Please forward any comments or suggestions for the Web site to the
CAJ webmaster.
Last updated:
October, 2005
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Saturday, June 25, 2005 9:00 a.m.
Rideau Room, Aristocrat Suites/Hotel, Ottawa
Present: Murray Brewster
Charles Bury
Robert Cribb
John Dickins
Kerry Diotte
Jennifer Fowler
Ron Friesen
Saleem Khan (Chair)
Maria McClintock
Hugo Rodrigues
Paul Schneidereit
Mitch Prudhomme (Recording Secretary)
Regrets: Deborah Campbell, Robert Frank, Michelle MacAfee, James Risdon
Meeting was called to order by S. Khan at 9:00 a.m.
Agenda Approval - Additions -
Move item 14 – Advocacy to item 5 due to R. Cribb having to leave on Sunday morning.
New Business: CHUM newscasts to be discussed under new business.
Approval of past minutes -
In E.D’s report Canadian News Wire to read Canada NewsWire.
Motion to accept minutes. Moved: S. Khan. Seconded: C. Bury- APPROVED.
Task List -
J. Fowler questioned R. Cribb on court cases where CAJ intervened.
Still waiting for archived Code of Silence press releases for website.
Photo to be added to CAJ web site of M. MacAfee holding code of silence award.
R. Cribb will send information for web site to S. Khan re: Code of Silence Award
S. Khan is speaking to a pro-bono lawyer- this item on task list ongoing
J. Dickins spoke with Peter McNelly of CTV on the phone and conversation did not go into details, but J. Dickins did let him know CAJ would not be involved in CTV’s action.
Too late to pursue this issue. Remove from task list.
Email list of journalists in Canada, March 05 deadline past. Every board member to participate by sending email addresses to national office.
Election – Election of executive-
C. Bury chaired election of board members as CAJ Returning Officer. (Electronic voting being looked at for national elections.)
Paul Schneidereit nominated as President.
Nominated by: M. McClintock. Seconded: M. Brewster - acclaimed.
Saleem Khan nominated as Chair.
Nominated by: P. Schneidereit. Seconded: M. McClintock – acclaimed
Michelle MacAfee nominated as Vice President
Nominated by: M. McClintock. Seconded: J. Fowler – acclaimed
Jennifer Fowler nominated as Vice President
Nominated by: P. Schneidereit. Seconded: M. McClintock
Maria McClintock nominated as Treasurer.
Nominated by: J. Fowler. Seconded: P. Schneidereit - acclaimed
Charles Bury nominated as vice chair.
Nominated by R. Friesen. Seconded: M. Brewster – acclaimed
Committee Assignments -
M. MacAfee should be on membership committee and H. Rodrigues also; J. Fowler will email both them to join membership committee. All other standing committee assignments stayed as is.
President’s Report -
P. Schneidereit suggested CAJ should have position papers on issues that CAJ is regularly called to talk upon. Could add position papers to CAJ website. It was suggested that being pro-active a good idea and CAJ should not just react to everything. Firm list of position papers to be talked about at next meeting. Need to find people to write position papers. R. Cribb suggested it’s a big task preparing position papers.
P. Schneidereit would like to inform membership about idea of position papers and solicit help/input.
Topics suggested: Protection of sources, creeping advertising, foreign ownership, poor journalism. Don’t have to decide now. Board asked to email ideas to P. Schneidereit.
Discussed numbers for international journalism conference in Toronto of 700 to 800 people, possibly with 250 international journalists and the rest being Canadian journalists. These conferences have worked on a break-even basis in Europe. There have been two conferences in Denmark and one upcoming in Amsterdam. The IRE supports having this conference in Canada.
Proposal for CAJ super conference to include the international component. This would mean changing the CAJ conference to a 4-day conference instead of 3-day, with the usual workshops and panels, Canadian topics, investigative techniques, international topics. But it was made clear that this is a CAJ conference except it will have an international component. This does not replace any other CAJ conferences. After discussion it was decided that P. Schneidereit and J. Dickins as president and executive director should attend the international conference in Amsterdam at the end of September. CBC’s Sandra Bartlett and Susanne Reber also to be part of Canadian delegation at international conference. J. Dickins will speak with contact at Air Canada to see if it is possible to get airline tickets for the Global Investigative journalism conference in Amsterdam.
