Oct. 13, 2015
TORONTO – CBC’s senior business correspondent Amanda Lang is leaving the public broadcaster.
Editor-in-Chief Jennifer McGuire says Lang is pursuing “a new opportunity outside the CBC in television” (it turned out to be Bloomberg TV) and plans to “devote more time to her writing” with a book expected next year.
Lang joined the CBC in 2009 as one half of “The Lang & O’Leary Exchange,” which was renamed “The Exchange with Amanda Lang” after Kevin O’Leary left the show.
Lang was also part of the team bringing business news to “The National.”
McGuire announced the departure in a memo to staff Tuesday morning.
“Amanda’s two decades of experience as a business reporter furthered our commitment to quality business coverage,” McGuire stated.
Her last day with the CBC will be Friday. Business journalist Bruce Sellery will host her show for the next two weeks.
Lang’s tenure in recent months was tainted by allegations of impropriety, although a CBC review concluded she abided by journalistic standards.
In early January, media website Canadaland alleged that she tried to “sabotage” a 2013 story about the Royal Bank of Canada and its use of temporary foreign workers.
The report said the bank sponsored some speeches or events at which Lang spoke and that Lang had a “serious relationship” with a bank board member. Lang said she disclosed the relationship to the CBC.
The CBC came to Lang’s defence and said her paid speaking appearances were approved and did not violate any rules. However, in late January, the CBC said it would no longer approve any paid appearances by its on-air journalistic employees.
Then in March, the CBC said after a review it had concluded that Lang abided by journalistic standards during her involvement with that 2013 story.
Lang previously worked for various newspapers, including the Globe and Mail and the National Post, and anchored with CNN in New York and the Business News Network.
Lang and McGuire were not immediately available for comment.
Daddy’s “little corporate tv gurl,” her father is Otto Lang, the former Transport Minister for Trudeau senior.
LOL
I’m surprised she lasted as long as she did at CBC given the widespread publicity over the reported conflict of interest. Just to recap, she was apparently dating a Royal Bank of Canada bigwig and allegedly tried to spike a story by Kathy Tomlinson about the bank replacing Canadian employees for cheaper foreign workers.
At the very least it raised questions about Amanda’s news judgment since the Royal Bank was hardly alone in foregoing domestic hires for foreign serfs.
Nonetheless, Amanda has serious business chops. I remember watching her and Lou Dobbs chew over business developments in her CNN days. As much as she and Kevin O’Leary remain pals, I doubt he’ll get her a spot on Shark Tank.
Given her father’s political pedigree, maybe Ms. Lang will turn up as Justin Trudeau’s press secretary if he becomes Prime Minister after next Monday’s election.
I’ve liked Amanda Lang’s reporting. She was cleared of the CBC concerns. My guess is she’s off to Bloomberg TV launching in November across Canada.
So, Amanda Lang deliberately tried to “surpress” the news for her RBC boyfriend, but continued to keep her job at CBC, while Evan Solomon’s only crime was to sell art to the wealthy and he got canned.
Hmm. That tells me that the “lesbians” at CBC protect their own and throw others under the bus ?
Here’s the problem. Daddy’s little gurl is good, but if you had to choose someone to interview the new Prime Minister, on October 19th, who would you want ?
Evan Solomon or Daddy’s gurl?
No comparison, here !
Maybe she got written up by CBC brass after the Royal Bank surpression story and decided…well, I’m too good for them, maybe I will fly the coup to Bloomberg News.
Hopefully, Daddy’s little gurl got a big fat raise from Bloomburg news….????
Interesting speculation Real Deal on Amanda heading to Bloomberg. Think they did announce a couple of months back that they were planning a Canadian expansion. I currently get Bloomberg on Shaw 141, alongside Fox News and CNBC. Wonder if the main network would cut away for a certain number of hours of Canadian programming or substitute the Canadian signal 24/7? Hope it’s not the latter as Bloomberg has some good programming like Charlie Rose plus, alas, infomercials.
The Lang controversy at CBC opened up a real can of worms as it led to an on-high edict against all broadcast talent not moonlighting with paid speeches for corporate entities.
Probably hit Mansbridge bigtime as he was keeping pretty busy on the speechifying front. Wonder how long Peter will stick around. It used to be he kept teachers’ hours–booking off for the summer. Nowadays, he seems to disappear for days on end year-round.
As I noted, even if she wasn’t trying to protect Royal Bank bigwigs it showed she lacked the chops to ever graduate to becoming a news editor. Kathy Tomlinson’s initial story was spiked for a day or so, but soon aired and sparked a plethora of follow-on stories about other companies ditching longtime domestic employees for cheap foreign labour. Arguably Tomlinson exposed what became one of the biggest Canadian news stories in recent years.
I agree, as much as I don’t like AL, she was perceived as the rising star for CBC, as she was supposed to carry the torch for the retired Fred Langden, among others. But, with her gone, who else will leave CBC? Mansbridge, perhaps, but it must be said that Mansbridge makes an outrageous pile of money on our dime, much more than the 80 K something he is supposed to be making, according to a previous House of Commons report.
Will we see the day when CBC National is staffed mostly by Ryerson and Fanshawe tv grads just out of school. LOL Time will tell,
I think that the ultimate fate of CBC rests on the results next week.
If Canadians decide to return a CON govt., you can bet that more belt tightening will occur and therefore, will continue to leave CBC. as the goal of the Con govt is to decimate CBC news, and to weaken it ?
However, if Trudeau junior and bearded one join forces – dont forget – both of them want to see Harper disappear badly, so that toxic partnership could well be forged, even though they hate each other.
That coalition govt could also benefit the CBC, as they would likely restore budgetary cutbacks.
Good luck, paying it all off, in 100 years !
Lang, Solomon, Rex Murphy and Peter Mansbridge all became a part of the establishment they are intended to keep in check – in effect the “entitlement crowd”. Now I understand why Avi Lewis (son of Stephen) could not continue with CBC when he and Solomon were the ” bright new lights”. And you can be sure the new Liberal govt will be happy to have CBC insiders on their side.