The Daily Dunce
Education coverage in Canadian papers is often superficial and one-sided. It's time for editors and reporters to smarten up
Roden Public School Junior sits in the middle of a quiet residential neighbourhood in downtown Toronto. Weekdays from 8:45 a.m. till 3:15 p.m. the three-storey, concrete building houses over 500 kids from junior kindergarten to Grade 6. Up on the third floor, 26 Grade 2 students are following a character education program called “Roots of […]
Alt-Weakly
Alternative papers like eye, hour, and the Georgia Straight brag about how well they cover the issues mainstream media ignore. But if you're searching for insightful coverage of protests, you'll have to look elsewhere
Late in the afternoon of October 16, 2001, Carlyn Zwarenstein, dripping wet, sat down at a computer in the offices of eye, a Toronto-based alternative weekly. Her notepad was virtually empty; interviewing and note-taking at the Ontario Common Front’s march through Toronto’s financial district had proved impractical at best. When she’d tried to write, rain soaked […]
Horror Show
Why the debate over genetically modified organisms and other complex science stories freak out newspapers
A bustling Saturday in Toronto’s trendy Danforth neighbourhood. The sidewalks, shops, and cafes are crowded, as is the local Loblaws, where customers are busily-and carefully-choosing the fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, fish, and other foods they will serve up throughout the week. Nothing on this day seems unusual until, suddenly, about 50 protesters march toward the […]
Faulty Tower
In May 2000, Mykidsbenefit.com set out to revolutionize publishing by putting out the "first-ever customized e-magazine." Two months and over $10 million later, the walls came tumbling down
ONCE UPON A TIME… The staff gathered that Friday afternoon in what was called the President’s Office, a typically spacious, senior-management-type room dominated by a large fireplace. Grouped by department, people anxiously clustered around various landmarks: the bowl of Bits & Bites, the leather couch, the table featuring both a “fine selection of non-imported beer,” […]
Here He Comes to Save the Day!
Today is sting day. The place: a restaurant parking lot on the outskirts of Vancouver. The target: a confidence man named Reverend Narvin Wray Clarence Edwardson. The reason: some of his victims want retribution, so they called the CTV national news show Goldhawk Fights Back and hooked up with Dale Goldhawk—consumer advocate attack dog. The […]
Thinking Outside the Idiot Box
Too many critics are content to simply report and review what's on the small screen. Why can't more of them see the bigger picture?
I’m sitting in John Allemang’s office on October 20, 2000, his last day as The Globe and Mail‘s television critic. It’s a spacious office containing a TV and VCR for Allemang to watch tapes of the programs he reviews. The tapes, sent by the networks for Allemang to study, are piled hip-deep in two of […]
Overexposed
Heart disease kills 40,000 women per year. Breast cancer, 5,500. So why does breast cancer receive so much more coverage?
Everywhere there are women wearing white shirts bearing personal messages: “I’m running for my mother,” “I’m running for my sister.” The women here are among the 96,000 people across the country who have come to act out their fear of a deeply distressing and potentially fatal illness that annually kills 5,500 Canadian women. It’s hard […]
Shooting The Messenger
When Michel Auger was gunned down last fall, editors at Le Journal de Montréal suddenly had to wrestle anew with this troubling question: How do you best protect reporters who accept dangerous assignments?
For nearly three years, I have been the editor of Le Journal de Montréal, a daily newspaper that since its foundation in 1964 has focused on local stories and court cases. It may seem an unexceptional form of journalism, but it still requires a good heart, a strong stomach, compassion and a sense of justice. […]
Leonard Asper’s Master Plan for Global Domination
The good news is his commitment to strong journalism. The bad news? He's going to make you work a lot harder
“IT ALL BEGAN A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO,” Izzy Asper tells the audience at the July press conference announcing CanWest’s purchase of the Hollinger chain, “when Leonard walked by my door and said, ‘I’m going out for lunch. Can I bring something back for you?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, would you mind getting me a […]
Showdown in Stonetown
When the 81-year-old St. Marys Journal Argus was taken over by the Metroland chain, editorial quality went down, opening the way for a folksy upstart. But is the town big enough for the both of them?
Every Friday afternoon around four o’clock, 13-year-old Kelly Waugh picks up 80 newspapers, climbs onto her scooter and wheels her way through the neighbourhood delivering the St. Marys Independent. She cruises along Jones Street East and then Huron Street in the cozy, romantic town located 20 minutes southwest of Stratford, Ontario. Nestled quaintly in the […]
