This is a joint byline for the Ryerson Review of Journalism. All content is produced by students in their final year of the graduate or undergraduate program at the Ryerson School of Journalism. Sketches of Obe
A digital wake of salutes and stories for the Review founder, pioneer of Canadian literary journalism and rebellious spirit
Don Obe 1936-2014 No better magazine editor ever put pencil to paper than Don Obe. And that’s when he would have stopped me. “Awkward sentence, Paul,” he would have said. “And what kind of pencil? Short? Stubby? 2B? HB? Eraser? Details, Paul, details.” I met Don at this time of year in 1961 […]
Legacy of a Legend
This is a special guest post about Don Obe, the founder of the Review, by Tim Falconer, the current instructor on the Review. Don Obe died yesterday. He was an old newspaperman, so I hope he would appreciate a lede without euphemism or bullshit. But he was best known as one of the most influential […]
Spring 2014: Who, what, where, WHEN and why
I recently returned to Toronto after more than 30 years living outside Canada and have just discovered your excellent journalism review, Spring 2014 issue. Thank you! The “iWitness” piece is very interesting but no where does it clearly state when the lead incident in the story—the killing of Sammy Yatim—happened! The first sentence cites “a […]
Spring 2014: Robocalls
Read Lisa Coxon’s story about Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher, two Canadian journalists who unearthed one of the biggest political scandals in our nation’s history. Available in the Spring 2014 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism.
Friday Funny: from the pages of the Halifax Calorie Herald
This week on “Journalists Being Cheeky”: The Halifax Chronicle Herald arranged its pages by theme. A certain British comedian noticed. A Beatles fan snuck into One Yonge Street. And The Australian got a chuckle out of a study on sleep. Remember to follow the Review and its masthead on Twitter. Email the blog editor here. Posted on March 28, 2014
Come to the Review’s launch party!
Mark your calendars and tell your bosses you might be late next Friday: we’re launching the latest (and biggest) issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism on Thursday, March 20th at the Bier Markt in downtown Toronto. Keep an eye on our multimedia section and Facebook page for previews of the stories you’ll find in the issue. Remember to follow the Review and its masthead on Twitter. […]
Friday Funny: the Toronto Sun is rubber, you are glue
From the department of “I Know You Are, But What Am I?” There’s plenty to like about the Toronto Sun: Don Peat is one of the best reporters at city hall; its front-page headlines are consistently punny; Bob Elliott does a good job on the Blue Jays beat. But it’s not a perfect newspaper (if such a thing exists). Case in […]
Why conservative columnists can’t live up to Peter Worthington
In May 1976, three Mounties walked into Peter Worthington’s glass-walled Toronto Sun office with a search warrant. They wanted a leaked RCMP letter that contained information about Canadians charged with espionage and treason, which the Sun editor had recently mentioned in a column. He refused to hand it over. When they pleaded for a hint, […]
Reading Rob Ford: Esquire, Crazy Town and the value of access
In a nice coincidence of publication dates, Torontonians have been blessed in the past three weeks with deep dives on the mayor from the capable pens of the Toronto Star’s Robyn Doolittle and Esquire’s Chris Jones. (Ivor Tossell also has a cover story in The Walrus, where he covers the evolution in Canada’s defamation laws that helped the Ford stories happen.) […]
Friday Funny: Don Cherry’s many talents
In light of Marissa Dederer’s story this week about athletes who become analysts, we wanted to highlight the varied backgrounds of some famous Canadian broadcasters. For example: did you know that, before he coached the Boston Bruins, Don Cherry attended the Royal Conservatory of Music? Remember to follow the Review and its masthead on Twitter. Email the blog editor here.
