Former CTV National news anchor Lisa LaFlamme is speaking out after being let go from her former employer last summer.
LaFlamme sat down with CBC’s The National Chief Correspondent Adrienne Arsenault in an interview that aired on Wednesday.
Arsenault opened the talk by asking LaFlamme how she is coping after her position as Chief Anchor of CTV National News in Aug. 2022 was terminated, ending her 35-year run with the company, which is owned by Bell Media.
“I’m handling it the way anybody handles such a change, which we are trained to be prepared for, if you will. I keep everything in perspective. For me, I had 35 memorable years, and I loved it. Loved it all. And there are new things to love now. So, I’ll be fine. I am fine,” she said.
When LaFlamme tweeted about being let go, she said she was “blindsided” and “shocked”by Bell Media’s “business decision.”
The news of her termination was met with intense backlash against the media company on social media, with many speculating if she was terminated after letting her hair go grey during the pandemic.
“As everybody knows, as I said in my original and only tweet on the subject, it was a business decision and that’s what I know. So, I can’t really comment beyond that because it’s all I know,” she said.
She added that she legally can’t say much more on the matter and that she wants to focus on the future.
“I really am motivated to see what is out there for me. The other is, you know, the agreement. How do I put this? Legally, there’s only so much I can say, obviously, I have already said a great deal in the tweet and that just stands,” she said.
LaFlamme said “it’s not easy to find a new path” but she has used her skills as a veteran journalist to cope with the situation.
“…You’re equipped with the skills of a journalist, which is to pivot. That’s what we know how to do. We pivot. Pivot in our professional lives, we pivot in our personal lives.”
Last month, The Star first reported that LaFlamme reportedly nominated herself for a 2023 Canadian Screen Award after Bell Media allegedly pulled her name from their nomination submissions.
However, in LaFlamme’s interview with Arsenault she said that was not the case.
“The truth is I did not nominate myself. But when I learned that my work was not going to be submitted, I thought, no, it doesn’t work that way. You can take someone’s job but you can’t actually erase their history and their body of work. And in this case, these are the most important stories we covered in a year,” she said and added examples of previous stories covered, including the war in Ukraine and Pope Francis’ visit to Canada.
“I submitted my work for the scrutiny of the judges who then nominated me, which was a great honor. It was important to me for the sake of these stories that they not be erased,” she added.
After being let go from Bell Media, LaFlamme has continued working as a journalist and recently travelled to Kenya and Tunisia for the group Journalists for Human Rights.
