The future of publishing
Just about the most clever, and inspirational, video I’ve seen on the future of publishing: The mirror here revealing the disconnect between publishers and their readers hits too close to the bone when I think of the relationship between journalists and their audience. It seems that, in striving to reach out to the lowest common […]
The state of the news media is, well, not that great
Down in Washington, the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism has released its annual report on “The State of the News Media.” For those really interested in digesting the 180,000-word report, it’s probably best just to visit it here. Otherwise, here’s a brief breakdown. Surprising News The authors found that over 80 percent of links on “new” […]
Journalism 101
Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail published an excellent article in today’s paper. “It is time to rethink Journalism 101,” the article begins. “When newspapers start confusing ‘hits’ with ‘circulation,’ there is an undeniable danger to journalism.” Journalism today, saturated with tweets and blogs and hastily construed online stories, is no longer governed by the content […]
”I will be glad when your rag goes out of business. Real men marry women.”
More than two dozen readers cancelled their subscriptions when The Washington Post published a photo of two men kissing on its front page last week alongside a story of the D.C. Superior Court beginning to accept license applications for same-sex marriages. Andrew Alexander, the Post‘s ombudsman, received a slew of complaints from readers. One ranted about the Post “promoting a faggot lifestyle.” A 65-year-old […]
Queer? Not welcome
The Harper government dealt a low blow to Canada’s queer publications when it announced revisions to the aid-to-publishers budgets, part of the Canadian Periodical Fund, on Jan. 19th. Small publications must have a total 5,000-copy annual paid circulation to be eligible for financial assistance, and publications like Fab Magazine don’t make the cut. Queer mags were formerly exempt from […]
We’re not done yet
It’s been just over a week since Team Canada’s heroic gold-medal victory against their U.S. counterparts in the men’s hockey finals of the Olympics. That night all of Canada seemed to rejoice: horns honked until the wee hours of the morning and Canadian columnists draped their newspapers’ front pages with emotional, patriotic outbursts of pride. […]
Chatelaine fires six
A blog post on this site yesterday evening erroneously reported that Ken Whyte laid off five staff at Chatelaine magazine. Though six staff members have beenlaid off, there is no evidence explicitly pointing to Whyte’s role in the situation. The blog post has been removed, and the Ryerson Review of Journalism regrets the error. According to the Financial Post, those laid off […]
BREAKING: More staff out at Chatelaine
At 5:13 p.m. today David Hayes sent out an email to the Toronto Freelance Editor and Writer’s list with news that Ken Whyte has laid off five more atChatelaine. Those laid off include Hayes’s handling editor Rachel Giese, and deputy editor Melanie Morassutti, who is on maternity leave. “The next (last?) stage in the purge […]
Cutting down, beefing up
Yesterday, BBC director general Mark Thompson declared to the globe the station’s pursuit to produce “the best journalism in the world.” This is in response to an uproar from critics after BBC announced the 600 million-pound ($932.8 million) restructure that would see the elimination of the network’s sports programming and popular TV shows like Mad Men, The Office and The Wire. Thompson went […]
