Chatelaine’s revolving door
I’ve developed an aversion to checking D.B. Scott’s Canadian Magazines blog. Not because the items aren’t timely, relevant, sometimes even charmingly quirky (like the link to the Cheese or Font?game that appeared a few months ago). It’s just that these days scanning the site is what it must have been like to read the daily reports of […]
The rumour mill is on fire!
As journalists, we like to separate ourselves from the gossip rags and tabloids, holding up words like “verification” and “journalistic standards” to differentiate ourselves. Then something simple happens, like Tiger Woods crashing his car into a tree, and suddenly, the line’s not so clear. Some outlets—The New York Times, for example—tried to play it safe […]
Winter games protesters not welcome
Last week U.S. journalist and radio host of Democracy Now! Amy Goodman was stopped at the Canadian border, detained for 90 minutes and was asked whether she intended to speak about the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. When I read this, I was shocked. Was this an act of paranoia? What could Goodman possibly say to motivate […]
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 […]
Al-Jazeera English coming to Canada
Tired of the same old news? Canadian news watchers won’t have to wait much longer to get a more diverse international news presence emanating from their television sets: It was announced earlier today that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has granted permission for Ethnic Channels Group Ltd., a Toronto-based satellite service, to carry […]
Compelled
It’s a day of mourning for journalists. Twelve journalists were among 46 murdered Monday in the Philippines. It’s not yet known what the motive for the attack was or if the journalists were the targets. But that’s 12 fewer of us in the world (and, it must also be said, 34 fewer innocent non-journalists as […]
Future of magazines and rodent species now brighter
It’s always exciting when magazines find new ways to incorporate content into their websites. Times are a-changin’ and at this point in the game, jumping on the bandwagon doesn’t seem so bad. Last week, Canadian Geographic started using video to augment and extend its print stories. The re-establishment of the black-footed ferret, which has been […]
Branding gone bad
It’s all about the brand, any publisher today will tell you. Cosmopolitan and Playboy are the epitomes of brand extension. And with Oprah Winfrey exiting the stage to start up her own television network, has everyone got brand on the brain? The latest culprit is HGTV superstar Mike Holmes with his new publication Holmes: The Magazine […]
And from the ashes…
Here’s an unlikely story: Detroit is getting a third daily newspaper to serve its ever-dwindling population. The Detroit Daily Press will begin publishing November 23 in one of the most violent, run-down, economically devastated major cities in the U.S., where the other two major papers, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, have been […]
Hungry for celebrity
Wednesday on CBC Radio’s Q, Jian Ghomeshi interviewed Chris Atkins, creator of the film Starsuckers. Through a series of media hoaxes, Atkins’ documentary depicts the celebrity-hungry culture that dominates certain British news organizations. “Atkins and his team called up British tabloids with made-up frivolous celebrity stories, and they ‘just printed anything,’” states British news site […]