Moved that if finances allow, the president and executive director go to Amsterdam to bid for the CAJ to host the 2007 Investigative Journalism Global Conference. Moved by: J. Fowler. Seconded: H. Rodrigues. APPROVED
R. Friesen volunteered to be on organizing committee as did S. Khan. Westin hotel in Toronto to be considered for international conference as it was large enough for the 1998 Toronto conference.
Conference issues:
Conversations have taken place between P. Schneidereit and Rob Henderson (regional vice president of CNW Group) pertaining to the advertisement of CAJ events at the local level among other things. The CAJ would like to enhance the relationship with CNW and vice-versa.
Regional CNW Group offices have their own budgets. It would be a great membership boost if CAJ talks more with CNW Group at the local level to assist with chapter events in whatever way possible.
J. Fowler has passed a note to all chapter presidents advising of arrangement with CNW Group.
R. Friesen asked local CNW Group to work with local Winnipeg CAJ but was unaware of the arrangement and R. Friesen questioned this arrangement at the national level. It was thought at this time that some of the CNW Group regional representatives may not be aware of the arrangement yet.
Board went in-camera at 10:25 am
Board came out of camera at 11:05 am
Adjourned for break at 11:05 am
Meeting back in progress at 11:25 am
Executive Director’s Report -
HRDC funding for a summer student was approved, but was very late. CIDA fellowship has been tentatively approved for a two-year period.
Charitable status for the CAJ: CRA wanted to know more about workshop titles, educational component, and international development. CRA will be deciding charitable status; answer expected this summer.
J. Dickins questioned about an organization giving the CAJ $5000 and whether it would get taxes receipts if this charitable status is approved. The answer was that the CAJ could not give a charitable receipt, but the educational foundation would be able to grant a tax receipt. It was noted that the CAJEF is a separate organization from the CAJ even though there may be some overlap between directors. Administration would need to change if this goes through, i.e.: accounting, finance, organization, etc.
If the approval goes through, M. Brewster suggested another meeting or conference call about this issue. Board agreed but much can be done by email too. J. Fowler suggested the CAJ Educational Foundation have its own website. J. Dickins asked whether CAJ would need more staff if the CAJ EF’s charitable status is received. J. Dickins suggested that the human resources needs are unknown at this time but presumably there would be a greater need for part-time clerical assistance. However, no more details would be known until the foundation is truly under way and an assessment done at that time, especially after further discussion with the lawyers and accountant.
Meeting was adjourned for lunch at 12:00pm.
Meeting was called to order at 2:00pm.
Advocacy -
Some of the more recent press releases issued since the last board meeting were: Kerry Diotte and the Edmonton Police, the Halifax photographer taking photos of car accident scene, and renewal of call into Kazemi murder. P. Schneidereit and M. Brewster appeared before Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications in Halifax which was examining the current state of Canadian media industries; emerging trends and developments in these industries; the media's role, rights, and responsibilities in Canadian society; and current and appropriate future policies relating thereto. Transcripts for senate committee hearings should be on CAJ’s web site. Members were also sent a notifying email regarding transcripts and they should be on website so members can see what CAJ has been doing. Relative to FOI fee requests it appears that many provincial governments are charging expensive fees. Ontario has just doubled their fees.
Update on intervention in Aylmer Meat Packers case being heard in the Supreme Court: R. Cribb will have more information and a press release can be prepared and sent out in the first week of July.
Ken Peters case – Found guilty of contempt. John Norris is the lawyer on this case. R. Cribb said the CAJ will seek intervener status.
R. Cribb will also be talking to Juliette O’Neill after the board meeting. The Ottawa Citizen suing RCMP for invasion of privacy. Juliette still involved with the case.
The Excellence project:
Looking for partners. Possibility of housing The Excellence Project,
I.e. Ethical advice, tip sheets, server resources, mentorships, lots of similarities to the CAJ. Add links to CAJ web site to help out journalists/students.
Motion: R. Cribb moved that the CAJ board participate in the development of the Excellence Project. M. Brewster seconded the motion. APPROVED
CAJ would be interested in the web site and mentorship aspect of this project.
Budget Committee -
CAJ is in good financial state. Winnipeg conference doubled what CAJ’s expectations were. Spent $3500 and got $1000 back from MCNA for printing of conference program booklet. MCNA also paid registration for some members. Registration at Winnipeg was 205, budgeted for 200. $14,000 surplus was better than Vancouver or Toronto the year before.
