CTV News Head Who Fired Anchor Lisa LaFlamme Permanently Replaced

Lisa LaFlamme, veteran journalist, receives an award as an Officer of the Order of Canada by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Head of CTV News Michael Melling, the man at the helm when national reporter Lisa LaFlamme was fired abruptly, has been permanently replaced after a third-party review of the newsroom.

“We are pleased to announce that Richard Gray, Interim VP, News is assigned to the role on a permanent basis. Michael Melling has been reassigned to VP Shared Services, and will not be returning to CTV’s news operations,” said a Dec. 19 memo sent to staff by Rob Malcolmson, executive vice-president and chief legal and regulatory officer at CTV, and Nikki Moffat, CHRO and executive vice-president of corporate services.

Melling first took a leave of absence from his job in August. He had only been vice president of the news division at CTV’s parent company, Bell Media, since January, roughly 8 months, when LaFlamme was dropped from her role.

After LaFlamme went public with news of her abrupt and unexpected termination in a social media video post, an internal memo said Melling was taking immediate leave from his role “to spend time with his family.”

The 58-year-old anchor said she was “blindsided and shocked” by the decision. LaFlamme had been the anchor at CTV National News since 2011 and had worked for the network for 35 years. She had two years remaining on her contract.

Reporters at the time quoted a senior CTV official who said Melling fired the veteran broadcast journalist because he had issues with LaFlamme’s hair.

Melling allegedly asked who “let Lisa’s hair go grey.”

In 2020, LaFlamme stopped dying her hair, saying lockdowns and COVID closures made it hard to see her hairstylist. She said keeping it coloured was too much maintenance.

Ageism Allegations

“I finally said, ‘why bother? I’m going grey.’ Honestly, if I had known the lockdown could be so liberating on that front I would have done it a lot sooner,” she said in the network’s year-in-review special.

CTV, owned by Bell Media, called it a business decision.

Ontario lawyer Paul Champ wrote to Bell Media in late August on behalf of a “large number” of CTV news journalists who alleged that LaFlamme’s firing was based “more on personal malice than any business-related reasons,” and worried that her age may have been a prejudicial factor.

“Her dismissal appears to be an egregious act of revenge, tainted by ageism, sexism, and misogyny at the hands of a male boss,” the letter said.

The unnamed journalists said professional retaliation was a significant risk since Melling had stepped into the role at the beginning of the year and morale was low.

In a LinkedIn post, Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of Bell Canada, said complaints and “various allegations” had been made involving Melling and he would be on leave pending the outcome of a workplace review, “involving confidential interviews with all newsroom employees who choose to participate.”

“The goal of this review was to gather information about the culture, environment, and practices in the CTV National newsroom, with a view to identifying any issues, concerns, or areas for improvement so that we could then work to address them,” according to an internal memo.

Campaigns in Support

One week after LaFlamme was unceremoniously dropped from her role, Sports Illustrated responded with a black and white cover photo of grey-haired Maye Musk, Elon Musk’s mother, with the caption: “We’re going grey with Dove in support of women aging confidently on their own terms. We were so proud to feature @mayemusk on our May ‘22 swimsuit cover—living proof that beauty only gets better with age #KeepTheGrey.”

Dove Canada changed its logo to grey. On Aug. 21, the company said, “Age is beautiful. Women should be able to do it on their own terms, without any consequences. Dove is donating $100,000 to Catalyst, a Canadian organization helping build inclusive workplaces for all women. Go grey with us, turn your profile picture greyscale and #KeepTheGrey

A few days later, on Aug. 25, Wendy’s Canada, a fast food chain, turned their logo of a girl in pigtails from red to grey, with the statement, “Because a star is a star regardless of hair colour.” The chain used gold stars instead of the word “star” in the post.

Independent Review

The independent review was carried out by employment lawyers Sarah Crossley and Laura Freitag, and concluded the newsroom had “a culture where people are sometimes afraid to raise concerns for fear of reprisal or inaction.”

The internal memo says the review also found “a need for greater civility and respect in the newsroom” and “a desire to improve working conditions.”

Bell Media told reporters that there was high participation from team members in the independent third-party review of the newsroom.

“We thank them for their willingness to participate and their candour. We are committed to the action plan shared with employees that seeks to address the issues raised, and look forward to working together on creating a better, more inclusive, and positive work environment,” Bell said.

LaFlamme was awarded an Order of Canada medal on Nov. 3, with what has become her signature, perfectly styled silver locks.

In September, LaFlamme was hired by CityNews to go to London and serve as lead news correspondent following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.