CTV had plans for Clark to co-host national news, says Bernstein

Tom Clark, host of CTV’s parliamentary political program Power Play, announced Tuesday that he is leaving the network after almost 40 years with the broadcaster. The announcement comes just before the fall parliamentary session that begins on Sept. 20. Clark first announced his resignation on Twitter where he wrote, “suffice to say there is no more PowerPlay with Tom Clark.” Howard Bernstein, a former television producer who has worked for most of the major English networks in Canada, wrote on his blog Wednesday that Clark parted ways with the broadcaster after CTV bcancelled plans to offer him a co-anchoring position on the national news with Lisa LaFlamme. CTV announced in July that longtime CTV broadcaster LaFlamme will take Robertson’s spot in the anchor’s chair next year. Bernstein wrote that CTV had plans for LaFlamme and Clark to co-host the national news. “I don’t know why Lisa Laflamme got the job. I do know that CTV’s original plans were for Lisa and Tom to co-host the news. Where that went awry I don’t know,” Bernstein wrote on his blog, Medium Close Up. “After more than three decades of hard work, it had to have come as a severe blow to see someone else get the job he had coveted and felt he had worked so hard for." But on Twitter Thursday, Clark wrote that it was the first he'd heard of the theory. "I like Howard very much, but this story just ain't true," he tweeted. When questioned about Clark's tweets, Bernstein told The Wire Report by email that he knew about the co-hosting plans through a senior source at CTV, and that it is possible Clark did not know about them. Toronto Star senior political writer Susan Delacourt wrote in a blog posting Wednesday that, according to her sources, Clark is not upset, and that "it wasn't his idea to leave CTV or the show." BCE Inc. announced Friday morning that it has reached a deal to buy 100 per cent of CTV--adding 85 per cent equity to its existing 15 per cent share in the company--for $1.3 billion. Prior to hosting Power Play, Clark worked as CTV’s Washington bureau chief. During his career he covered several war zones and almost every Canadian federal election since 1974. In a short press release on Tuesday, CTV said Clark was leaving to “pursue other opportunities.” CTV did not announce a replacement.

CTV had plans for Clark to co-host national news, says Bernstein

People | September 9, 2010

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

CTV had plans for Clark to co-host national news, says Bernstein

People | September 9, 2010

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Telus C-suite continues to turn over, as CFO Doug French announces retirement

Friends of Canadian Media names Cara Des Granges as government relations director

Liberals use new power to stack heritage, industry committees with extra MPs

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us