Manitoba’s membership increased dramatically thanks to the Winnipeg conference.
Managed to save money on meal plans and on airfares. $4000 has been lost in the past due to uneaten meals despite people saying they would attend meals. J. Dickins will continue to be vigilant in this area. U.S. journalist speakers are a lot cheaper than Canadians are due to the cheaper airfares.
Writer’s symposiums in November expected to be on target for the year-end. Surplus for 2005 is expected to be on budgeted target, although may be lower depending on what the costs are for Amsterdam. Aiming for $11,000 surplus at Ottawa symposium.
Motion: Budget approval moved by: M. McClintock. Second by P. Schneidereit. - APPROVED
Discussion of list serve -
Moderators approve subscribers after they are identified.
If a subscriber is expelled from the list serve the board may make the decision whether the subscriber is allowed back – if the subscriber is a member of the CAJ they have appeal rights. If they are not members of the CAJ they do not have appeal rights.
Would also like to see one more moderator for the list serve.
R. Cribb spoke with Alan Bass who stands by the letter he wrote in the spring about the list-serv and his concerns. Alan Bass does not agree with list serve being members only. He felt it would make it too restrictive. The board felt it important to know what is going on with the list-serv and there needs to be good communications between CAJ board and the list moderators so that the list is responsive to the CAJ’s needs and the needs of the list subscribers.
The motion made by Fred Vallance-Jones at the 2005 AGM was brought up at the board meeting as to what do with the list-serv. Discussion ensued. J. Fowler tabulated some of the results from a survey sent out to members on their views of the list-serv and its direction:
Some ideas discussed were:
- Charge a fee of $10 per year for non-members.
- Having a second list serv.
- Second list serve only for members, original list serve left for non-members.
- Look into changing hosts.
First vote from survey received feedback from 81 people. 17 people did not know list serve exists. 18 people used to be members but left because too high volume/moderator dissatisfaction. 17 people said they felt the list serve should be for members only and 23 people said a creation of a second list serve would be needed/keep list open.
3 people said they joined the CAJ because of the list.
M. McClintock suggested if the board tries to have non-members pay a fee or have to become a CAJ member it might open a can of worms. It was determined that the list-serv is not a member-generating device but merely a service. Some felt that the CAJ should not bother with a second list serve.
R. Cribb suggested the CAJ must go to the members to ask more questions about the list serve. Also suggested having electronic votes on what members think of the ideas listed by the board.
C. Bury has consulted with members on previous occasions. Traffic on the list is low right now but quality is up. C. Bury also suggests it’s not right to charge money for the list serve when it has little cost to the CAJ.
M. Brewster also suggested the CAJ should do a mail out vote to the members to get their opinions, or put a vote on the CAJ web site with four options, set vote by August 31st.
Conference call with Alan Bass:
Since Alan Bass suspended 2 people from the list-serv, people are not abusing the medium. The same 2 people suspended were the ones affecting the quality of debate.
Bass would like to stay as moderator.
Bass suggested:
-Fuller reports should be added about what the board members do, maybe even a monthly report.
-The board should be joining in on more discussions on the list serve.
-Send a separate email for members to know about press releases.
-Be open to criticism, and respond with logic.
-Help people understand the way the board works.
-If a moderator should choose to be an advocate, they should relinquish their duties.
-The board needs to rely more on moderators.
-Press releases are just not enough; the board posting on the list serv about what the CAJ does would score more points.
-Let new subscribers post for 6 months and then let them make a choice if they would like to join in as a CAJ member.
-Controlling the number of posts per day.
-As for technology, the list serve technology is old and new technology needs to be explored. J. Fowler suggested the list should/will be better than it was before.
P. Schneidereit pointed out that as a member of the board he tries to answer as many legitimate questions as he can, but only has a limited amount of time to do so. Personal comments would not be responded to. P. Schneidereit monitors the list, as do other board members, and responds back as much as he can to the list, but the members can not expect the board to be able to respond to everything said. M. Brewster agreed the board should be more involved with the list serve.
Ethics committee feedback -
Ad-hoc ethics committee, made up of Jennifer Fowler, Paul Schneidereit, Murray Brewster, Nick Russell, Julien Sher, Deb Jones and Stephen Ward have completed their task. Report was finalized and presented in May at the CAJ’s AGM in Winnipeg. Moved: That the CAJ accepts the recommendation of the ad hoc committee on creation of an ethics advisory committee and formally approves the creation of such a body. CAJ members will be asked to nominate members of the advisory committee, who need not be CAJ members. Moved: M. Brewster. Seconded: C. Bury - Approved
M. Brewster to draft a press release about the advisory committee to be sent out to members and stating that nominations can be sent to CAJ office by end of August. Nominees to be approached after September.
