Jonathan Ore was the Chief Copy Editor for the Spring 2010 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism. Scrum and Gone
The incredible shrinking Queen’s Park press gallery is a stark example of what happens when resources run dry. What’s going: informed citizens and democratic accountability. What’s coming: a potential breeding ground for political corruption
The morning Question Period at Queen’s Park ends and reporters scrum politicians streaming into the halls. The exchanges aren’t rapid-fire shouting matches, there’s no staccato of camera flashes and politicians aren’t trying to outrun reporters chasing them down and barking questions. About two dozen journalists swarm Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, some holding television cameras that […]
Water-boarding thestar.com
As stories about the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti flow in through every news outlet in the world, readers on thestar.com were hit Thursday with a massive advertisement for TD Waterhouse taking up the entire right half of the screen real estate usually reserved for headline and breaking news. Sometimes large flash-based ads have an […]
Yes, we were duped
The Yes Men are at it again. This time Canada’s climate record is its target, and ammunition came in the form of false press releases announcing coffee-spewing carbon emission reduction goals,staged press conferences and even responses attacking the first false release. That’s an impressive lasagna of meta-layers. Last night on Connect with Mark Kelley, Yes Men members Whitney Black and Andy Bichlbaum (if those are your real […]
Sports Illustrated—coming to a tablet near you
Time Inc. has released information on its new tablet software in some videos demonstrating its use with Sports Illustrated. The program is being developed in tandem with Wonderfactory, and works in Adobe AIR—suggesting cross-platform compatibility. That means readers will probably be able to use this on any tablet computer, like a Thinkpad X Series, an HP Touchsmart desktop computer […]
Free at last
Canadian freelancer Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan are now on their way home, released after 15 months—459 days—of captivity after being taken by gunmen in Mogadishu, Somalia. It’s difficult to discuss this story in typical journalistic fashion. For starters, there is precious little information as far as exactly how and under what terms the […]
King of the Hill
Douglas Fisher, who died in September, wrote thousands of columns over four decades. His old-school reportage earned the one-time MP the moniker "Dean of the Parliamentary Press Gallery"
When a radio or television report suggested something was “unprecedented in Canada,” Douglas Fisher would probably guffaw and shake his head. He knew it probably wasn’t. And who could argue with him? Even if you drummed up the courage to confront his massive six-foot-five frame, you would be faced with a man who could recall […]
