By Connie Thiessen
TORONTO — The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has appointed two new directors to its senior management team.
Natalie Clancy takes on the role of Director of public affairs and communications, while Linda Noelle Bush moves into the position of director of the Performers’ Rights Society and the ACTRA Recording Artists’ Collecting Society.
Clancy joins ACTRA from Unifor where she served as director of communications for the past five years. She previously spent more than 25 years…
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By Connie Thiessen
Michelle van Beusekom has been named the new president and CEO of British Columbia public broadcaster, Knowledge Network.
Van Beusekom has had a more than 25-year career in broadcasting and film production, including stints with the National Film Board (NFB) as Head of English Language Production, Executive Director of the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC), and as a senior advisor working behind-the-scenes of the launch of Inuktut language broadcaster, Uvagut TV. She’s also held management roles with Women’s Television Network and the CBC.
“After an extensive search, we are thrilled to have Michelle join the Knowledge family,” said Satwinder Bains, board char of the Knowledge Network Corporation, in…
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HALIFAX – Media company WildBrain has announced that its director of development in animation Todd Brian passed away on December 28 at 59 after a short illness.
“Hugely respected with great affection by all who knew him, particularly for his love of life and laughter as well as his outstanding creative talent, he will be greatly missed by his WildBrain family and the entertainment community of which he was such an integral part,” a WildBrain statement said.
“As a development executive, Todd’s deep creative instincts, production experience and collaborative spirit saw him nurture a slate of standout WildBrain projects which serve…
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OTTAWA — Former CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein was appointed last week to the Order of Canada, announced the Governor General of Canada.
He was recognized for “his distinguished and multifaceted career in law and federal public service,” which includes being the chair of the CRTC from 2007 to 2012.
He is listed on his LinkedIn page as an arbitrator for mediation firm JAMS.
A lawyer by training, von Finckenstein was a judge on the Federal Court from 2003 to 2007, commissioner of competition from 1997 to 2003, and before that assistant deputy attorney general in the Justice Department,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA — The Attorney General of Canada has told the Federal Court of Appeal that it intends to file an application for the court to hear its arguments against a decision by the CRTC forcing CBC/Radio-Canada to apologize for a program’s use of the slur, saying the regulator was not in its statutory right to do so.
Last month the public broadcaster appealed the June 29 decision, stating in arguments filed to the court that the CRTC had no jurisdiction under Section 3 of the Broadcasting Act and failed to take into consideration Charter values…
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GATINEAU – Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced today the reappointment of Michael Goldbloom as chairman of the public broadcaster’s board of directors.
Goldbloom’s second five-year term is effective March 29, 2023, five years to the day after he was first appointed by the Governor in Council.
“I am very happy to congratulate Michael Goldbloom on his reappointment as Chair of the CBC/Radio-Canada Board of Directors,” Rodriguez said in a release. “With his vast expertise and firm grasp of the ever-evolving broadcasting and digital environment, he will continue to guide the work of our national broadcaster’s Board of Directors and provide quality advice and…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The Senate transportation and communications committee pushed forth more amendments on the last leg of its clause-by-clause review of the Online Streaming Act, approving an age verification requirement for explicit material on the internet.
“Online undertakings shall implement methods such as age verification…to prevent children from accessing programs on the Internet that are devoted to depicting, for a sexual purpose, explicit sexual activity,” according to a committee-approved amendment this week.
Bill C-11 would give the CRTC the power to further regulate digital platforms, so platforms will be subject to scrutiny to implement those measures.
Other amendments adopted by…
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OTTAWA — The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund (the Fund) announced last week it will award $398,016 to three new projects, approved by its board of directors, that will advance the accessibility of Canadian broadcasting content.
“These three innovative projects represent the completion of the Fund’s eighth round of grants, with a total commitment of approximately $4.4M to date, to address gaps in broadcasting accessibility,” a press release explains.
The CBC is receiving $107,467 for a project designed to optimize closed captioning for children with disabilities. “This project aims to advance the current state of accessibility to…
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By Howard Law, former director of media locals for Unifor, who writes in mediapolicy.ca
The Australian finance minister’s overdue anniversary review of the groundbreaking News Media Bargaining Code (NMBC) gives Canadians some welcome pointers on how to think about, improve or critique our bill C-18, the “FaceGoogle” Online News Act.
The report does two things well, the first being an evaluation of how well the Australian legislation was implemented. The other is that finance minister (‘Treasurer’ in Oz lingo) Jim Chalmers unapologetically backs the code as an anti-oligopoly law and downplays using the code…
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By Connie Thiessen
Canadian Heritage Min. Pablo Rodriguez has announced a newly-reconstituted independent advisory committee that will recommend candidates to serve on the CBC/Radio-Canada Board of Directors.
In a statement issued late Wednesday, Rodriguez said the government is committed to ensuring that the process is “independent, merit-based and results in the recommendation of high-quality candidates” as some current board members near the end of their mandate.
The new non-partisan body is tasked with conducting a selection process for Governor in Council appointments and providing Rodriguez with recommendations “of highly qualified candidates that respect gender parity and truly reflect Canada’s diversity,” according to the Canadian Heritage release.
The members…
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