Trayvon Martin’s blackness, George Zimmerman’s whiteness, and the colours used to tell the story
Unarmed. 17 years old. Carrying iced tea and Skittles. Wearing a hoodie. Black. Armed. 28 years old. Vigilante. Acting in self-defense. White, Hispanic or Latino. Even without a headline, it’s easy to identify what story these terms hail from—they’re the most popular and controversial details in the coverage of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. Although some of them are imperative […]
Hey, look: there’s an elephant in the room
As it’s been a slow week for Canadian journalism (scandals), it looks like we’ll be leaning on America again for a source of ethical debate. This time, we shift to Wisconsin, where 25 Gannett employees have been called out in print by their publisher for signing a petition seeking the recall of Governor Scott Walker. […]
News consumption and social media
The Pew Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual State of News Media report last Monday, focusing on social media’s growing role as a tool for delivering news. Still, the report showed that respondents’ use of social media as a means to access news is not as common as visits to a publication’s website, or even searches of […]
Oh, good, Geraldo Rivera’s still talking
Any day is a good day when Geraldo Rivera opens his mouth on camera. Rivera, perhaps best known for revealing how much Al Capone’s vault sucked, gave his take on Fox & Friends last Friday about Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen who was shot and killed by a self-appointed neighbourhood watchdog because he looked “suspicious.” “I am urging the parents […]
Time magazine photo editor to speak at Ryerson
Natalie Matutschovsky, a former Ryerson image arts student and Time magazine’s current senior photo editor, is flying in from New York to give a guest lecture for the IMA Student Lecture Series this Thursday, alongside Jason Logan, the creative director of all Rogers’ publications. Before joining Time as the associate photo editor in 2010, Matutschovsky headed photography for The Walrus, of […]
The New York Times tightens its “porous” paywall
Freeloaders, it’s time to pay up. That’s the message being sent by The New York Times, anyhow, as the paper announced yesterday it was changing the number of free articles visitors to the website could access each month. When the paywall was first introduced in March of last year,the Times said that visitors to the paper’s website could access up to […]
Mike Daisey and the This American Life retraction show
Sometimes journalists get it wrong. In the case of National Public Radio’s This American Life, it was the fact-checking process that caused the popular radio show to air a retraction for its most-downloaded episode, “Mike Daisey and the Apple Factory.” The mistake was letting Daisey’s story air, and the staff freely admit it. The show never […]
That Was Then, This Is Now: Jian Ghomeshi
“That Was Then, This Is Now” explores the beginnings of some of Canada’s favourite writers and journalists. Jian Ghomeshi, host of CBC’s arts and culture show Q, started as a music artist on the other side of the microphone, just like those he interviews daily. Ghomeshi was raised in Thornhill, just north of Toronto. While his family […]
Keeping up with the #Kony2012 controversy
It’s taken a few days, but Joseph Kony’s now-infamous last name has finally disappeared from my list of trending Twitter topics. And considering how viral Invisible Children‘s Kony 2012 film and the ensuing controversy were, that’s quite a feat. Like many others, until only a few days ago, I was completely unaware of Kony, head of Ugandan guerrilla […]
Anthropographia: A different way to tell a story
When I decided I wanted to be a journalist, I was motivated by a desire to help people. I thought I could help more people by writing about major concerns than by actually working to stop the problem. In retrospect, I may have chosen the wrong profession, but I still believe that as journalists we […]
