Bell Media had an eventful 2022. With less than two weeks of the year remaining, the company continues to make news headlines. Here’s a summary of some recent news stories you don’t want to miss.
Fallout from Lisa LaFlamme’s departure
Bell announced this week that they have reassigned Michae Melling, the man who fired former CTV national news anchor Lisa LaFlamme. Some of the language used in news reports would suggest that Melling was being punished. CBC News used wording like “Michael Melling out as head of CTV News” and “permanently replaced.”
It makes sense why Bell would want to create the impression that Melling was punished, given how upset the public was about the way LaFlamme was let go. But, the Toronto Sun’s Brian Lilley wisely pointed out that Melling was actually given a promotion, not a punishment.
In Brian’s words, “Much of the coverage of the announcement by Bell has portrayed the news as Michael Melling being shuffled out of the top job at Bell Media. While that’s true — Melling has been replaced by one of my former bosses, Richard Gray — he’s been named Vice-President Shared Services for all of Bell Canada. That’s a bigger job inside the overall company than running Bell Media, even if it isn’t as high profile.”
I’d highly recommend reading the entire article in the Toronto Sun, as Brian also summarizes the results of an internal investigation done at CTV News after LaFlamme’s exit: “The now completed internal review found that CTV National has a ‘culture where people are sometimes afraid to raise concerns for fear of reprisal or inaction.’ The review also found that there is a ‘need for greater civility and respect in the newsroom.’”
Will Bell Media be sold off?
Last week, The Globe and Mail published an interesting op-ed by Dvai Ghose that argued Bell Media’s parent corporation (BCE, Inc.) should sell Bell Media because it “has proven to be a distraction, as evidenced by the recent Lisa LaFlamme controversy.”
Ghose offers the following rationale for selling Bell Media: “Given the lack of obvious strategic responses, selling its media division should be an obvious focus for Bell Canada.” He goes on to say that “globally, legacy media asset valuations have declined significantly owing to disruption from streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube” and “conventional media in Canada operates in a tough regulatory environment.”
International news coverage
You might also find it interesting that an American news outlet, Newsmax, recently covered Bell Media’s labour practices. The story, published last month, is titled “Black Conservative Radio Host Fired for Violating Diversity Policy.”
This is just the latest instance of American news coverage, as Bell Media’s labour practices were covered earlier this year by CNN, The Guardian, Megyn Kelly Show, The Blaze, The Daily Wire and the New York Times.
Among many other problems, corporations like Bell are simply too big, control too much media and inhibit diversity of thought. Remember when there actually was a difference between City TV, CTV and CBC? Bell and Rogers should never have been allowed to gobble up their competitors imho.