After a quick discussion about whether to go in-camera, councillors decided to discuss the terms of a proposed settlement with the companies that are suing Ottawa over the cancellation of the north-south LRT project. The proposed deal states that the city would have to pay one lump some payment of $36,718,500 to the plaintiffs. City lawyers say that is the best possible deal for the city at this point.
]]>A big cheer went up in our newsroom last night when weatherman Ian Black popped up on the screen and said "It's 5 o'clock. The news starts now."
CBC Ottawa has now launched its two new early local newscasts - Ottawa at 5 and Ottawa at 5:30. Both programs were followed by Ottawa at 6.
All the reporters made their deadlines, all the scripts were done in time...we had a few close calls, items fed from the rest of the country came in later than expected. We are calling it a success from the bench but it will be the audience that will decide if it likes the options of getting local news earlier in the evening.
]]>So far no one in the newsroom looks ready to take orbit...the stress and tension of meeting earlier deadlines seems to be under control. No major problems, yet!
It's less than two hours to go before our debut of Ottawa at 5:00, Ottawa at 5;30 and Ottawa at 6.
Get this...a radio reporter was the first to file and meet the TV deadline. Evan Dyer's piece on tobacco and drug-smuggling on the St. Lawrence River is ready to go. The quality of the pictures shot on the river with a flip-cam are surprisingly good! Evan's first report on this story was rolled out on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning this morning. I hope people heard the plug for coverage on our newscast tonight.
We have good local stories tonight...and we are live at 5 p.m.! I know my parents will be watching. They love CBC News no matter what...I hope the rest of our audience likes the changes.
]]>What can I scratch off the to-do list in the next fifteen minutes?
Viewers must be questioning some of those wonky wide shots during our newscasts in the last couple of days. Mastering robotic cameras is a little tougher than I thought. There are a few things to learn by launch day.
The CBC is going to be first in this city to deliver local news and weather in the evening. On Monday August 31, viewers will see CBC Ottawa's expanded local news programming. We are adding 2 new local newscasts: CBC News: Ottawa at 5:00 and CBC News: Ottawa at 5:30. Ottawa at 6 remains our flagship supper hour news program. Lucy van Oldenbarneveld will host all programs.
August has been a blur of organized chaos. Reporters are filing early, preparing for the new deadlines. We are conducting rehearsals, wrestling new technologies and helping staff deal with change. All this and we continue to deliver CBC News: Ottawa at Six. We have such a talented team of journalists here.
During this economy, it's a great feeling to be talking about "expanding" not 'cutting" local news. We're going for it.
]]>He's scheduled to talk to:
-Alistair Steele
]]>O'Brien is looking relieved. He even managed a chuckle just now at something the judge said.
-Alistair Steele
]]>-Alistair Steele
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