I'm a young Canadian journalist, working for a major media outlet in a major Canadian city. I'm going to stay anonymous, at least for now, because, well, I'm skittish. I don't know what my bosses would think of this. I don't intend to slag them, because I like where I work, but I might need to criticize them from time to time and I want to feel free to do it.

I'm not a typical young Canadian journalist: I have a full-time permanent job, the kind staff at the CBC have recently been fighting to make more of. I've done tours of duty in more than one newsroom along the way, but I had the good luck to grab hold earlier than most people get it.

The CBC lockout is part of what made me decide to start this blog. I'd been thinking about it for awhile, but having followed the "labour disruption" closely, I hope one of the lasting effects of it will be an ongoing re-examination of what Canada has a public broadcaster for. That should include a deeper examination of what The News is and how it should be presented in an era of new technology traditional media haven't learned how to embrace. I want to be part of that conversation.

If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
Sun Tzu The Art of War

The locked out CBC workers proved that the corporation is not about managers with expense account lunches and fancy perks. It's about passionate people who carry on their public service even if they are not getting paid for it. They must now use their demonstrated solidarity and grit to repair and rebuild CBC into a national institution that all Canadians value. They must do that in spite of some of the managers who are little more than careerists who have never produced a frame of video or a single sound bite and wouldn't know an Avid from an Advil.

But it seems to me like we are a crew going back to the ship after a long time at port. The place is a mess, the sails are in tatters and the map has been lost. We'll be expected to clean up the mess, and then set sail once again... following the directives of the same bunch of drunken pirates who ran us aground in the first place.

From the moment the lockout started, there was an explosion of blogging that got the stories of the locked-out workers out. Eventually, that morphed into radio shows being done on campus stations, caravans going across the country reporting the unreported news in various Canadian outports, and even an online news site filled with robust reporting that the overwhelmed locked-in managers, running a skeleton service, simply couldn't match. It's the talent, stupid. That's the message that came through loud and clear. The PR war was decidedly won by the workers in this one. The managers seemed like they did not have a plan; their justifications for why they needed to be able to hire and fire contract workers at will seemed, as the weeks went on, just to be indicative of how poor their strategic planning was generally.

The proposed agreement still needs to be written into formal contract language before being brought to members as a "deal"....

I am told that the most contentious issue - the number of new contract positions - will be limited and will be tied to the overall size of the bargaining unit. The statement says strong language has been achieved to protect the full-time workforce...

The contract, if ratified, will last until March 31, 2009. It is retroactive to April 1, 2004.

It includes a $1,000 signing bonus, plus wage increases worth 12.6 per cent over the life of the contract....

Among the issues to be worked out: a way of getting all 5,500 locked-out workers back on the job in an orderly fashion, and with it a restoration of services...

CBC and CMG negotiators will be meeting with Labour Minister Joe Fontana in the morning.

if you want to say something about one of my ideas go ahead and track back and put it on your blog. Your non-anonymous blog. Your comment where your comment is context with all your other comments.

I was surprised as anybody to read about my apparent replacement in Paris. This was the first time I’d heard any of this. I think it’s unfortunate that my future is being discussed publicly in a newspaper or on the web, rather than as a private conversation between employee and employer. I always thought this type of discussion was privileged.

Let me first thank all the people who have written notes of support and encouragement; I appreciate the hardship this lockout has caused and I admire the conduct and determination of my friends and colleagues on the picket lines. I’ve worked at the CBC for 30 years, and dedicated my professional life to what I consider to be a vital Canadian institution. And I’m still a believer, though more and more discouraged by what I see happening. I recently signed a new contract to continue working abroad, so I was understandably distraught to learn the CBC has already chosen my successor, and apparently done so in secret during the lockout. I chose not to go back to work as a small gesture of solidarity and as many people know, was placed on “unauthorized leave.” I wish nothing more than to continue my profession as a foreign correspondent with the CBC.

Paul Workman

I would appreciate your ceasing to speculate over the source of "the leak," or the motives for it. It is a waste of time, and will lead nowhere except to foster further unnecessary acrimony. Indeed it is completely destructive. Watching this unfold, I feel great sorrow for CBC right now, especially CBC News for which I was once a proud, if insecure, contract worker.

Finally, I must say it's as if you (and others) are shooting the messenger here. Workman's recall is a legitimate story. His replacement is part of it. My facts have yet to be disputed. I did my job. Please keep your internecine wars to yourselves.

The story was not just that Common could replace Workman but the fact that it leaked at this critical time."
Oh. So as a journalist I should withold a story that is current -- the offer was made in writing during the lockout, as even David Common confirms -- because it's ''a critical time?''
Please. I'd like to see somebody sell that concept that during a news meeting at The National: "Oh, I have this scoop on my beat about something which is happening now but it's 'a critical time' and all so maybe we should wait until after the 'critical time' to run it?"

Finally, while I admit I did not try to contact Common for ''his side of the story," I wasn't presenting "sides." I was reporting that Paul Workman was leaving Paris and that Common would replace him.

I must add however that there was also a confidentiality agreement tied to the CBC's offer which may have been broken -- rendering the understanding ''null and void."

The other thing is who leaked the David Common offer and why... You won't be getting an answer from me.

Tony Burman told me today that Workman has enjoyed several contract extensions in Paris and has known for a while the the third and final contract expires June 2006.

"Our desire is that he return to Toronto,'' said Burman. "Clearly there would be a very senior position available to him here. It's really up to Paul what he chooses to do."

I’ll let you in on a little trade secret. The CBC obtains some of its “scoops” from newspapers. Toss a handful of pens across any given newspaper newsroom, and you’re bound to hit a busload of reporters who have had the unpleasant experience of hearing their stories read — sometimes almost verbatim, and usually without attribution — over the CBC’s airwaves.

The labour dispute between the CBC and its unionized employees could prompt the Canadian Football League to move the Grey Cup broadcast to another network, and commissioner Tom Wright expects an official decision to be made within the next two or three weeks.