factual and sports. Executive director of sports Chris Wilson remains and will work under Catto.
Audience, “is all about understanding our audience. Who they are, where they are, what they engage with, when and how,” said Williams in her note. “It means scheduling the content so that it is best available where audiences expect it. And then talking to that audience to help them discover the best of what we have to offer. The work of marketing and communications under Bonnie Brownlee, which will now include scheduling, coupled with Richard Kanee’s new digital strategy and products group will enable us to do just that.”
When it comes to the business pillar, Shannon Carvell oversees finance, strategy and administration which now includes Lisa Clarkson and her business and rights team. Donald Lizotte leads media solutions.
Soo Kim has been given a new senior transformation role, with a team which will manage all the impending change. Working with Kim will be the engagement and inclusion group led by Nicky Davis as well as Monica Parenti’s people and culture team, reads Williams email.
“We are doing journalism in three different spaces, with three groups and three structures and that they are not always as connected as they could be.” – Barbara Williams, CBC
Media operations will also be decentralized, “integrating its component functions into the most logically relevant departments: Digital products will go to the expanded digital strategy and products portfolio; news production and radio operations moves over to Susan’s team; TV production and resources along with our production facilities business including the Glenn Gould operations will migrate to Sally’s division.”
Public affairs will be a part of Williams’ office under Chuck Thompson who will be her new chief of staff while Cristina Tonner moves to the entertainment division as Catto’s chief of staff.
As for two of the big names leaving, Williams was very complimentary. “Jennifer McGuire is one of this country’s preeminent journalists, she has had a profound impact on CBC News and paved the way for so many young journalists along the way. And for nearly 40 years, there has been no greater champion for the regions than Fred Mattocks. Simply stated, Fred made a difference wherever he was and gave voice to those who weren’t at the table. I can’t possibly do justice to their collective contributions in this note. Their leadership, passion and unwavering commitment to the public broadcaster, and service to Canadians, has been nothing short of exemplary,” she wrote.
McGuire also sent out her own note to staff, surprising many since her last day is today (February 28th). “It has been my privilege to serve as general manager and editor in chief of CBC News, which makes me, at this point, the longest-serving head of CBC News,” it reads.
McGuire came to the CBC as a student intern and worked her way up from radio to TV to CBC Newsworld, through sports, to helping create The Current. She was program director for CBC Radio, and was instrumental in helping create titles such as Q, The Debaters, and Vinyl Tap. She led the relaunch of CBC Radio 2, the rebrand and refocus of Newsworld to CBC News Network as well as The National’s recent overhaul.
“Every day in this job I remind myself the foundation of it all is quality journalism,” McGuire wrote. “It is now always easy, but we are the most powerful when we lead… I am extremely proud and humbled by the commitment and talent of the teams. Your work makes this country better.”
After Williams email and the company town-hall, Soo Kim sent out her own note to all staff letting everyone know they will find out soon how these changes will affect their jobs.
Her transformation unit “will be focused on working across teams and departments to transform CBC into a nimble, sustainable organization that can rapidly respond to change and create capacity to pursue our strategic goals. The changes announced today are a major shift in how we organize and think about our work at CBC,” wrote Kim in her email to staff.
Along with these changes, Doug Broadfoot, senior director, production services, media operations, will be retiring. “Doug has been instrumental in developing and leading the current structure of production services, and he has been such a great partner in helping think through where we’ve landed. I’ve learned so much from Doug over the years. His insights, remarkable institutional knowledge and collaborative approach were as appreciated as they were helpful,” wrote Kim.
