CTV News Lisa LaFlamme has been let go

[CliffFletcher]

She was likely laid off as a cost-cutting measure, as thousands of other Canadian journalist have been in recent years. And lay-offs are always sudden and unexpected to the person getting laid off. You get a letter and told to clear out your desk in 15 minutes.

It may seem strange for a prominent on-air personality to receive the standard treatment, but I’m not sure how else Bell should have handled it. They couldn’t exactly have given her a warning a month ago that she might be a victim of budget cuts, but hang tough until they’re sure that’s the way they want to go.

[Slava]

I wonder what kind of ratings the news gets these days? Are there a lot of people not happy about the way this was handed who also haven't seen her do the news in years?

[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

She's a woman in her 50's, working in television. There's no mystery here.

I wonder if Dawna Friesen and Adrienne Arsenault are nervous right now.

[Zarley]

I always thought Sandie Rinaldo got screwed by not getting the main job after Lloyd Robertson left. She worked weekends and holidays for all those years for nothing!

I also don’t know anyone under 50 who watches the TV news anymore.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Zarley

I always thought Sandie Rinaldo got screwed by not getting the main job after Lloyd Robertson left. She worked weekends and holidays for all those years for nothing!

I also don’t know anyone under 50 who watches the TV news anymore.

I do when it's just the news and not the other 46 minutes of opinions and water-skiing squirrels.

Just report the damned news unbiased.

[Mull]

CTV apologizes for firing 58-year-old Lisa LaFlamme: “She should’ve been fired when she turned 50”

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2022/08...she-turned-50/

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Zarley

I always thought Sandie Rinaldo got screwed by not getting the main job after Lloyd Robertson left. She worked weekends and holidays for all those years for nothing!

I also don’t know anyone under 50 who watches the TV news anymore.

I do!! I watch Global National and then Global BC. Usually end up switching away from Global BC after about 30 minutes when the stories are no longer that interesting to me

[Northendzone]

Seems to me that CTV botched this horribly. Once the decision was made, let her have a swan song. She was their nightly face for 35 years.

Wonder how much the new guy gets paid.

[SebC]

LaFlamme is out.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

She was likely laid off as a cost-cutting measure, as thousands of other Canadian journalist have been in recent years. And lay-offs are always sudden and unexpected to the person getting laid off. You get a letter and told to clear out your desk in 15 minutes.

It may seem strange for a prominent on-air personality to receive the standard treatment, but I’m not sure how else Bell should have handled it. They couldn’t exactly have given her a warning a month ago that she might be a victim of budget cuts, but hang tough until they’re sure that’s the way they want to go.

Why not?

[activeStick]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1559251523493928962

[Dion]

Previous anchors before Lisa were given a grace period before they left. Makes me wonder if there's more to the story.

[Mightyfire89]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

She was likely laid off as a cost-cutting measure, as thousands of other Canadian journalist have been in recent years. And lay-offs are always sudden and unexpected to the person getting laid off. You get a letter and told to clear out your desk in 15 minutes.

It may seem strange for a prominent on-air personality to receive the standard treatment, but I’m not sure how else Bell should have handled it. They couldn’t exactly have given her a warning a month ago that she might be a victim of budget cuts, but hang tough until they’re sure that’s the way they want to go.

Ummm, except that’s exactly what happened, as per her video posted on twitter. She was informed in June that this was going to happen, but for I assume legal reasons, she wasn’t able to acknowledge it until now.

[bluejays]

I can't speculate, and truly feel sorry for anyone being let go, but when a person makes a buttload of money, and gets a severance package that is fair (or in this case, probably more than fair as it was resolved so quickly), I don't care too much. I only see her when I'm over at my parents' place so there's little outrage from me. Bell being Bell. Are there any news anchors who are untouchable right now? And what's so grand about being an anchor when they sit and read from the teleprompter?

[CliffFletcher]

Nvm

[Regulator75]

People still watch news? I have never heard of this person until today...

[curves2000]

Well it sounds like this was communicated to her in June that her contract would be cut and that she would be replaced. She describes this as blindsided and this seems like there is more to this story.

If this was indeed a financial and business decision, I would suspect this would not have taken 6+ weeks to sort out. She would have been given the end of her contract plus her severance which would have been agreed to fairly quickly.

The level of suddenness to this is a little strange unless something more happened. Nothing wrong with cutting costs and staff, that is something that happens all the time. Giving a long time employee and someone who is an award winning journalist and the actual face of the network no time to say goodbye? She's a professional and would have finished her time there.

This has more of a Don Cherry, Wendy Mesley etc level of removal as opposed to cutting cost. Keeping her in the chair a few more weeks/months is not a materially important operating expense for a massive company like Bell.

I assume more will come out in the next few days. I liked her, loved Lloyd and really like Omar. I am in my 30's and still watch a lot of news on TV.

[Wormius]

From a Canadaland article with some possible background and animosity between LaFlamme and Bell exec Michael Melling

https://www.canadaland.com/bell-exec...ays-colleague/

In a press release, Bell called it a “business decision.”

If there is a business case to be made for firing the anchor of Canada’s top-rated newscast, Melling has allegedly kept it to himself.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Wormius

From a Canadaland article with some possible background and animosity between LaFlamme and Bell exec Michael Melling

https://www.canadaland.com/bell-exec...ays-colleague/

Sounds like your typical corporate company man. Every organization should rid their companies of these types of egos. You see it everywhere.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by fleury

I can't speculate, and truly feel sorry for anyone being let go, but when a person makes a buttload of money, and gets a severance package that is fair (or in this case, probably more than fair as it was resolved so quickly), I don't care too much. I only see her when I'm over at my parents' place so there's little outrage from me. Bell being Bell. Are there any news anchors who are untouchable right now? And what's so grand about being an anchor when they sit and read from the teleprompter?

The last sentence is bang on. I did laugh when people were calling her a journalist yesterday. It was the same with Lloyd Robertson. They're reading the news but they're not out doing stories or investigating things.