MONTREAL – Bell Media announced Wednesday Jean-Philippe Pineault has been hired in the newly created role of general manager, news and information, for its newly acquired V TV stations, effective July 27.
Most recently, he was news director at Cogeco Media, where he oversaw that company’s news talk radio stations. Prior to that he held management positions at The Canadian Press and TC Media. He began his career as a journalist working at a number of French-language publications at Gesca and the Journal de Montréal, says the Bell release.
Pineault will report to Suzane Landry, vice-president, French-language content development and programming, and will be responsible for “establishing and leading operations and strategic vision for the new V newsroom as well as its ongoing newsgathering strategy,” says the release.
The prior owners of V did not have a strong news presence and Bell Media promised to rebuild the stations’ news organizations when it announced the acquisition. Pineault will be responsible for the development of V’s news team “and defining its content offering and digital strategy to effectively reach audiences across all platforms across Québec.”
V will launch its revamped news programming in 2021.
“The relaunch of a newsroom is a rare occurrence and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to provide Quebecers with news and information from a distinctive and credible new voice in the province,” said Pineault, in the release. “At V we are looking forward to contributing as a major player in Québec’s television and digital news landscape.”
“We’re thrilled to have Jean-Philippe on board and his arrival marks an important step in our plan to bolster our newsgathering efforts in Québec,” said Landry, in the release.
