The Magazine

 Anita Lahey

Selling the farm

The ad appeared on page 93 of Harrowsmith number 95, the first issue of 1991. It read: “A disposal concept 2 billion years in the making.” Atomic Energy of Canada had paid Telemedia Communications, owner of Harrowsmith, about $5,000 to advocate its plan to store nuclear waste in the Canadian Shield. In that same issue […]

 Patrick Martin

Reflections on the Black Press

Left: After enduring six years as editor of the militant newspaper Contrast, Lorna Simms launched Dawn, a much softer, reassuring publication the staff of Contrast had just put the most recent issue of the weekly newspaper to bed. Editor Lorna Simms and production manager Paulette Grant completed the art boards and packed them into a […]

 Dan David

Dances with Journalists

Dances with Journalists

A Mohawk writer on media racism

“And everyone laughed. It was so preposterous, as if I said to you that the world is flat. People don’t realize how unanimous and overwhelming the conventional wisdom was.” – Michele Landsberg, recalling an incident in the 1950s as a first-year student at the University of Toronto. She had told a group of students that […]

 Anita Dubey

A Woman’s Place in the News

A Woman’s Place in the News

The women's pages are back. But are the women?

Joanne Ramondt thought she had found a good example of male bias in the pages of the Calgary Herald. In a photo of a husband and wife business team, the husband was standing in the foreground, clearly the focus of attention, while the wife sat off in the background with the children. Ramondt is a […]

 Carol Goar

Understated and Understood

Understated and Understood

A columnist explains why she'd rather reason than rant

My first unfavourable review hurt more than I let on. It was 1989. I had been The Toronto Star’s national affairs columnist for four years and I was beginning to feel comfortable in the job. “No one expects her to persuade or entertain,” wrote Charlotte Gray in Saturday Night. “Were a strong opinion or a […]

 Stephanie Griffiths

The Wholesome Story

The Wholesome Story

Canadian Living's recipe for success

When Canadian Living published its 150th issue in 1989, Norma Taylor of Summit Lake, British Columbia crocheted a blanket and sent it to the staff to mark the occasion. Taylor isn’t a former Canadian Living staff member and she’s not the editor’s mother. She’s just one of thousands of loyal readers across the country who […]

 Joanna Hamill

Freedom’s just another word

Freedom’s just another word

That's why we have to define it for ourselves

In a recent column in Macleans, Barbara Amiel points to some of the seamier practices of the British “gutter” press, which not only delves into the private lives of the royal family but, as she says, lays siege for weeks on end to relatives of murder victims, invades hospital rooms and wiretaps conversations. Amiel suggests […]

 David Kirchmann

Disconnected

Disconnected

The phone doesn't ring for small-town stringers anymore

They were the lifeline between the city papers and the small rural communities across Ontario. Individually, they were mail carriers, housewives, teachers and journalists; collectively they were called stringers. They could be counted on to report on events happening in their area. Some would call with tips and names of people to contact, while others […]

 Sudha Krishna

No experience necessary

No experience necessary

Amateur video is transforming television news

ROLL TAPE: On March 7, 1991, George Holliday, general manager of a plumbing supply company, videotaped police savagely beating black motorist Rodney King. Though the videotape was fuzzy, the image was unmistakably clear: two minutes of brutality. REWIND: Seven years ago, in 1986, ABC and NBC “‘ broadcast what they thought was footage of the […]

 Kevin Mackinnon

Back Where he Belongs

Back Where he Belongs

Forced from the Globe four years ago, Norman Webster says he's happy at the Gazette

This is a story of cliches. An interview with Norman Webster sounds like a journalism 101 class, or an introduction to journalistic ethics. Norman Webster is fair to the extreme and adamant in his belief that every point of view has a right to be heard. If there is a “Queen’s scout” of Canadian journalism, […]

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