ROTHENBURGER – Lisa LaFlamme, the media and drawing our own conclusions

MOST EVENINGS for the past several years, our TV set has been tuned to the CTV National News with Lisa LaFlamme (but not before the local news, of course).

LaFlamme is, or was, head and shoulders above any of the anchors CBC could put in front of a camera for The National. Proudly wearing her Order of Canada pin night after night, she smoothly and engagingly introduced story after story, concluding with an “Alright, Genevieve Beauchemin (or whichever other reporter it happened to be) in Ottawa (or some other city) tonight.”

But, LaFlamme is gone, fired because of, according to CTV, “changing viewer habits.” I didn’t change mine so I don’t know who they’re talking about. Besides, LaFlamme’s viewership numbers easily outpaced competing networks.

So, if it’s not changing viewer habits, what’s the real reason she got the heave ho?

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Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.