APTN wants staff to redesign news

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After a meeting of the board of directors in Winnipeg in early December, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network's 21-member board of directors has decided to let their news staff come up with a new look for news and public affairs programming.

Sources say the board rejected the plan of the man they retained to perform an analysis of the news and public affairs department. Jeff Bear, a Maliseet veteran of the television industry, declined to comment when contacted by this publication.

Sources say news director Bruce Spence is heading up the staff-directed restructuring initiative. Spence could not be reached for comment.

The rumors swirling around the Ottawa chiefs' Confederacy, which took place at the same time the APTN board was meeting, were that Kirk Lapointe, the president of CTV National News, would attend the December APTN board meeting in Winnipeg. Those rumors turned out to be false. But Lapointe told Windspeaker that he has been trying to contact APTN ever since a story in the November edition of this publication revealed a disagreement between staff and management over how BCE/CTV benefit money was being used by APTN.

"I'm still waiting for a meeting," the CTV news president said on Dec. 18, adding he would comment further at a later date.

Under the terms of its CRTC (Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission) licence, CTV's parent company BCE has a five-year, $3 million "benefit" agreement with APTN. The next $600,000 installment isn't due for several months.