Chantal is universally loved because in 32 years on RDS she has never once expressed a personal opinion. She has reported the news, she has moderated panels where the Habs are discussed and she has interviewed people. She has never editorialized. She has never broken a story. She has merely read press releases. And let's face it: as someone employed by RDS to cover the Habs, she's basically been an unofficial Habs employee. If the Habs front office had ever had a problem with her she would have been removed from the RDS broadcasts.
Media outlets which have contracts to broadcast a team's games have to supply on air talent who are meet with the approval of the team's management. In many cases, the guys who do play by play are actually paid by the team and not the TV or radio station on which the games are broadcast. So for Machabee, this isn't a big step. The only difference is that now, instead of merely parroting the press releases of the Habs, she will be the one writing those press releases for other reporters to parrot. She is now the Habs' "Iraqi Minister of Information" and I am not expecting much more clarity or transparency from the club simply because they've hired a new media flak. The job of a communications director is about deflection, not about providing information. It's about communicating only what management wants you to know and hiding everything they don't want you to know.