Fall 2004

 Steve Gold

Our worst enemy?

Our worst enemy?

A second look at Al-Jazeera finds the network less baiting

The morning of Yasser Arafat’s funeral last November, Don Imus, host of Imus in the Morning said, “They’re [Palestinians] eating dirt and that fat pig wife [Suha Arafat] of his is living in Paris.” His guest, sports anchor Sid Rosenberg, added, “They’re all brainwashed, though. That’s what it is. And they’re stupid to begin with, but they’re brainwashed now. […]

 Kary Boudreau

Weighty Words

Weighty Words

How journalists misuse "jihad" and other contentious words

“Terrorist.” The first time I remember hearing the word, I was 12. It was 1995, and the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City had just been bombed. For many years after, whenever I heard the word terrorist, I pictured a shady white man in a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses. Following the tragedy of […]

 Dafna Izenberg

Fork in the road

Fork in the road

Is it time for Pitchfork to choose considered opinion over snark in its music criticism?

On June 15, 2004, the online music magazine Pitchfork published a review of the Beastie Boys’s 2004 release, To the Five Boroughs. It was written by Brent DiCrescenzo, one of the site’s regular contributors. More than 2,000 words in length, the actual CD review was buried under a disjointed and confusing chronology that moved between Milan and Manhattan […]

 Lisa Sarracini

Rabble, Straight Goods, Indymedia

Rabble, Straight Goods, Indymedia

How grassroots news site rate

While working at the Edmonton Journal in 2002, Lisa Gregoire’s editors told her to “cover the riots” at the G8 Summit in Kananaskis. But there were no riots. Instead, there were peaceful rallies and playful campaigns like, “I’d rather go naked than wear Gap.” Gregoire produced articles about these non-violent demonstrations and about the effects of globalization, all […]

 Angela Boyd

Elephant in the Room

Elephant in the Room

Metroland rolls over Toronto with bland community newspapers, but the independents fight on

A little newspaper turned up on my Toronto doorstep at Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue in September 2004. It was only 16 pages long, scarcely bulky enough to contain the colour flyers tucked inside. Big corporate flyers, too, like Canadian Tire, No Frills, and Pharma Plus. The flyers outweighed the newspaper four to one. […]

 Samantha Israel

Shout It All Out

Shout It All Out

Speakers Corner is a soapbox for the modern everyman

The first snowstorm of 2005 can’t stop Alex from speaking his mind. He enters the Speakers Corner booth on Queen Street West in downtown Toronto for the 10th time since Boxing Day. Alex puts a dollar in nickels and dimes into the slot and talks for the full two minutes allotted, responding to the reenactment of a Toronto break in […]

 Anna-Christina Di Liberto

Redrawing the line

Redrawing the line

Despite vigilance, advertorial content gains credibility in Canadian publishing

“Family Fashions for Spring!” reads a bold headline in the April 2005 issue of Homemakers. The page’s layout is similar to countless others in consumer magazines: visuals with captions, columns, and service-oriented blurbs about the latest in fashion trends. But there’s a crucial difference – the story wasn’t put together by Homemakers, but Levi Strauss and Wal-Mart. […]

 Keren Ritchie

This hour has George Stroumboulopoulos

This hour has George Stroumboulopoulos

CBC gambles that a MuchMusic VJ can deliver a younger audience to its current affairs programming

“Do you hear that?” asks George Stroumboulopoulos, catching everyone’s attention on set. “The groove here is ridiculous.” It’s only minutes to airtime for CBC Newsworld’s new current affairs program, The Hour, and the 32-year-old host is grooving to The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 37-year-old “Voodoo Child.” He taps his feet, snaps his fingers, and even breaks out […]

 Soraya Roberts

Crime Takes a Bullet

Crime Takes a Bullet

Long-running Quebec tabloid Allô Police bids adieu

On January 23, 1975, Quebec police finally cornered the elusive local gangster Richard Blass. The handsome fugitive was laying low at a cottage in the Laurentians after setting fire to a Montreal nightclub, killing 13 people. Police surrounded the house and demanded that Blass give himself up. He refused. At 4:30 a.m., two officers broke down […]

 Maya Saibil

Trans Fat: Exposed

Trans Fat: Exposed

Siphoning fact from fiction on the latest food scare

Trans fat is tasty, common, and, according to some experts, poison. Found in cookies, French fries, and even some baby formulas, it is suspected of causing everything from clogged arteries to Alzheimer’s. But if you’ve been watching television stations like CTV or reading newspapers like The Globe and Mail in the past year, you already knew that. You probably […]