Charles Bury assumed role of meeting Chair as S. Khan had to leave meeting.
Blogging:
Introduced by S. Khan because of concerns that bloggers can get into trouble with a foreign government or police. Clarification was sought on how the CAJ would act with regard to bloggers. According to Alan Bass, the issue of blogging, in itself is not much different than print journalism. Not all bloggers are journalists though. But those that are need legal protection. A number of questions were raised:
Will the CAJ provide protection for these people legally? I.e. giving bloggers the right to say “I am going by the CAJ’s rules about printing, and abiding by the CAJ’s statement of principles. Would the CAJ speak out on my behalf?” It was felt that it must be a journalism stand before the CAJ moved on the issue. Would the CAJ give memberships to bloggers? P. Schneidereit stated that there is no reason that bloggers acting as journalists can’t be considered for membership. It was agreed that there are a number of issues to consider with blogging and should be looked into by a committee as suggested by H. Rodrigues.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Sunday, June 26, 2005. 10:00 a.m.
Rm. 345 St. Patrick’s Bldg. Carleton University, Ottawa
Meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. S- Khan chairing
Discussion unfinished or arising from previous day –
M. McClintock’s report on the Ottawa NWS continued. Dates to be Nov 12-13, 2005 at the Westin hotel. Some speakers booked. Looking at beginning and ending keynote.
M. McClintock to email report to everyone on the board.
M. McClintock looking for speaker suggestions from the board, also any words of advice. Suggestions can be passed onto J. Dickins and also sent to M. McClintock’s Blackberry.
J. Fowler suggested repeating workshops and have sessions on column writing. Also need sessions for broadcast people. J. Fowler found people were having conflicts in attending two seminars at the same time.
CBC’s Bob Carty booked to do a radio reporting workshop. Lisa Laflamme was another suggestion as a keynote speaker. Jacqui Banaszynski was also a suggestion as she has been a hit every time she has been at a CAJ event. Other names for suggestions were Terry Pedwell and Rob Rousseau from CP. Paul Wells another consideration. Charlottetown was a good example of what these sessions should be about.
K. Diotte suggested getting journalists from the U.S. since there are a lot of broadcast people there. S. Khan suggested having different sessions in different rooms might not be possible with 10 speakers.
Conference: Halifax -Changing tides (theme)
M. Brewster suggested Bill O’Reilly from Fox News as a keynote. Unfortunately he charges for speaking engagements. The CAJ tried to get him for the Winnipeg conference with no luck.
Other suggestions for speakers at the Halifax conference would be John Roberts, (who attended the RTNDA conference), Dan Rather, Jeannie Becker, Lisa Laflamme, David Asper and some others. Names to be forwarded to P. Schneidereit or M. Brewster.
Workshop suggestions –
Journalism educators, investigative journalism, photography, stuck with a sucky story and how to deal with it and understanding budgets (provincial and federal)
Panel suggestions –
Journalists as working parents. R. Cribb and his wife Erin would be good examples. Also people who have been interviewed as families of friendly fire incidents (very successful in Toronto), managing a newsroom, Public opinion on journalists being rated like lawyers (why journalists are perceived this way), dealing with sources/developing sources, and media owners i.e. David Asper
Suggestions from the board -
Having journalists that have written books and having them for sale in one of the rooms.
Could have a local book store manning a table and selling some of the books may be a consideration. They would then be responsible for shipping and handling. At the last NWS where books were sold the cost of shipping unpurchased books back to publishers was costly, up to a few hundred dollars. This money comes out of the surplus on the books if there is any. However, the CAJ has recently been telling speakers they can bring their own books to sell and we would make a table available to them, but they are responsible for shipping and handling. The same arrangement could be made in Halifax, or a local book company could be asked to look after it.
Two or three tours available for purchase, one being a Navy tour. At the Winnipeg conference, aboriginal affairs sessions were well received. Good to have small local papers involved with conference. Example: French newspaper located near Saint-Anne’s University.
