This was announced to employees of the Crown corporation’s Ottawa office last Thursday, and confirmed by branch manager Mathieu Nadon on Friday evening, and regional director Yvan Cloutier on Saturday.
The end-of-day newscast, hosted by Mathieu Nadon on weekdays, will therefore be extended to 30 minutes instead of the hour it was until last week. As for the weekend, until further notice, Daniel Bouchard remains at the helm of TV news Saturdays and Sundays.
Mr. Nadon will be on air for the next half-hour in a format yet to be determined, but which will apply essentially to national news and broadcast in the country’s French-speaking markets, except Montreal, Quebec and Moncton.
These three stations will keep their one-hour format, which makes the federal capital a “secondary” market for regional information.
“Starting September 9, I will have the pleasure and privilege of hosting the Ottawa-Gatineau TV News Monday to Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., so I will be one more day with you, he wrote on his social network. […] in a renewed format, Radio-Canada will continue to offer a complete 60-minute news bulletin, with reports, interviews and panels (sic). The difference will be in the distribution of content. At 6 p.m., the first part of the TJ will be almost exclusively local and regional. And from 6:30 p.m., we open our coverage more widely in order to interest French speakers across the country by going more in-depth on topics of regional, national and international interest [sic].»
Despite the enthusiasm of the anchor who claims to stay the course on a one-hour bulletin, the fact remains that local information finds itself in a deficit.
Yvan Cloutier, regional director at Radio-Canada Ottawa-Gatineau, does not see it that way, however.
He says the same attention will be given to local news as before, in a one-hour bulletin.
“The big difference lies in the choice and importance of the news presented in the regional block,” he explains to me. If there is a major national or international headline, we will talk about it in the first block, but it is quite possible that we will develop the news more in the last half hour. This is how we will decline this offer of information. We will produce a TV news for all nine French-speaking markets in the country, with the exception of Montreal, Quebec and the Maritimes, which will keep their one-hour bulletin.”
“There is a clear lack of understanding towards our TV news while our content has always been local of course, but also national and international, he adds. In the second half hour of the new format, we want to bring together national, international, but also interregional content. We want it to be relevant for all the regions we will serve.”
Director of French Services at Radio-Canada in Ottawa-Gatineau, Yvan Cloutier. (Courtesy Radio-Canada (archives))
Lack of resources
Not wanting to be satisfied with the boss’s “encouraging” speech, I consulted certain internal sources who, unsurprisingly, requested anonymity. And what I learned does not reassure me. The atmosphere at the Ottawa station is not very healthy, according to these sources.
There is talk of widespread dissatisfaction and professional burnout, while the number of sick days has exploded over the past year.
This situation is mainly due to lack of staff.
“Yes, there is a significant shortage of staff,” they told me.
Mr. Cloutier refutes her allegations, mentioning that in his opinion, the atmosphere is good.
“I find the atmosphere positive,” he adds. I heard a lot of applause when we announced the new format of the TV news. I find that people are mobilized around our projects, particularly digitally.”
It must be said that the Société Radio-Canada is a bit of a prisoner of its mandate. The newsroom is called upon to produce reports or other content for all their platforms, namely radio, television and the Web, which seems to put a lot of pressure on the teams in place.
We also see that youth and inexperience dominate in this newsroom. Journalists just out of journalism schools are sent into the field quite quickly, a little too quickly for my taste. Despite all the good will of these young guns, their inexperience can lead to failures in the substance and form of the reports. More experienced colleagues must then review the work of recruits more closely, which at the same time increases the workload.
Don’t get me wrong, I applaud Radio-Canada’s efforts to be more diverse and open. But to have a good newsroom, you need a happy mix of experience and youth.
Despite the departure of several veterans in the newsroom, this does not seem to worry the big boss of the Ottawa station. (Simon Séguin-Bertrand/Le Droit)
Wave of departures
For some time now, we have been witnessing what looks like a wave of departures.
In addition to the loss of a few veterans like Nathalie Tremblay and soon Kevin Sweet, I was told that there will be others. I learned that Rosalie Sinclair and Nicolas Pelletier would be leaving the Queen Street station in the coming weeks, or even the next few days.
If this situation does not seem to shake the columns of the Canadian radio temple too much, we must nevertheless admit that it is the symptom of a latent crisis in the newsroom of this regional station of the state-owned company.
“That doesn’t worry me,” admits the regional director. Staff turnover is no greater now than before. Everyone has their own reasons for leaving, but we continue to receive good applications, we are in development. That said, I cannot deny that we have people on sick leave, but these are not higher figures than in previous years.
Let’s still give the runner the chance to prove himself. We will see at the start of the school year whether the chosen formula will meet the information expectations of the country’s French-speaking populations. And especially if the crisis of confidence within the team tends to resolve.
