The Outsiders
Down in the back alleys of Canadian publishing, three feisty and rebellious cultural magazines are ready to rumble
Stephen Osborne can be an intimidating guy. Even some long-time members of his own staff think so. Maybe it’s the beard. With his greying whiskers, a steely, confrontational stare and a manic twinkle behind his wire-rimmed spectacles, the founding editor and publisher of Vancouver’s Geist magazine conjures a cross between the ghosts of Rasputin and […]
A Talking Contradiction
Writer-broadcaster Irshad Manji admits that she's a radical, that she's a lesbian, that she's a Muslim reformer. But don't dare label her a radical-lesbian-Muslim reformer
It’s mid-September, the height of book-promotion season, and in a dark TV studio at Toronto’s CBC building, freelance journalist Irshad Manji, stylish in leather jacket and spiky, highlighted hair, sits across from Salman Rushdie, renowned author and fatwa survivor, who is touring Canada to spread the word about his latest book, a collection of nonfiction […]
Scandalous Behaviour
When journalists find themselves in the gossip columns, the knives come out
December 19, 2002: Despite his insider status, even gossip columnist Shinan Govani can get shut out. At Toronto’s trendy King Street lounge, Mint et Menthe, the National Post‘s “Scene” columnist was turned back from the Next modeling agency’s private Christmas party. “This is a Nelly Furtado moment!” declared Govani’s gal-pal, journalist and art afficionado Si […]
Writers’ Block
Why too many journalists get crunched by numbers—and why their stories often don't add up
The Kansas City Star spent more than four years researching the prevalence of AIDS in the priesthood and 18 months interviewing experts and priests, and examining church documents and death certificates to ensure that what it was putting out was accurate journalism. In January 2000, the Star published an 11-article series built around the “fact” […]
Sticking It to Women’s Sports
It’s a perfect night for hockey. Outside, the October air is biting, but it doesn’t compare to the freezing temperature inside the arena, where a couple of hundred fans await the start of tonight’s season opener. They quickly fill the cold blue plastic seats as the smell of barbequed hot dogs wafts through the stands. […]
Trouble on the Home Front
The demand for shelter books has never been higher. As a result, Style at Home and Canadian House & Home have been duking it out like never before. But as the messy domestic dispute intensifies, fresh ideas and editorial distinctiveness have taken it on the chin
Cobi Ladner’s first inkling of the competition she was about to face came one night in the mid-1990s. Ladner, editor of Canadian House & Home, Canada’s preeminent decorating magazine, was attending the annualSaturday Night magazine Christmas party, where several hundred guests had gathered for an evening of schmoozing and free wine at the magazine’s Front Street offices […]
A Tall Order
His publisher wants a radical reconception. His publisher's boss wants a 12 percent return. When his new Maclean's finally debuts this summer, Anthony Wilson-Smith just wants to keep his bosses happy
It’s a little before 10 a.m. on March 27, 2001, and more than 100 Maclean’s magazine employees are gathered in a reception room at the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto. They’ve trooped up the sidewalk from company headquarters at 777 Bay Street for the long-awaited announcement: the unveiling of their new editor-in-chief. Excitement mingles with relief. Today […]
Small Papers, Big Issues
The street paper movement was started by well-intentioned advocates for the homeless. Surviving on the streets, however, is proving to be a lot more difficult than they bargained for
“Buy a paper, support the homeless,” bellows Hubert Serroul against the cold wind that probably accounts for the unusually small crowd outside Toronto’s St. Lawrence farmer’s market this Saturday morning. Hubert holds a copy of Toronto Street News in one gloved hand. In the other he holds a cigarette bummed off a friend. It’s almost noon and […]
Sex and the City Desk
Sex columnists are breaking out of the back pages of alternative weeklies. But will they make out in the main stream?
Q:After dating this woman for a couple of months, I began to suspect that she was a bed wetter. Is adult bed-wetting more common than one would imagine? Would it be morally shallow of me not to want to sleep with her again? A: Would it be morally shallow not to sleep with the woman again? […]
Trial by Journalist
In Canada, you're innocent until proven guilty. You wouldn't know it from reading Christie Blatchford's columns
Christie Blatchford lives in a 105-year-old house near the eastern fringe of Toronto’s Little Italy, where the right half of her bedroom functions as a small home office. Hanging over an old wooden desk, where her Macintosh PowerBook G3 lies, is a pencil sketch of a judge watching a man give his testimony. The judge […]
