Bell's handling of LaFlamme a case study in what not to do
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Publishing date:Aug 19, 2022 • 15 hours ago • 3 minute read • 26 Comments
I guess in reality, there’s no good way to fire the most high-profile television news anchor in the country. That said, Bell Media’s handling of their decision to part ways with Lisa LaFlamme could one day be a study in how not to manage a hot public relations file.
Their latest attempt at damage control is to announce four days after the news broke that they take issues of discrimination seriously and will launch an “independent third-party internal workplace review.”
After the way Bell has handled this issue all week, this promise of an internal review has all the authenticity of a celebrity checking into rehab after behaving badly.
Most of us found out that LaFlamme was gone from CTV after 35 years, including more than 10 as a national news anchor, from a video she posted on social media. Since then, Bell, a communications company, has seemed one step behind the story at every turn.
They issued a hastily put together news release announcing that, “Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor Lisa LaFlamme is departing the network.” There was a brief mention of “changing viewer habits” but little in the way of explanation.
LaFlamme’s departure puzzling
To the outside world, LaFlamme was on top of her game, her ratings were the best in the business, and this sudden parting of ways made no sense. In the wake of an actual explanation, people drew their own conclusions including that this was due to LaFlamme’s age and that she is a woman.
The ageism, sexism claims – however dubious, it’s a complex affair – were aided and abetted by Bell Media’s decision to announce Omar Sachedina as the new national anchor that same Monday afternoon. Sachedina wasn’t even in the country, he was on vacation in California.
He was told by Michael Melling, the new vice-president of news at Bell, to get to a studio in San Francisco to conduct interviews with local CTV stations across the country.
There have been claims, since Monday, that Melling has been interfering in news coverage, the implication being that he should have no say in the product. That’s an odd position for anyone to take given that his title is vice-president of news, he’s responsible for the division and everyone ultimately reports to him.
That said, those early stilted interviews between Sachidena and local anchors took place under strange conditions including strict instructions on what everyone involved could say. Sources have confirmed that anchors conducting those interviews were given questions to ask and strict instructions while Sachedina himself was given a set of scripted answers he was required to read.
Staff left angry after townhall
On Thursday, Bell held a tele-townhall for staff to explain their position and answer questions. The event didn’t go well with several participants saying there was more anger after than before, that many questions were ignored or left unanswered and that the event ended abruptly after 30 minutes when staff had been told it would be an hour.
Bell has not responded to direct or indirect attempts to obtain comment on how this whole affair went down but did acknowledge on Friday that they’ve handled it badly. LaFlamme responded to a request for comment simply saying the video she released stands and she won’t have anything further to say.
Her confidants though have denied allegations that she was part of a toxic work environment or that any such claims had anything to do with her dismissal.
What is fascinating is that with her single video, now seen by more than 4.4 million people, LaFlamme is winning the PR war. While some try to dismiss this story as not being real news or relevant to people’s lives, Canadians are saying otherwise.
The LaFlamme story, in one form or another, has been the number one story all week on the Sun website. The public cares about this story and many want to know what happened to the woman who came into their living room every night for the last 11 years and why she isn’t there anymore.
I’ve published some of the details, to the best of my knowledge, but we may never know the full story. What we can say for sure though is that Bell wishes they had a do-over for the events of the past week.
One of the country's biggest communications companies ended up losing the PR war when they fired one of their biggest stars.
torontosun.com
Mind you i suppose that's always the way it's been.
