The Girl Next Door
In which our correspondent, who grew up a few blocks away from a young woman who was kidnapped and murdered, investigates the seamy side of reporting on missing persons
Laurie Perks, York Regional Police media spokesperson, raises her voice above the drone of circling helicopters so the reporters can hear her. The scene outside Alicia Ross’s family home on August 18, 2005, is chaotic. Police have blocked the street to traffic; photographers and TV crews cluster around the mobile command centre outside the distinguished, […]
A Fierce Honesty
The legendary Scott Young published hundreds of stories describing battles on the ice and playing fields. But perhaps the most fascinating fight took place in the newsroom, when he abruptly quit the Globe
In the Winter of 1951, Bob Wilson, chief scout for the Chicago Black Hawks, was sitting in the wooden bleachers of an arena in Belleville, Ontario. He’d come to check out the talent on a Junior B team affiliated with the Black Hawks, but he’d gotten there early, and so he was killing some time […]
Mission Possible
The Globe and Mail parachuted a new local section into Vancouver to boost circulation, and residents responded with disdain. They should look closer- it's putting out some of the best reporting in town
At 5:15 P.M. on a dark October day, The Globe and Mail‘s newly hired reporter Petti Fong interrupts British Columbia bureau chief Rod Mickleburgh, who is in the middle of a meeting. “Sorry…Regina confirmed,” she says stonily. “Go with it?” “Oh, okay. Go with it. Did they confirm the HIV angle? “No.” “Okay, ’cause that’s […]
Colour TV
Everyone says they want diversity, but the issues are far from being black and white
Turn on the television any time from breakfast to bedtime and, yes, you’ll see the faces of anchors Lloyd Robertson, Peter Mansbridge and Kevin Newman illuminating the screen. But something has happened over the past few years. Television news has gone full-colour, with journalists such as Suhana Meharchand, Carla Robinson and Ian Hanomansing in prominent […]
A Matter of Opinion
Why editorial boards are more relevant than ever—sort of
The October 28, 2005 headline jumps off the Chronicle Herald‘s front page: “ATV Crash Kills Two Girls.” The girls, aged 14 and 15, died just outside Shubenacadie, near Halifax, when the all-terrain vehicle they were riding went down a four-metre embankment and crashed into a mass of trees. The 14-year-old driver, another girl, was injured […]
Rough, Tough, and Ready to Rumble
Why Neil Macdonald will never back down
Neil Macdonald licks his lips and pats his hair gently into place. Sporting a slick navy suit, rose-coloured tie, and shiny brown shoes, he paces the room reciting his lines. Macdonald is taping intros and extros for CBC Newsworld’s Face to Face, a show that features interviews with passionate American politicos such as conservative queen Ann […]
Addicted to Hype
Too often journalists simply swallow the buzz big-Pharma gives them. Here's the prescription for how reporters and editors can kick that nasty habit
It’s March 25, 1999, and health reporters across the country are hard at work. “Some people can hardly contain their excitement,” gushes a front-page article in the Calgary Herald. They “may have an extra bounce in their step today,” it adds, “but it’s not just because spring arrived this week.” The event that floods newspapers across […]
Risky Business
Must a magazine about Bay Street be as dull as a pinstripe suit? For Report on Business magazine editor Laas Turnbull, it all depends on packaging
Case study. Subject: Report on Business magazine, The Globe and Mail‘s almost monthly business insert (published 11 times a year). Business challenge: competing for readers against a host of other sources of financial information. Question: can a magazine stay comfy with Bay Street while reporting – in an entertaining yet critical way – on its world, leaders, and […]
The Improviser
Paul Wells and the birth of a cool new way of writing about politics in Canada
I’m standing at rec-eption in The Drake Hotel, a posh Toronto haunt for artists, authors, and alternative scenesters, waiting for Paul Wells. He’s flown in from Ottawa to hear Branford Marsalis. The show was “absurdly sold out,” he said in the email, but the first set was an industry showcase, so he might have some […]
There’s Something About Mary Lou
Mary Lou Finlay and CBC have broken up and made up more times than she can recount. Still, she "couldn't imagine leaving." Then again, you never know
It’s a crisp and sunny Sunday afternoon and I’m standing inside the sparse lobby at the University of Toronto’s Innis College. I’m looking for Mary Lou Finlay in a crowd of about 30 people. I don’t see the face I’ve memorized from a small, frosted picture on CBC’s website. But I do hear a familiar […]
