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. Climate of Fear
How a sensational and sexist press hyped hysteria in the summer of '82
On May 28, 1982, Jenny Isford, 19, was discovered on a lawn five doors from her home in North York. She had been raped and strangled. Less than a month later, the body of Welsh nanny Christine Prince, 25, was found floating in the West Rouge River near the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo. On July 12, […]
Death Wish
In its crusade for capital punishment, The Toronto Sun played hanging judge
The phenomenon is well known and well documented: when a number of police are murdered in the line of duty, the murders inevitably result in yet another campaign for the return of capital punishment. Although often guilty of a certain sensationalism, most media vehicles try to maintain at least a semblance of objectivity in the […]
Mass Appeal: Papal Visit a Media Bland Out?
The CBC’s coordination of the TV coverage of Pope John Paul II’s 12-day visit to Canada last fall, touted as the biggest media event of the decade, could have drawn considerable criticism. But most of the stations that had to rely on the public network were surprisingly uncritical. This harmony existed from the outset. When […]
Win, Place, Show: Poll Reporting as Bookmarking
Reporting public opinion polls is a firmly entrenched element of election campaign coverage. But whether polls influence election results is the subject of a continuing debate. Alan Frizell, codirector of the Carleton School of Journalism poll, told The Toronto Star that after the 1980 federal election the school did a poll asking people why they […]
All in the Family: Faith, Hope and Old-Time Religion
Family Canada Publications Inc., a Winnipeg-based company, determined to close what it calls a “huge gap” in the Canadian magazine market, plans to launch Family Canada, a monthly “profamily” general-interest magazine, this September. FPC is owned by the Family Institute of Canada, a two-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to “reinforcing JudeoChristian ethics and the strengthening of […]
Shots in the Dark
In its coverage of the KAL tragedy, the Toronto press was blinkered by Washington
On September 1, 1983, Korean Air Lines flight 007 trespassed into Soviet airspace and was blasted out of the sky. Two hundred and sixty-nine people died. On September 2, the western press, reflecting international outrage, condemned the Soviets as murderers and barbarians. The Toronto press was no exception. In the weeks following the incident, cold […]
The Patience of Shirley Sharzer
She has experience, talent and respect -- what she doesn't have is the top job
Of the many talented women who hold responsible jobs on major daily newspapers in Canada, surprisingly few have managed to reach the upper editorial echelons. Dona Harvey has been editor of the Winnipeg Tribune and managing editor of the Vancouver Province, Lise Bissonnette is the editor of Le Devoir in Montreal, Barbara Amiel is the […]
The Audible Minorities
The ethnic press is coming through loud and clear -- but the voices are changing
The twenty-fifth anniversary convention of the Canadian Ethnic Press Federation in Ottawa last November ended amidst a heated argument between the editor of a German-language paper from Vancouver and the editor of a Yugoslavian paper from Toronto. Though the raised voices had strong European accents, the nature of the argument was unmistakably Canadian-a squabble between […]
Blatchford Behind the Byline
When it comes to the real Christie Blatchford, reading is not believing
Christie Blatchford is used to being candid in print. Eleven years after her column first appeared in a campus paper known for its raw look at student life, she is writing for Toronto’s irreverent newspaper, the Sun, enticing readers four times a week with a peek at her personal experiences. But just how often Sun […]
Out of Commission
Why the Kent recommendations have been trashed. An insider's report
We can add the Davey Committee and the Kent Commission to the “boneyards of broken dreams,” the description the Davey report gave to most Canadian newsrooms. It is true that had it not been for the two inquiries, the first on the mass media in general, the second on the daily newspaper industry in particular, […]
