Jonah Brunet is copy and display editor for the Spring 2016 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism. Lost in Translation
When Rogers killed Omni's multilingual newscasts, it broke a long-standing commitment to ethnic communities
When Rogers killed Omni’s multilingual newscasts, it broke a long-standing commitment to ethnic communities
On the edge of ethics
Most journalists agree that native advertising is a moral void. But in order to boost revenue, the Globe tries to strike the right balance with Globe Edge
In the summer of 2014, The Globe and Mail narrowly avoided an editorial staff strike over native advertising—the practice of working with advertisers to create ads that resemble journalism. A leaked memo from Globe management to the paper’s union proposed a system in which editorial staff would write for advertisers, compromising, in the minds of many Globe reporters, […]
Ashes to ashes
As industry pressures threaten to crush it, we reflect on Postmedia’s short life of dwindling funds
In 2008, Canwest Global Communications CEO Leonard Asper was perplexed. His business—once Canada’s leading media company—was failing, and he didn’t know why. Canwest stocks, once trading at $20 a share, were down to 60 cents. The purchase of Alliance Atlantis’s broadcast division, widely regarded as a savvy business move, hadn’t brought Canwest the boost he […]
The high cost of free information
Canada’s highly complex access to information system has spawned a profession of "information warriors" that shouldn't exist
John Dunn is on welfare. To journalists and other curious citizens using Canada’s free information laws to seek out public records, this is his greatest asset. For a small fee (Dunn is allowed to make only $200 per month while receiving government assistance), Dunn will file an access to information (ATI) request on your behalf. […]
Bad ATItudes
Last year's email deletion scandal in B.C. reveals a government culture of secrecy that threatens to cripple Canada's free information laws
On November 20, 2014, Tim Duncan received an access to information (ATI) request. As executive assistant to the minister of transportation and infrastructure, he was asked for all records relating to the Highway of Tears, a 724-kilometre stretch of B.C.’s Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert where, by some estimates, over 40 aboriginal […]
Lone Rangers
Solo journalism means editorial freedom and control, but also a struggle to stay alive
“Journalism is about relationships,” says Joey Coleman. And, walking with him on a sunny day through downtown Hamilton, I’m beginning to see what he means. At Dr. Disc record store, he stops to chat with owner Mark Furukawa—Coleman’s having issues with the sound equipment he uses to live stream council meetings at city hall. Furukawa […]
Responsible communication wins again
Kathy Tomlinson becomes part of a slowly growing list of Canadian defamation cases that are winning with the defence of "responsible communication"
Six years after reporting on a B.C. surgeon whose patients had a troubling tendency to experience serious post-op complications, Kathy Tomlinson and CBC successfully invoked the relatively new defence of responsible communication to win a defamation lawsuit. Dr. Fernando Casses, who had his medial license revoked in Arizona before moving to B.C. to work as […]
Former Vancouver Magazine editor Michael White fundraising to treat incurable condition
Though journalism is often a competitive profession, White’s situation proves that it can be communal as well
When former Vancouver Magazine editor Michael White began his fundraising campaign last Sunday—$4,000 for travel and accommodations to visit the Spasmodic Torticollis Recovery Clinic in Santa Fe, New Mexico—he expected it to take at least a month. Twenty-four hours later, he’d raised more than he asked for, and the donations just kept coming. Now, at […]