H. Rodrigues suggested the CAJ change the times for the AGM since limited flight schedules are not allowing people to attend. The suggestion was already tried at earlier conferences but the number of people coming to the AGM wasn’t any better as the AGM would be at a time when sessions are going on, which is why people are at the conference. The Halifax conference committee will consider the timing of the AGM although there are not many options open.
CAJ/IRE workshop
Problems with September therefore looking at October. Different crowd between NWS and IRE which means holding the two events within one month of each other should not be problematic. J. Dickins will get a hold of hotels to book this. J. Fowler will try to get a hold of someone in Windsor who knows Windsor hotels.
Comments about the Winnipeg conference –
Really good job overall. Internet hookups were terrible. Food was said to be very good during the lunch and dinner, hotel staff did an amazing job. No media was done on the keynote speakers, some of the delegates took notes but nothing published in any newspapers. Some delegates suggested that Amy Goodman was a bad idea, too left wing, too anti American. In fact, some delegates left because of these issues. She was very direct and a little brief. She left a too quickly after speaking at the conference. The board would have liked her to take some questions from other journalists. She did draw a huge group at this speaking, approximately 150 people. Another issue was Amy Goodman’s people in New York were very unreasonable. The CAJ unfortunately did not make much money off of her speaking but her travel to the conference was subsidized which made it affordable.
List serv discussion continued –
P. Schneidereit asked if the list should be closed or kept open. 23 votes from members want it open and 24 want it closed or have a second list added. 6% of people answered the vote out of 1400 members. P. Schneidereit suggested member’s feedback which was circulated to the board should be passed onto the moderators of the list without the member’s names being forwarded. Also, discussions should be moderated but moderators should withdraw from a discussion if it could compromise their moderating. Alan Bass should write to all moderators on how to handle members in certain cases.
J. Fowler added that the list is very valuable; a second list would be too much work. Some members don’t know the list exists. It was suggested that when members register online they should be asked if they want to be a part of the discussion list. Tighter moderation was felt to be a necessity and Alan Bass agreed. Alan Bass and others did suggest that the board members should be on the list more often and weighing in on some of the discussion. C. Bury stated that the status quo should be maintained and not to make changes if the board cannot decide on these issues.
Some felt that the survey sent out was not good enough and that further clarity is needed. The list could push new members away from the CAJ. As for the CAJ’s image, the list has not been a good tool for recruiting. It was felt by some that the list belongs to the members and their comments should form the basis of the decisions the CAJ makes about the list.
The members appreciate having the list forum for discussion. The board expressed approval at the job Alan Bass has been doing as head moderator.
Some suggested that the board should go back with more specific questions. There is free software that can be used and the costs should be looked into. A web based list-serv can also be looked into.
C. Bury agreed that since Alan Bass has come on board the moderators have been much tighter with the list. Since May 15th of 2005 the list is night and day compared to before. C. Bury did give the board some ideas on companies that provide web based list serves, one of the companies being Topica, and offered to look at other organizations who offer free services or even those who charge a small fee per year.
J. Dickins agreed that two lists are difficult to maintain and also, that a web based list serv would be better and more in keeping with the times. M. Brewster said the central issue is that the list is often the first contact point for the members. Upgrading the system to a web based list serve is a fantastic idea. One board member should be tasked between now and September to find companies who offer the service and to come up with a quick report on how it will benefit the list serv.
H. Rodrigues called for the vote on Fred Vallance-Jones’s motion at the AGM about the list-serv, and also recommended the moderators to come back to the board with more information about protocols and future technology.
M. McClintock moved the CAJ board supports and maintains the CAJ discussion serve as an open list.
Moved: M. McClintock. Seconded: M. Brewster. After some discussion M. McClintock withdrew the motion.
M. Brewster moved that the CAJ resolves to maintain the discussion forum as an open avenue for debate of issues related to journalism in Canada, it expresses confidence and gratitude to the moderators. The board further resolves to direct moderators to solicit and review suggestions, both practical and technical, on how to improve the quality of the service. A written report with their conclusions is to be delivered to the board no later than the September board meeting.
Moved: M. Brewster. Seconded: K. Diotte Passed.
Friendly amendment - Ask the moderators to look at the list in terms of improving it. Their conclusion to be given to CAJ board by September’s meeting.
Awards-
New on-line reporting award to be considered. Expression of interests from Dell computers for this award.
