Hall of Famer
From his first World Series in 1941, when he interviewed Yankee legend Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, to the end of his career almost 60 years later, Trent Frayne built his reputation on style, class, and great writing—qualities frequently lacking in today's sports pages
The picture was taken with a box Brownie on the infield at Yankee Stadium just before the first game of the 1941 World Series. That’s Joe DiMaggio in his home whites, staring inward as DiMaggio so often did. The young man beside him is Billy Frayne, 23, all the way from Winnipeg, and he’s in […]
An Editor’s Dream–and Nightmare
Lawrence Martin pisses people off. Among them: Harold Ballard, Swedish hockey players, Joe Clark, U.S. correspondents in Russia and, most recently, Jean Chrétien and David Asper. No wonder he gets into so much trouble
On February 5, 2001, Izzy Asper, executive chairman of CanWest Global Communications Corp., Canada’s largest media and publishing company, threw a party at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. The atmosphere was more like a Liberal love-in than a corporate gathering-the crowd included Finance Minister Paul Martin, Herb Gray, then deputy prime minister, and […]
Stayin’ Alive
Publisher Greg MacNeil and editor Matthew Church face a daunting challenge: whipping the magazine's finances into shape without beating up on a tradition of editorial excellence
Shortly after 5 p.m. on November 1, 2001, the fax machine at Multi-Vision Publishing Inc. gave that loud, distinctive, final screech and fell silent. It marked more than the end of an outgoing fax. If MVP president and chief executive officer Greg MacNeil is to be believed, it also marked the end of a 53-year […]
Crashing….
Why newspaper automotive sections collide with journalistic credibility
It’s a bleary Wednesday morning in October, and I’ve just exited Highway 401 near Belleville, Ontario, in my rented 1998 Ford Contour. The car shudders, the brakes squeak, and the engine vibrates as I stop on a deserted rural route and wipe fog from the windshield. I look for a sign telling me which way […]
Haroon and the Sea of Opinions
Ever since he joined The Toronto Star in 1978, Haroon Siddiqui has been engaging and enraging readers. Some think he is a badly needed voice for immigration and race issues. Others think he's little more than a Third World apologist
In the wake of September 11, commentary on the attacks dominated Canadian newspapers. The words varied, but much of the tone was the same. The Globe and Mail‘s Marcus Gee fulminated, “Many religious militants hate [America] because it represents a decadent Western culture that they see as a threat to traditional values.” Robert Fulford of the National […]
Big Trouble in Little Italy
For 50 years, the Corriere Canadese has brought Italian-Canadians news and sports from the old country. That's good enough for the older generations, but what will happen to the paper when they're gone?
Inside the Corriere Canadese‘s Toronto boardroom, co-editor Antonio Nicaso strokes an invisible hair between his hands with exaggerated concentration, waiting for the latest bout of laughter to subside, and for the eight editors present to refocus. The impeccably dressed 37-year-old, who wears a suit to work every day and speaks in a soft, contemplative voice, seems […]
Camera Ready
At the very moment that terrorists slammed into the World Trade Center, photojournalism was reborn. But if economic downturn continues to shrink news holes, that popularity could just fade away
Early in the morning of September 11, 2001, the phone rang in Stan Honda’s 94th Street apartment on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. On the line was the French wire service, Agence France-Presse, telling him a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Instantly, the 43-year-old photojournalist picked up his camera, rushed to […]
Under the Weather
The Toronto Sun was one of the most successful start-up papers in North America. Now—suffering from poor circulation, debilitating layoffs, and a bad case of bleeding red ink—it's become the little paper that grew sick and tired
On an overcast Friday morning last April, Toronto Sun readers discovered something curious on page three of their newspaper-news. Gone was the scantily clad Sunshine Girl, a fixture of the tabloid since it was founded over 30 years ago. Instead, dominating page three that day was an earnest feature report examining a disturbing pattern of disappearing elderly […]
Growing Pains
The scoop on Young People's Press, a wire service for kids that has dreams of playing with the big boys
On a clear Thursday morning in mid-January, Young People’s Press acting executive director Michael Hoechsmann carries a box of old newspapers across his office in midtown Toronto. Despite limping with his left leg, from which a cast has just been removed, he wants to show me some previously published YPP articles. “In many cases, people […]
Critical Miss
Canadian pop superstars may have international credibility, but the mags covering them are mostly fanzines or slavish industry trade mags
Blender, Vibe, Spin, Rockgrl, Circus, Mojo, Jockey Slut. At major newsstands and bookstores across the country, a variety of pop music magazines are available to Canadians, covering a wide range of genres, from hip-hop to metal to electronica. It seems as if there’s a magazine suited to every music lover out there, but look again. While there are national specialty music […]
