From CBC.ca:

The CBC announced on Thursday plans to integrate its English-language services under one executive, its current English television vice-president, Richard Stursberg.

The public broadcaster's board of directors have approved a proposal by CBC president Robert Rabinovitch to integrate the English-language side of the CBC.

Stursberg will assume the newly created role of executive vice-president, English services.

Each of CBC's media streams -- online, television and radio -- will continue to move forward on their specific paths and "there is no plan whatsoever for any reduction in staff," Stursberg told CBCNews.ca Arts.

"What this is about is actually finding ways of taking the content … and making sure that it is more broadly available across all platforms as they develop."

Addendum

Here's today's Globe and Mail story.

Dan Henry, CBC's senior legal counsel, has blogged about the Cusson v. Ottawa Citizen et al decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Justice Sharpe said he was steering a middle course between the restrictive traditional Canadian common law of defamation and the alternative U.S. approach.

In the U.S., if a media organization publishes information about a public official or public figure, it can succeed in its defence even if the information turns out to be defamatory and untrue, unless the person suing proves that the journalists proceeded with “actual malice”: i.e. they knew, or ought to have known, that what they were publishing was false. There is no requirement there to have been “responsible” or “fair”, in the eyes of a judge or jury.

Under our new defence, if a media organization publishes information on any matter of public interest, it can succeed even if the information turns out to be defamatory and untrue, if it can convince the court, on a balance of probabilities, that the steps it took in gathering and publishing were “responsible and fair.”

From The Globe and Mail:

One of Pakistan's most popular political TV chat shows, Capital Talk, had an impressive collection of panelists for yesterday's show, including a retired general and a senator.

Hamid Mir, a leading Pakistani journalist and the program's host, orchestrated a lively debate, engaging the audience with his usual skill. The familiar theme music introduced and ended the program, which focused on the most popular topic in the country: the emergency measures and the January election.

But the program was not filmed yesterday as usual in the studios of the popular Geo television channel. There was no point. Geo has been pulled off the air. Instead, the show was set up on the pavement outside the studio building. Instead of playing to millions of viewers, Capital Talk was seen by only the few dozen who gathered on the street to watch and a small number tuning in via the Internet.

"We want to tell [General Pervez] Musharraf that he has failed to silence our voice," said Mr. Mir, who does not dare to sleep in his own bed at night for fear that police will arrest him.