Lisa LaFlamme ousting robbed CTV News viewers of historic moment: analysts

Bell Media issued a press release Monday saying that after 35 years LaFlamme was leaving the broadcaster. Less than half an hour later, Sachedina was named as her replacement.

Omar Sachedina’s promotion to chief anchor at CTV National News should have been a win for representation in Canadian media, but observers say the controversy surrounding his predecessor Lisa LaFlamme’s departure overshadowed a momentous occasion.

It was “a stolen moment” in which both a decorated woman and an accomplished man of colour have been robbed of significant benchmarks in their careers, said Brent Jolly, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists.

“This should be something that was being celebrated,” he said.

“And yet, unfortunately, the synchronizing of the announcements doesn’t do him as much service as it could.”

Bell Media issued a press release Monday saying that after 35 years LaFlamme was leaving the broadcaster. Less than half an hour later, Sachedina was named as her replacement.

The ousted lead anchor turned to social media where she said in a video she was first informed of the decision on June 29, adding she felt “blindsided” by what was described by executives as a “business decision.”

For LaFlamme, she lost a career milestone when she was pulled from the airwaves without an official sign-off on the CTV broadcast she led for more than a decade.

The gravity of Sachedina’s new position in the upper ranks of Canadian television was also diminished.