Judges of the CAR award suggested there should be some revisions to the judging criteria and will let the awards committee know what the revisions should be this summer. The $1,000 prize will be discussed this summer but J. Dickins indicated that the awards committee will probably recommend it remaining at $1,000 for the winning entry. The awards committee to be meeting this summer to discuss a number of issues to ensure everything is lined up for the next awards year.
Membership reports –
Board looked at membership numbers, where the numbers are up and where they are down.
The news CAJ newsletter, called The Wire, should go on the web site next week, 4 times a year it should be sent out. J. Dickins will get it added to the web site. Suggestions for future editions were sought. Policy paper discussions, excellence project, listing of the new executives, where various journalists have moved to.
J. Fowler and M. MacAfee want to do a student membership drive in the fall. A student at Ryerson University wants to help out. Something to be done in fall or winter. A contact will be made at each J-school across the country to increase student memberships. H. Rodrigues and J. Fowler will talk more about promoting student memberships.
There was some discussion of the bylaws pertaining to chapter operations and chapter events. J. Fowler will create a report on the applicable bylaws for chapters and distribute it to chapter presidents to make their job easier. i.e. Chapters in good standing: Bylaws should read that the chapter, to send a rep to the national board, must have 50+ members and have had 2 paid events. S. Khan to inform J. Fowler about chapter event fees. Nova Scotia chapter had one event in October where a fee was charged and one in March of 2005.
J. Fowler will be looking further into the chapters who seem to have some challenges.
Calgary is a little slow also; In New Brunswick a survey was done and was pretty successful. Only problem is the two major cities in this province are too far away from each other. More information will be provided on this province in the fall. Manitoba now has the third largest membership in the CAJ.
Chapter reports:
Greg Meckbach is the new treasurer of the Toronto chapter and Beth Raymer has just become the chapter president. Diodora Bocur has said there is not much activity in Montreal. J. Fowler to start work on a new chapter guide. H. Rodrigues said there should be a new chapter started in Southern Ontario. The membership committee should look into this.
J. Dickins queried as to why the National Capital chapter has lost so many members? J. Dickins says it’s because there are a number of people moving from Ottawa to other cities and also that the chapter has not been that active, nor has there been a national event in Ottawa in a while. A suggestion was made to put the membership stats on the web site to encourage the past members to join the CAJ once again and to let chapters know exactly where they are at.
J. Fowler suggested there should be consistency regarding the election process for the chapter presidents/executives and it needs to be understood by all and reflected in the bylaws. After much discussion C. Bury will revise the chapter bylaws and the election processes.
New business – CAJ Web site
There is a need for CAJ web site redesign and to make it even more user friendly. This should be looked into and agreed to by the board.
The costs of remodeling the web site would be $1500 if a student could do it. Over $5000 for a professional to do it according to S. Khan.
K. Diotte stated that it is not worth doing the web site for that price. K. Diotte knows some students who would be honored to do the web site for a small fee.
C. Bury suggested if the CAJ jazzes the web site up too much, the people who have slow Internet would get annoyed as the loading time would be horrendous. If we can get students to upgrade the web site, they could put that on their C.V. and it would be there for people to see. The student’s names can be put on the web site for advertisement. C. Bury will speak with Rob Washburn about this idea.
P. Schneidereit moved the board direct S. Khan to start the process of the CAJ web site re-design and report back in September on progress with the ultimate goal of having a re-design in place in 2006.
Moved: P. Schneidereit. Seconded: C. Bury. APPROVED
CHUM stations-
H. Rodrigues sent some emails June 23rd to the board. CHUM owns stations like The New RO, The New VR etc. The issue at question is CHUM decided to cancel newscasts at Noon on its stations. Should the CAJ say something about this, or just leave it be? The noon hour news casts have been pretty well watched. CHUM is doing this to enhance their morning and evening shows.
C. Bury asked if anyone watches lunch time news. C. Bury would like to see the numbers on how many people watch the noon hour newscasts.
P. Schneidereit said the CAJ does not get into labour/management issues and as such should not get involved in this. J. Fowler agreed. The question still remaining was how many viewers are affected by this? What’s the end result for journalism?
K. Diotte suggested there should be a local survey done. Emphasis can not be on job losses.
H. Rodrigues will pursue this issue and get all the information and keep the board updated on what the numbers are.
Meeting adjourned at 1:45 p.m.
Moved adjournment by: R. Friesen. Seconded by: P. Schneidereit.