A Son’s Dilemma
When Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged by the Nigerian government, his oldest child was left to wonder, "Was I an activist or was I a journalist?"
When I was at media school in England I used to daydream-usually during shorthand or media law classes-of the day when I would walk out of college and go straight onto the pages of a national newspaper. Reader, I did. But nothing in my wildest daydreams would ever have hinted at how I would eventually […]
Conflict of Self-interest
During the fractious strike at the Calgary Herald, there were two legitimate opposing views. But you wouldn't have known it by reading the National Post
There was a press package waiting for reporters when they walked into the small, well-lit conference room. Dated December 17, 1999, it contained a press release titled: “CLC’s Ken Georgetti Launches Boycott of Conrad Black’s National Post in Support of Calgary Herald Strikers.” The package also included a three-page backgrounder on the strike, which reporters […]
Speed Writer
In the glam and slam world of Grand Prix Reporting, Gerald Donaldson has been a top qualifier for two decades
Gerald Donaldson is sitting in the din of a jammed pressroom overlooking the front straight of a rain-soaked Nürburgring road racing course, site of the 1999 European Grand Prix. The course is carved out of the lovely Eifel Forest of west-central Germany, but on this dreary September afternoon, Donaldson’s concern is not with the scenery […]
The Comeback of Kirk LaPointe
It's good for LaPointe. It's good for the Spectator. It's good for the readers—if only they'd notice
Kirk LaPointe, whom Conrad Black once called a “presentable young man,” sits in the front row of an auditorium filled with restless teenagers and their beaming parents. The new editor and associate publisher of The Hamilton Spectator is out on this cool October evening for two reasons. The first: to introduce the Hamilton Public Library’s […]
The Tragically Square
How the papers are, like trying to, um, attract teen readers—or whatever
The steadily greying readership of newspapers has been a cause for concern among publishers for some years. Now, in the age of great newspaper wars, dailies are even more desperate to recruit younger readers. Meanwhile, teens, who are being courted by everyone from clothing stores to credit card companies, aren’t even reading enough papers to […]
Overshadowed
A big broadcasters eclipse small stations, local news is getting left in the dark
Reporter Rick Gamble enjoys the challenge of local television news, whether that means reporting on a fatal car accident on nearby Highway 401 or, as he is doing on this late August afternoon in 1998, reporting on the annual “wiener dog” faces in the southwestern Ontario city of Cambridge, about 20 kilometres from the Kitchener […]
All Work and No Pay
Dwindling Markets, hostile editors and e-rights rip-offs have magazine freelancers begging for change
For freelance magazine writers in Canada, a beleaguered bunch at the best of times, the news came like a rejection slip. On January 19, Southam Inc. announced that Saturday Night, the country’s last general interest monthly, would become an insert in the weekend National Post. The venerable 113-year-old commentary on Canadian culture will be, according […]
The Wizard of Ooze
How Mike Harris and his minions manipulate TV news
A dozen broadcasters file into the Speaker’s gallery at Queen’s Park, a legislative locker room perched high above Ontario’s elected MPPs. They’ve reported dutifully for the annual Speaker of the House election, but their attention is focused, more or less, on another man: Steve Gilchrist. The Conservative minister of municipal affairs and housing is under […]
Hardwiring Lloyd
CTV's Great Click Forward
June , 2000 | Comments (0) – Report an Error Share on facebook Share on email Share on twitter Share on favorites More Sharing Services Just off camera, beside CTV’s national news desk, a row of new computers lines the front wall of the sleek, open-concept studio. As we walk along beside them, Henry Eaton, […]
The Magalogue Mess
Are they magazines or catalogues? The industry is going harry trying to find out
On June 6, 1999, in the cavernous basement ballroom of Toronto’s downtown Sheraton Centre, 800 magazine people were assembled for the industry event of the year: the National Magazine Awards. After a rubber-chicken dinner, the house lights dimmed and booming music heralded the main event. But about halfway through the awards, Brian Banks, executive editor […]
