Proceed with Caution
Sex sells. But shouldn’t the facts be right first? The naked truth on why you should be leery of stories on rising rates of rampant and risky teenage sex
Five 16-year-olds cram around a table at their usual after-school hangout, a deli in west-end Toronto. Munching the last bites of their bagels, Marina, Carly, Ellen, Sophija and Nevena discuss headlines about their apparent sex lives. They don’t snicker about anal sex or become awkward at the mention of contraception. Instead, these youths embrace frank […]
Declarations of Independence
Privately owned alt-weeklies are quick to point out the failings of their big-corporate counterparts. But are the indies really a better alternative?
Ron Garth wasn’t going to sell out just to keep his paper afloat. He needed to find another way. As the publisher and owner of Vue Weekly, an alternative paper in Edmonton, he had watched the publication struggle financially since its inception in 1995. Dan McLeod, owner of Vancouver’s The Georgia Straight, had owned part […]
Guerillas in our Midst
The Citizen Janes represent a trend that’s raising a little hell in newsrooms. But just how good is citizen journalism?
Roz and Leanne Allen stand in front of the Butcher’s Choice section of Loblaws. Dressed in dark grey dress pants, black shoes and a brown shirt, Roz holds a small pink and white video camera. “Okay, everybody, we made it into one of Toronto’s biggest grocery stores and Maple Leaf is back in a big […]
Ideasman
For half a century Lister Sinclair treated CBC listeners to lively discussions on the world as he thought it. He was, for example, as comfortable holding forth on Law and Order as he was on classical music. The life and death of a celebrated public intellectual
Kool and the Gang’s “Get Down on It” fades out, and a relaxed Lister Sinclair begins: “For a moment there, I felt a sense of panic, meaning I didn’t quite remember what I was supposed to say next, but that isn’t real panic. Real panic is quite different.” He goes on, “Real panic is the […]
Book Camp
The writers, the parties and one memorable elk: a look at two decades of Banff’s exclusive Literary Journalism program
“For a while, an elk at the Leighton Colony … was so menacing that the studios had to be closed off. One writer gratefully announced that this was the most original excuse for not writing that she’d ever been provided with-‘A crazed animal is keeping me away from my word processor!’ When the writers finally […]
Gearing Up
The race is on to become Canada’s premier site for online news. An update on who’s leading, who’s lagging and why some private competitors feel cbc.ca has an unfair advantage
I feel a surge of election-night excitement as I push through the lobby doors of the Sun Media building just east of downtown Toronto. It’s 8:30 p.m. on October 14, 2008, one of the most important nights for online journalism. But when I get to canoe.ca‘s third-floor office, all is quiet, aside from rapid fingers […]
Jordana Rapuch speaks about her article Paper Dreams
Jordana Rapuch talks to Greg Hudson about her article, Paper Dreams
Jordana Rapuch talks to Greg Hudson about her article, Paper Dreams.
Beware the Irishman Bearing Writs
The author would be relieved if you burned this story after reading it
I am the son of an Irishman, but I won’t visit my father’s homeland until a man who knows many tough men is safely in his grave. Did I get your attention? You know that there’s a story here and I can tell you most of it. Everything, really, except some names, especially the name […]
On Trial
Richard Stursberg has been head of CBC English TV for almost four years. In that time he has been criticized, condemned and pilloried for diminishing CBC TV's best journalism traditions. Is he guilty as charged, or a man unduly persecuted? You be the judge
It’s early November and Richard Stursberg is sitting at CBC’s Toronto headquarters in his nicely appointed seventh-floor office, with its leather armchairs, gleaming wooden table, red Persian rug and big flat-screen TV. Dressed today in an olive blazer, green striped shirt and black pants—a much more conservative choice than the lime-green suit he has worn […]
The New News Race
How Bob Cox and The Winnipeg Free Press caught up with the pack in building an on-line presence—and why the finish line is still far from sight
Bob Cox likes to run long distances. The last time he ran a marathon, the 2006 Manitoba Marathon, he came in 52nd out of 731, eighth highest in his age division (he was 45 at the time). Lately he’s running just for the exercise, but also to let his mind wander. He tries to leave […]
