By Steve Faguy
OTTAWA – Despite a demand from the premier of Prince Edward Island to do so, the federal government has apparently chosen not to intervene to force the CBC to restore its local TV newscasts.
As Cartt.ca reported, on Wednesday, the CBC announced it would suspend local newscasts, except at CBC North, and instead rebroadcast CBC News Network on local stations. PEI Premier Dennis King demanded Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault intervene, saying “now is not the time to scale back.”
The Canadian Media Guild, representing most CBC employees, and lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, also demanded the decision be reversed.
On Thursday, the Department of Canadian Heritage released a statement saying “as a federal Crown corporation, CBC/Radio-Canada operates at arms-length from the government.” It did not answer directly whether Guilbeault would intervene, but an official within the department who did not want to be identified for some reason said Guilbeault spoke with CBC and “mentioned the importance of local news.”
Meanwhile, many local CBC stations decided to produce local newscasts anyway on Wednesday, publishing them online. Montreal, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Windsor put out 10- or 20-minute newscasts while other stations like Ottawa and Toronto had shorter recaps. CBC Saskatchewan even put out a local newscast in portrait mode for cellphone viewers.
What actually aired on CBC Television on Wednesday night was the 6 p.m. newscasts were replaced with whatever was on CBC News Network, which meant viewers in Quebec and Ontario got 10 minutes of a press conference in British Columbia, but there was a brief check-in with local anchors. The 11 p.m. newscasts were replaced with reruns of The National.
In both cases, the feed was supplemented with on-screen graphics showing local headlines, weather forecasts and traffic cameras.
