CTV co-anchor, CFRA staff laid off in Bell Media job cuts
Chris Cobb, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: November 17, 2015 | Last Updated: November 17, 2015 4:54 PM EST
Longtime CTV News Ottawa co-anchor Carol Anne Meehan was one of a number of casualties Tuesday in a swath of job cuts at the local CTV station, as well as radio station CFRA, both owned by Bell Media.
Meehan confirmed her departure in an interview with the Citizen but refused further comment.
“I am in shock,” she said. “I don’t want to say any more than that. It’s a tough day.”
Meehan’s colleague, Olympic gold medal winner-turned-sports reporter Carolyn Waldo also lost her job.
It isn’t yet clear whether Meehan will be replaced or whether the evening newscast will continue with Graham Richardson as sole anchor.
Meehan was hired in 1989 by the station, followed by Waldo a year later.
CTV Ottawa now has three full-time and three part-time reporters left and one of the full-time reporters is currently on maternity leave.
Among other casualties were CFRA on-air staffers, Lunch Bunch host Rick Gibbons and traffic and weather reporter Shelley McLean, plus many behind-the-scenes staff at both stations including engineers, producers and several sales people.
Their departures the Monday retirement of veteran morning show host Steve Madely who told the Citizen that his departure was pre-planned and voluntary.
Ottawa Newspaper Guild president Debbie Cole – whose union represents CTV reporters, as well as both Meehan and Waldo – said the two women were the “face” of the six o’clock news.
“We are shocked and disappointed,’ she said. “These are two women who people in Ottawa have been looking to for decades for their news and sports. I don’t think this is going to help their image as a news leader in the city. It is a very shortsighted decision.”
Both women have three days to consider their options, said Cole, and under a seniority clause in the union-management contract have an option to take lesser roles at the station – a move that would mean two shorter serving employees losing their jobs.
“These are hard decisions for them to make,” added Cole.
News of the layoffs sparked an outpouring from Citizen readers who by late afternoon had left 270 comments on the newspaper’s Facebook page and dozens more under the story on its website (
www.ottawacitizen.com)
The comments were overwhelmingly supportive of Meehan.
“Wow I am in shock also she has been in our family home every night since my son has been born well I myself am done watching the news on this network wow what a slap in her face!!”
“After Max, Carol Anne is exactly why we watch the 6pm news. She is an absolute pleasure to listen to. Quite a slap in the face for your viewers CTV. Sad day all around. More money for someone’s pockets.”
“Nooooo, say it ain’t so…..when will media bosses realize that having reporters who KNOW THEIR COMMUNITIES really matters? I guess we have to tell them with our pocket books. Meehan is definitely a person who knows the place she covers!”
“Carol Anne is part of our family. Send your thoughts to CTV… let them know.”
“I’ve got to let you know. BEll Media – I won’t be watching CTV news as a direct result of you letting Carole Anne go. She was a great anchor!!!! I’ll be watching CBC.”
Tuesday’s layoffs in Ottawa follow hundreds of job cuts at stations in Toronto and Montreal. Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke earlier this month said cuts would be made on a “building-by-building” basis to help the company continue to “lead.”
Bell Media spokesman Matthew Garrow echoed Turcke’s rationale for the layoffs.
“While it is very difficult to part ways with valued colleagues,” he said, “the changes are an essential step in ensuring that Bell Media’s cost structure reflect the realities of revenue performance in media and broadcasting, and that we remain leaders in a fast-changing industry.”
Bell Media, a division of Bell Canada Enterprises, made an “adjusted” profit of $183 million last year.
Meehan spent much of her career at CJOH – later re-branded as CTV Ottawa – as co-anchor of the evening news with the late Max Keeping.
When Meehan’s husband Greg Etue committed suicide in 2012, viewers reacted with an outpouring of sympathy for her and her two children, a signal of the connection the newscaster has with the community.
Shortly before returning to work after his death, she said:
“What has helped us so much is the love and support that we have received, not just from our family and my friends and colleagues and my bosses here at work, but from all of you who sent cards and letters or simply gave me a hug when you encountered me out in public.
“I just don’t have the words to thank you all enough.”
Bell Media refused to say exactly how many Ottawa jobs it had axed Tuesday but according to various sources, it is about 20.
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http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ctv-co-anchor-cfra-staff-laid-off-in-bell-media-job-cuts
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