From Watchdog to Lapdog
Why the British media have muzzled themselves on Northern Ireland
Jonathon Fenby, deputy editor of The Guardian, is a giant of a man, but he seems to be shrinking with every syllable. He is trying to explain why the British media in general, and The Guardian in particular, have allowed the government to muzzle their coverage of Northern Ireland. Shifting his bulk, he hems and […]
Federal Budget, Native Deficit
As the lights dim in the auditorium of Halifax’s Micmac Native Friendship Centre, a chanter breaks into song. It’s graduation for 24 native adult students. Anita Martell, a 32-year-old mother, is one of them. Graduation, after years away from school, is a significant achievement. It’s an event that would have been well covered and widely […]
It’s A Risque Business
Sex-for-sale classifieds made headlines when they came under attack by the police, but many feel sexist display ads are the ones that should be targeted for the way they degrade women
It was no surprise when police dropped charges against NOW magazine last September. The surprise had come when the charges were laid: essentially they amounted to charges of soliciting-“communicating for the purposes of prostitution.” The “communicating” law was introduced in 1985 to curb street solicitation by and of prostitutes, without making prostitution itself illegal. The […]
Divided We Stand
Fueled by two different visions of Canada, the English and French media failed to convey the true nature of the Meech Lake Accord
“Two nations warring in the bosom of a single state.” That was how Lord Durham perceived the relationship between Upper and Lower Canada in the late 1830s. According to Durham the only way to resolve the tensions between the two Canadas was to unite them. Once French Canadians developed political and economic ties to Upper […]
The Fortunes and Arrows of Outrageous Slinger
The Toronto Star columnist takes arms against a sea of troubles and by pondering, lampoons them
For me to write that I think Brian Mulroney is an asshole,” says Joey Slinger, “is every bit as inconsequential as if my mother phones up and tells me she thinks Brian Mulroney is an asshole. My opinion is perhaps interesting to her and hers is to me, but it has no place in journalism.” […]
Just the Feelings, Ma’am
Sentimental journalism-when the facts sink into the mush
The day my daughter started kindergarten we received a sheet of paper from her school that we were advised to keep for handy reference. The dread communication-which occasionally slips out from under the plastic french fry magnet on our fridge door-lists all the “PA days” for the year. To our horror, the very first one […]
Indecent Exposure?
When it comes to printing tragic photos, editors don't always see eye-to-eye
Two male students boosted Montreal Gazette photographer Allen McInnis to the cafeteria window at the University of Montreal’s l’Ecole polytechnique and held him steady on the narrow sill. Police officers had drawn all the cafeteria’s drapes, but at this window a 15-centimetre gap in the curtains remained. The gap was all McInnis needed to photograph […]
The Shallow End
It was mesmerizing. As bombs rained on Baghdad, we were glued to our radios and televisions. We heard the air raid sirens and felt the tension of reporters as they resisted the Iraqi authorities’ requests to go to bomb shelters. We flinched at the jolts of the antiaircraft missiles and listened in as the Cable […]
Flagship of the Trade
When Toronto Life executive editor Lynn Cunningham gets her Esquire, Saturday Night, Canadian Business and Masthead magazines on the same day, it’s Masthead she reads first. “The information is so vital to me in what I do on a day-to-day basis,” says Cunningham. “While other publications are optional reads, Masthead is a must read.” In […]
On a Left Wing and a Prayer
Jim Lorrimer wants to remake the Canadian Forum into a Harper's of the north. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy flight
James Lorimer is a man with a mission. Hes coming to Toronto this weekend, and he’s got no time for pesky interviews he’s sitting in on the last editorial meetings before the official March relaunch of his magazine,Canadian Forum. Lorimer’s the kind of guy who demands flowchart analysis from his editorial staff: he doesn’t want […]
